Bangladesh

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In Bangladesh, Handicap International works in the following areas:

• Prevention and early detection of disability, through the dissemination of information on disability, from community to national level (project funded by the UK Department for International Development) 
• Rehabilitation: development and improvement of the quality of specialised services (e.g.: assistive technology such as prosthetics and orthotics)
• Social Inclusion for disabled people: "Sports and fun for All" project, economic inclusion and mainstreaming disability in development
• Awareness-raising on the rights of persons with disabilities
• Mainstreaming the issue of disability in disaster management

CONTEXT
Of the world’s 6 billion people, a fifth live on less than $1 a day, with 44% of them living in South Asia. Bangladesh is one of the least developed and poorest countries. Almost 6% of its 147 million inhabitants have some form of disability and are largely absent from national development initiatives.

BACKGROUND
Handicap International started working in Bangladesh in 1997 in partnership with the Centre for Disability in Development (CDD). In the last few years, our organisation has gained substantial experience in Bangladesh, and valuable recognition among the NGOs working in the field of disability, as well as among major national and international NGOs the funding bodies.

Together with our partners, we have contributed to the development of a systematic approach for inclusion of people with disabilities in development, through the Community Approach to Handicap in Development (CAHD). In implementing this approach, we have supported the training of over 400 NGOs in the field of disability since 1997. Since 2000, the field of assistive technology (assistive devices and orthopaedics services) has been an important one for Handicap International, and we are still working on improving services provided at national level. Over the last three years, strong lobbying and development projects including disabled people are starting to have an impact: various major funding bodies (World Bank, USAID and the European Commission) as well as the Government have shown an interest in including people with disabilities in the poverty reduction strategies in Bangladesh.

ACTIVITIES
We will continue to use the same working method, which involves developing activities with partners, whilst also having a strong focus on building their capacity. The key activities are:

1) Social inclusion through:

a) “Capacity building of key service providers and policy makers to create equal opportunities for the full participation of people with disability”(CAHD): giving support to the CDD and possibly new partners to increase the social inclusionof disabled people as well as supporting the CDD in its drive to achieve sustainability. This project started in October 2002, and ended in September 2005. The impact of the project was as follows:

• 2,000 disabled people received rehabilitation therapy
• 50,000 people received training on disability issues at community level
• 300 children with disabilities were included in mainstream schools
• 1,700 disabled people were included in development projects
• 6,000 family members of disabled people were included in development projects
• 40 social workers were trained to provide rehabilitation services
• 30 community development organisations, 40 government officials and 80 locally elected representatives and journalists were trainedon disability issues.

CAHD also included a strong advocacy component at community level. These activities were run by community development organisations. Our own advocacy project was run with NFOWD (National Forum of Organizations Working with the Disabled). The DFID funded project was implemented with NFOWD and its 150 member organisations. The projects included

• research and data collection on disability in Bangladesh
• awareness campaign on the rights of disabled people
• advocacy to include disability in the agenda of the donors and the Government
• capacity building of the partners to develop further activities after the end of the project

b) “Proximity services for a full participation of people with disabilities in all spheres of life”, in collaboration with the CDD; decentralisation of the CDD's services in two northern regions of Bangladesh by setting up Decentralised Resources Centres on Disability and 23 mobile units (which include two buses and one boat) to reinforce the capacity of the local NGO/CDO on rehabilitation services and the inclusion of disabled people in general. The three-year project started in February 2007.

c) “Sports and fun for All!” is also an easy and very interesting way to lead to the inclusion of disabled people in the community and society. Activities are ongoing in three districts in collaboration with three Disabled People's Organisations. Within 15 months, it has enabled the involvement of 800 players (children and youth – girls and boys) - 50% of whom were disabled people - playing badminton, football, cricket and many other games. A video and small handbook have been produced to encourage others to develop these types of activities.
Handicap International Bangladesh aims to increase the area of activity to 12 districts.

2) Advocacy with a focus on “Rights of people with disabilities in Bangladesh”
Objective: promote the rights of disabled people by raising awareness of disability issues, increasing knowledge of disability issues and strengthening the advocacy capacity of key partners.
Activities: advocacy and lobbying, targeting national and international NGOs, civil society organizations, lawyers, journalists, representatives of the Bangladesh Government and international funding bodies.

3) Provision of services

a) Assistive technology
Objective: increase access to quality assistive devices.
Activities: support the training and upgrading of skills of orthopaedic and other technicians, develop an orthopaedic workshop in the West of the country. We are also an active member of ADNet (Assistive Devices Network), thus building the capacity of the 13 members of this organisation, all producers of assistive devices. We have confirmed our involvement in a new project run by InterLife Bangladesh to develop a resource centre on assistive devices in Bangladesh.

A general approach PROVAT – PROvision of Assistive Technology – is in progress, as a national strategy on assistive technology doesn’t really exist in Bangladesh. The objective is to develop a national comprehensive system for the Provision of Assistive Technology & accessibility services (PROVAT), through a National Resource Centre on Assistive Technology (NRCAT) and a dynamic network of actors – Assistive Devices Web (ADWeb). 

b) Support to organisations dealing with Learning Disabilities
In collaboration with the NGO Concern and the Department of Social Services of Bangladesh, Handicap International strengthened the capacity of staff in charge of women with learning disabilities.
Handicap International Bangladesh aims to extend these types of activities to local organisations who are working with children with learning disabilities.

4) Disaster Management (preparedness, risk reduction, response and mitigation aspects)
Handicap International recently completed a project on the “Empowerment of people vulnerable to floods, to cope and live with floods in Bangladesh”
Objective: enhance the capacity of the community in disaster-prone areas, to cope and live with natural disasters, as disabled people are often excluded from disaster management projects.
Activities: advocacy and awareness-raising; training from community level to district and national level; mainstreaming the issue of disability in Disaster Preparedness; demonstration of accessible shelter / houses and latrines
This project benefited the population of Roumari Upazilla, which represents 178,000 people, and in particular the 10,600 vulnerable families (53,200 people).

Mainstreaming the issue of Disability in Disaster management is definitely a part of our strategy in Bangladesh considering the area is prone to disasters such as floods, earthquake and cyclone.
Publications are completed and training modules on this approach are in progress to encourage other stakeholders, such as governments, INGOs and NGOs – to include disability in their practices.

CONTACTS
138, Gulshan Avenue, Flat 402, Dhaka 1212
E-mail: Dp.hibgd@dominox.com
Tel: 00 880 11 80 90 86