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2.1 Context
Afghanistan is one of the poorest countries in the world. In 1996, the country ranked 169th out of 174 countries in the HDI. Afghanistan was a very poor country before the war and fell further behind the rest of the world during the past quarter-century. More than two decades of conflict, interspersed with a number of serious earthquakes, and culminating in a severe nationwide drought in 1999-2001, had dramatic impacts on the Afghan population and particularly its poorest segments .
It is estimated that one fifth of Afghans (3-4 million people) may be living in chronic and extreme poverty. CEP can be found in every district, province and urban centre of the country, although initial data suggests that it is more concentrated in certain geographical areas. Because people living in CEP tend to have little agency and minimal political voice their interests are too often marginalized from decision making processes .
One of the most poorest and vulnerable group in this segment is considered to be people with disabilities not only due to bombardments, landmines/UXO but also starvation, malnutrition, poor health conditions, and poor child care. It is currently estimated that 3.7% of the Afghan population (over 850,000 people) suffers from various forms of disability. This not only affects disabled people (who are often marginalized and have little opportunities) but their families, as well as representing significant challenges for the entire Afghan society.
2.2 Rationale of the Project
In order to save thousands of lives and having eased the suffering of several thousand, it is central to recognize that people with disabilities must be the leading actors in overcoming their poverty. Including planning, decision making, learning by doing and consultation. In addition, all efforts should recognize that the majority of people with disabilities are striving and working hard to improve their livelihoods in extremely difficult circumstances.
The rationale of this project is to ensure that the poorest people with disabilities are provided with expanded “opportunities” to improve their situation. They need targeted support and commitment, supplemented by actions and resources necessary that can directly contribute to their exclusion and physical well-being. This can only be achieved through the provision of a practical support mechanism such as Micro-finance, provision of financial and technical services to ensure long-term vision and commitment and help them bring in a hope and willingness to live, work and a desire to carry out some business activities from which they will acquire employment as well as income. These interventions will initially be targeted at Women and men, as these two groups tends to be more “responsible” in terms of their management of money, as well as benefiting to the most marginalized and vulnerable members of the households especially children.
This project therefore, proposes to develop and test an integrated approach to people with disabilities in the city of Kabul, by which micro-finance services will be linked to a range of support services such as literacy, legal literacy, health care, insurance, training and micro-enterprises development. The hypothesis underlying the project is that community based private business activities can develop cost-effective ways by which to maximize the impact of micro-finance services upon the lives of poor people with disabilities and their families.
2.3 Development and Ability Organization (DAO)
In late 2003, a group of disabled persons decided to work for themselves and to ensure that all persons with disabilities in Afghanistan fully and actively participate in the social and economical life. Consequently, these efforts formed the Development and Ability Organization (DAO) in early 2004. This nongovernmental organization has an active board of Directors entirely comprised from disabled people.
With financial support of UNICEF, DAO conducted a survey to assess the problems of barrier free access for people with disabilities in the city of Kabul. This type of survey is needed throughout Afghanistan as the reconstruction process begins so that barriers to access for persons with disability (PwD) should be identified and strictly considered by rehabilitation and reconstruction designers, donor agencies and their implementing partners. This will ensure that PwDs have access to public buildings, recreational parks, schools and other public spaces. The main objective of this research project was to identify the major difficulties of access for PwDs within public services, public spaces like ministries, recreational parks, hospitals, clinics and schools. Questions regarding rights for people with disability and their expectations from the government, UN agencies, NGOs, community and family were also included in the survey. It is hoped that by providing this kind of information to government, UN agencies, and NGOs proper access for PwDs in all buildings under renovation or newly constructed will be barrier free. The information collected through this research will be useful for the Afghan government and assistance organizations sensitizing them to the needs of PwDs and influence their future development and reconstruction plans for Afghanistan.
Currently, DAO is running a project with the financial support of UNCIEF in the city of Kandahar, aiming to develop the capacity of the disabled Afghans with regard to their human rights and strengthen their capacity to advocate inclusion in all public and social forums including education, employment and health sector services. |
