Inclusive Development

How to define inclusive development?

Inclusive development consists of ensuring that all marginalized and excluded groups are stakeholders in development processes.

UNDP maintains that many groups are excluded from development because of their gender, ethnicity, age, sexual orientation, disability or poverty. The effects of such exclusion are rising levels of inequality around the world. Development cannot effectively reduce poverty unless all groups contribute to the creation of opportunities, share the benefits of development and participate in decision-making¹. The goal of inclusive development is to achieve an inclusive society, able to accommodate differences and to value diversity.

Disability-inclusive development, as defined by IDDC ², refers to “ensuring that all phases of the development cycle (design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation) include a disability dimension and that persons with disabilities are meaningfully and effectively participating in development processes and policies”.

Inclusive development also implies a rights-based approach to development, understood in terms of a framework for human development as a process firmly grounded in international human rights standards and focused on the promotion and protection of human rights.

In other words, inclusive development :

ensures that persons with disabilities are recognized as rights-holding equal members of society who must be actively engaged in the development process irrespective of their impairment or other status such as race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national, ethnic, indigenous or social origin, property, birth, age or other status;and that development institutions, policies and programmes must take into account and be assessed in accordance with their impact on the lives of persons with disabilities, and consistent with the promotion and protection of internationally recognized human rights ³ ».

Inclusion is both an objective and a process.

Key principles of disability-inclusive development

Inclusive development is based on three principles: participation, non-discrimination and accessibility⁴.

Participation:

Participation is essential to ensure the relevance and sustainability of any development action. The active involvement of people with disabilities is particularly important to overcome their isolation and invisibility. Overcoming barriers, especially social barriers, is only possible if there is a proactive effort to include people with disabilities. This requires positive action and the implementation of reasonable accommodation.

The Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) contains an obligation to "closely consult with and actively involve persons with disabilities, including children with disabilities, through their representative organizations (...) in the development and implementation of legislation and policies to implement the present Convention, and in other decision-making processes concerning issues relating to persons with disabilities” (CRPD Article 4.3). The participation requirement is also reflected in the following reference to inclusive development: "partnership with relevant international and regional organizations and civil society, in particular organizations of persons with disabilities” (CRPD Article 32) ⁵.

Non-discrimination:

Discrimination is the key concept of the CRPD, which it aims to eliminate. There are two basic types of discrimination:

Direct discrimination:

Treating a person less favourably than another in a comparable situation (for example, refusing to include some children in a programme because of their disability);

Indirect discrimination:

Occurs when something that is apparently "neutral" results in a particular disadvantage for people with disabilities (for example, a water programme for all is excluding people with disabilities if pumps or wells are inaccessible or cannot be manoeuvred easily). Denying a reasonable accommodation is hence a form of indirect discrimination.

Non-discrimination is related to the concept of equal opportunities. It is essential to ensure an equal chance for all to access an opportunity, taking into consideration that people do not have the same starting point. Disability-inclusive development, therefore, means to ensure that no action contributes to creating new barriers: an education project involving the construction of inaccessible schools, with a teaching pedagogy that is not adapted or staff that are not trained to include children with disabilities, is discriminatory and as such violates article 32 of the CRPD.

Accessibility :

An essential implication of non-discrimination is to systematically consider accessibility issues. Accessibility must "enable persons with disabilities to live independently and participate fully in all aspects of life". The CRPD requires States Parties to take "appropriate measures to ensure to persons with disabilities access, on an equal basis with others, to the physical environment, to transportation, to information and communications, including information and communications technologies and systems, and to other facilities and services open or provided to the public, both in urban and in rural areas"(CRPD Article 9).

Inclusive development implies that the needs of the majority are taken into consideration, for example by applying the principles of Universal Design⁶, and that reasonable accommodation, i.e. the necessary adjustments, be made ​​to enable individuals to participate on an equal basis with others. The experience of Handicap International in difficult environments has shown that "small" actions and adjustments can do much to enhance participation of people with disabilities (for example, the decision to organize classrooms so that those including children with disabilities are located on the ground floor of the school).

Implementing inclusive development: a twin-track approach

To implement inclusive development effectively, a twin-track approach is necessary. Adapted from the movement to promote gender issues, it requires the concurrent association of two components:

Mainstreaming disability (i.e. integrating disability as a cross-cutting issue) on the one hand, which focuses on the society to eliminate excluding barriers;Implementation of specific actions for people with disabilities,  i.e. focusing on the group of excluded people to enhance their capabilities and support their action to advocate towards full participation.

Caption: this diagram illustrates the two ‘tracks’ of the twin-track approach explained above⁷.

Mainstreaming disability

Disability mainstreaming is a process similar to gender mainstreaming, the definition of which can be adapted as follows:

“Mainstreaming a disability perspective is the process of assessing the implications for women and men with disabilities of any planned action, including legislation, policies and programmes, in all areas and at all levels. It is a strategy for making people with disabilities’ concerns and experiences an integral dimension of the design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of policies and programmes in all political, economic and societal spheres so that women and men with disabilities benefit equally and inequality is not perpetuated. The ultimate goal is to achieve disability equality”⁸.

It is about ensuring that 'ordinary' or ‘generalist’ development activities, i.e. not aimed specifically at people with disabilities, also benefit them.

Specific actions towards people with disabilities

Moreover, it is essential that these actions be complemented by initiatives targeting specifically at people with disabilities, enabling them to obtain the necessary support to equal participation.

Specific actions must be motivated by a common goal of the inclusion of people with disabilities. Thus, it is important that actions:

Promote self-relianceAre inclusive, and promote the inclusion and not the segregation of people with disabilitiesAre sustainableRespond to and back up corresponding policiesReflect an interdisciplinary approachInvolve community participationEnsure participation of people with disabilitiesConsider specificities of women and children with disabilities⁹

 

ExamplesDisability mainstreamingDisability-specific actions

Inclusive

Consultation with organizations representing people with disabilities in the development of a local development plan As part of an education project, construction of schools accessible to all, according to the principles of Universal Design Systematic organization of meetings and workshops of a project in places accessible, by providing the necessary means for the participation of allIntegration of disability issues in a rapid assessment to develop a response to a humanitarian crisisStrengthening the capacity of disability organizations to promote their rightsTraining in Sign LanguageDevelopment of rehabilitation services adopting a person-centered approach to improve the functional capabilities of people with disabilitiesSpecial Education Programmes to meet the needs of children with severe disabilities, including activities with other children

 

Non- inclusive

Development of a local development plan without consultation with representatives of disabled people living in the locality As part of an education project, construction of the building of a separate school for children with disabilitiesSystematic referral of people with disabilities to sheltered workshops as a single solution to access to employmentProgrammes of institutionalization of people with disabilities in a specialized setting, isolated from the rest of society

It is important to dispel the myth that disability mainstreaming makes specific actions towards people with disabilities useless. Experience shows that these two approaches are not opposed, but must be used in a complementary manner and concurrently.

Points of caution
In light of lessons learned from gender mainstreaming, one should beware of the ‘instrumentalization’ or the misappropriation of disability mainstreaming.

Disability "everywhere" ends up being "nowhere"Disability becomes a “technical” issue and loses its ethical and political dimensionsInequalities are eliminated, and equity is forgotten: people with disabilities in projects are treated "alike", which equates to non-disability-sensitive planningDisability analyses and issues are treated superficially because they are compulsoryEveryone is responsible so nobody takes responsibilityThe impact on people with disabilities is concealed within general overall monitoringBudgets where disability is mainstreamed are not clear enough¹⁰

Inclusive development: the importance of alliances

Inclusive development goes beyond the sole disability issue. While it is important to understand the specific characteristics enabling effective disability mainstreaming in development, these should be part of a more comprehensive strategy to reduce inequalities and include diversity.

It is particularly important to take into account the multiple identities of a person (sometimes called 'intersectionality'), for example: the women's movement must recognize that there are women with disabilities who have specific perspectives and priorities, and, similarly, the disability movement must take into account a gender perspective to address the priorities of its women members.

People with disabilities themselves are not a homogeneous group and should not be treated as such. The diversity of identities covers characteristics such as gender and type of disability, but also age, social class, etc. In respect of all diversities, alliances can also be established between different groups: "because inclusion involves everyone in society at all levels, collaboration and networking are core strategies to achieve inclusion”¹¹.

1. UNDP : http://www.undp.org/content/undp/en/home/ourwork/povertyreduction/focus_areas/focus_inclusive_development/

2. International Disability and Development Consortium (IDDC) – see: http://www.iddcconsortium.net/joomla/

3. IDDC Submission to Firth Ad Hoc Committee preparing the text of the UNCRPD: http://www.un.org/esa/socdev/enable/rights/ahc5docs/ahc5iddc.doc

4. Depending on the organization, these key principles of inclusive development are formulated differently, but they all cover these important concepts: the World Bank, for example, highlights integration, equity and access.

5. Idem.

6. “Universal design is the design of products and environments to be usable by all people, to the greatest extent possible, without the need for adaptation or specialized design. The intent of universal design is to simplify life for everyone by making products, communications and the built environment more usable by as many people as possible at little or no extra cost. Universal design benefits people of all ages and abilities.” Definition from Ron Mace, Center for Universal Design, NC State University, North Carolina, 1997.

7. See DfID, Disability, Poverty and Development, Feb, 2000, page 11.

8. Adapted from the definition of gender mainstreaming by the UN Economic and Social Council, ECOSOC July 1997.

9. Adapted from STAKES, United Nations, The disability dimension in development action, p.113.

10. Adapted from: « Pense-Genre » : pour une gestion axée sur les résultats sensible aux inégalités entre les hommes et les femmes », UNFPA 2010

11. IDDC, Make Development Inclusive, Sue Stubbs: http://www.handicap-international.fr/bibliographie-handicap/5CooperationInternationale/make-development-inclusive/inclusivedevelopment695d.html?wid=800&spk=en