VSO Submission to the International Development Committee’s Inquiry into FCDO and disability- inclusive development

Introduction

VSO is an international development agency that works through volunteers. VSO sees disability inclusion as a development goal and a human rights issue. We want to ensure that people with disabilities are listened to and can live with respect and dignity. We work to achieve this by ensuring people with disabilities participate in development processes and that our programmes and organisation are inclusive of them. We address the barriers to inclusion by challenging harmful social norms that feed negative attitudes and behaviour towards disability, working to remove physical and communication barriers, and enhancing leadership and meaningful participation of persons with disabilities in decision-making. We work directly with people with disabilities as well as their families and communities to achieve positive change. We strive to collect and use data on disability in a meaningful way so that we can identify and reach those most disadvantaged and measure impact. We welcome the opportunity to contribute to this inquiry. VSO is a member of Bond’s disability and development group and also supports their submission.

FCDO’s role on disability inclusion

• The FCDO is a global leader on disability inclusion, hosting the first Global Disability Summit and in the development of its strategy, which recognises the need for a long-term, people-centred, rights-based approach to disability inclusion.  FCDO’s work on disability inclusion should be commended.  As a global leader the UK has a role in encouraging other states to promote disability inclusion, access and resilience, whether this is through educating people on disability rights, providing remedial tools, or access to new technologies.  Disability inclusion should not be seen as an optional extra, but embedded in all aspects of programming, strategy, and service delivery. 

• The FCDO is ahead of many donors with regards to disability inclusion. The FCDO could do more with multilateral funding instruments, private and institutional donors to ensure greater levels of inclusion, transparency, and best practice in their approaches.  This would also beneficially build the amount of money available for disability inclusion work. 

• Given the rollback on rights globally, the increase in authoritarian regimes and reduction in transparency and accountability; the FCDO has a global leadership role to play in championing the rights of people with disabilities and ensuring they are not left behind, and that gains made in previous years aren’t lost due to the pandemic, conflicts, climate crises, reductions in funding and shifts away from democratic values. 

• Funding for international development has reduced significantly both in terms of the commitment reduction of ODA from 0.7% to 0.5% and the proportion of ODA used for in-donor refugee costs.  The impacts of these cuts have been devastating, as we have seen from a number of reports and the FCDO’s own impact assessment.  Whilst we may now be starting to see something of a shift around development spending in the UK, it is still early days and the commitment to return to 0.7% of ODA for UK aid is still earmarked for 2028 and only if the financial circumstances allow. 

• The work that VSO does in terms of disability inclusion often centres around inclusive and accessible education for all including for girls and children with disabilities.  The impacts of the funding cuts, combined with the impacts of the pandemic and its aftermath are being felt by the most marginalised – women and girls, and people with disabilities.  Where these factors of marginalisation intersect, this is even more severe.  Whilst the FCDO remains ahead in terms of its inclusion of people with disabilities in its programmes, we are nevertheless, seeing a reversal of the gains made in previous years.

• It is critical that disability inclusion is recognised as a crosscutting human rights issue and necessary component to all future UK international development strategies, reports, interventions, and delivery plans.  They should reference, acknowledge, and seek to implement FCDO’s Disability Inclusion and Rights Strategy 2022 to 2030. FCDO’s direction and engagement on disability inclusion is critical to promoting inclusion and financing sustainable interventions in promoting the rights and empowering persons with disabilities.

• Volunteers with disabilities can provide great value to programmes, whether that is around access to education, improving awareness on rights and services, or increasing skills and knowledge.  Volunteers with disabilities[1] can bring their own personal experiences of living with disability to support marginalised communities including people with disabilities.  They can more easily understand the struggles people with disabilities face and also support them in gaining tools, support, skills and knowledge to help them overcome the barriers they face.  They can also help to educate the families of people with disabilities and the wider communities. For example, under the UK government funded International Citizen Service programme lead by VSO, all deaf teams of UK and Kenyan youth volunteers taught 450 national and community volunteers in Kenya sign language including families of people with disabilities, teachers, health workers and local community leaders, meaning deaf children were able to communicate effectively for the first time[2]. We note that there is no mention of enabling people with disabilities to volunteer nationally or internationally in the pre-engagement survey for the Government’s new international volunteering programme announced earlier this year[3], and would encourage them to consider this to inclusive volunteering under the new scheme.

• Systems strengthening is core to providing inclusive and accessible programming which supports people with disabilities to access services, learn, gain skills, confidence and know their rights.  A key area for systems strengthening is education systems which primarily aren’t designed with children with disabilities in mind.  This includes everything from the school buildings to the training that teachers receive.  The FCDO needs to ensure that systems strengthening is at the heart of all its programming and that this is done from a social inclusion and gender perspective.  For example, the Building Learning Foundations programme[4] was an FCDO funded national education programme in Rwanda aimed at improving the quality of learning for children.  The programme engaged children who are more likely to be excluded from continuous formal education including girls, children with learning and physical disabilities. The programme worked with a team of more than 200 Rwandan volunteers support by 35 international volunteers, to provide extensive and intensive technical assistance to every school to embed inclusive strategies into daily practice.

• People with disabilities are more likely to experience sexual violence and abuse, including Gender Based Violence.  Supporting people with disabilities necessarily requires that a survivor based approach is taken to programming, and that the impacts of violence are considered, especially with women and girls with disabilities.  The FCDO needs to consider a survivor based approach to programming, including aspects of safeguarding.  For example, In Nepal, the FCDCO funded ENGAGE[5] project targeted those most likely to be excluded from formal secondary education due to traditional social norms and harmful practices including child and forced marriage.  This included teenage girls and girls with disabilities.  They were targeted with specialist support and awareness raising of their rights, with the girls directly and their families. 

• The UK is a global leader in disability inclusion including seeing it as a rights-based approach. However, as a global leader, the UK should and can do more.  The impact of the cuts to the aid budget have been significant and felt by the most vulnerable including those with disabilities.  Key programmes which focused on education and health have been significantly impacted whether this is about access to alternative forms of education or ensuring the needs of people with disabilities are considered when delivering health services.  SRHR services are particularly lacking for people with disabilities and have been especially impacted by the reductions in ODA spending by the UK. 

• As well as prioritising funding to projects which have an integrative approach to disability inclusion, the FCDO can do more in encouraging multilateral funding instruments, private and institutional donors to take a disability inclusive approach to their programming.  The UK can also use their leadership and expertise on disability inclusion to encourage other governments to consider how they can support disability inclusion across ministries to promote rehabilitation services and assistive technology for persons with disabilities.  The rollback on rights of many marginalised groups including people with disabilities through the increase in autocratic regimes, is a real concern and something the UK could take a leadership role on.  People with disabilities have already experienced a rollback from recent gains made due to the pandemic, ongoing conflicts, climate crises and funding reductions.  The UK needs to take a clear role in turning the tide and regaining the ground lost and pushing forward for disability inclusion and rights. 

For further information, please contact Ruth Jackson, UK Parliamentary Adviser, Ruth.Jackson@vsoint.org