The countries we work in Latin America Argentina, Barbados, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Grenada, Guyana, Honduras, Jamaica, Nicaragua,Trinidad and Tobago

Some facts about the region... 50 million disabled people, representing 10% of the region’s population One of the regions of the world with the greatest inequality Approximately 82% of people with disability in the region live in poverty The World Bank 2005

Objectives Strengthen organisational development Promotion of inclusive education for children with disabilities Strengthen vocational training programmes and promote economic empowerment Develop a network that shares tools, experiences and knowledge between partner NGOs, DPOs and other disability and development stakeholders

Innovative Inclusive Education projects in Honduras, Ecuador, Brazil Only 25% of disabled children in LAC attend school The World Bank 2005

Salamanca Conference 92 governments and 25 international organisations “Regular schools with this inclusive orientation are the most effective means of combating discriminatory attitudes, creating welcoming communities, building an inclusive society and achieving education for all…” (Article 2, Salamanca statement)

INCLUSIVE EDUCATION “Inclusion is an attitude a value and a belief system not an action or set of actions” (Villa & Thousand, 1995) “There is no such thing as an inclusive school, there is a process of inclusion that has no limits” (Ballard, 1995) The World Bank

Innovative IE Projects Kenya: community mobilization for physical access, teacher training, economic empowerment. Colombia: early childhood project empowering parents Brazil: inclusive preschool (from adult residential care to early years provison) Honduras: develop a resource centre, building alliances and community participation, capacity builduing at all levels (UNESCO training packages), model for the country Ecuador: research to identify and evaluate previous experiences and to highlight the way forward: teacher training, influence policy, working with parents )

On the journey towards Inclusive Education systems… “Ideological Impurity is OK” Norwich, 1996 Aim for access and quality Education for ALL children On the journey towards Inclusive Education systems…

Economic empowerment in Latin America

Economic empowerment in Latin America Problem: some 80 to 90% of disabled people in LAC do not have access to employment Challenge: provision of sustainable livelihood opportunities for young people with disabilities in the informal sector Our solutions: Development of demand-driven opportunities for vocational training Support for the provision of vocational training Development of competencies for self employment Promotion of access to mainstream microfinance schemes

From traditional approaches to sustainable livelihood Occupational therapy Income generation Microenterprise Development/ formal employment Sustainable livelihood

The road to sustainable livelihood Understanding market potential Provision of adapted training Microenterprise development Sustainable livelihood

Understanding the socio-economic context Identification of demand-driven opportunities for productive workshops and microenterprise development Research into marketable skills for vocational training and marketable products Building of self-confidence and development of competencies for self-employment

Access to training opportunities Identification of mainstream vocational training and business development institution interested in expanding their customer base towards the inclusion of people with disabilities Development of adapted curricula for vocational training and business development Provision of advisory support for market development and microenterprise development

Access to capital Identification of mainstream microfinance institutions interested in expanding their customer base to include people with disabilities Promotion of group lending for credit reduction risk Collaborative approach for policy and product development as well as practice change for microfinance institutions

Promoting sustainability Partnerships with DPOs for: promotion of schemes, enhancement of scheme performance, monitoring and follow up, consolidation of learning, establishment of structures for replicability and scaling up Partnership with mainstream organisations for: Effective creation of inclusive opportunities, replication on larger scale

Potential areas of partnership for future interventions Support reaching MDGs targets for marginalised social groups Provide advisory capacity on disability issues and mainstreaming Facilitate the formation of consortia with other agencies to innovate and take programmes to scale