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Caritas Australia and disability

Caritas Australia and disability. South East Asia program perspective. Background Principles by which we work. Our mandate is to work for (and with) the poorest of the poor – we define as poorest, marginalised and vulnerable

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Caritas Australia and disability

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  1. Caritas Australia and disability South East Asia program perspective

  2. BackgroundPrinciples by which we work • Our mandate is to work for (and with) the poorest of the poor – we define as poorest, marginalised and vulnerable • We use the principles of Catholic Social teaching (CST) as the framework for our programs.

  3. Catholic Social Teaching • Uphold the dignity of the human person • Begin and strengthen processes that lead from less human to more human conditions • Serve others, especially the poorest • Enable the poor to participate in decisions affecting their lives • Promote peace and communal harmony; the common good • Care for the environment • Promote justice for all, especially economic justice • Subsidiarity • Love one another

  4. Asia Strategy • We aim to develop and implement strategies which • reach, • include, • support, • benefit • and empower the poorest, most vulnerable and marginalised in each community in which we work.

  5. Working with the poorest of the poor • By the term “poorest of the poor” we mean: the poorest in terms of food, shelter, clothing, access to education and health services; weakest in terms of capacity to influence; the most vulnerable in any society and those who are marginalised for reasons of race, disability, difference etc.

  6. How we do this Partners are trained on CST and working with poorest Training includes session listing all those groups who might be included as poorest Partners discuss obstacles to working with poorest and how to overcome obstacles Partners understand obligations to the poorest

  7. How CST has supported disability work • Partners look again at their programs • Putting disabled people on the agenda may mean: Mainstreaming disability into all programs and/or Implementing specific disability programs

  8. Mainstreaming • Partners need to look at inclusion in all initiatives • How do we do this? • Inclusion features: listening, creating access, providing assistance, empowerment • Constraint: Within a strategy to reach the poorest are disabled people lost amid widows, orphans, landless, illiterate, elderly, the sick etc?

  9. Inclusion • CA supports many programs in broad community development both rural and urban; in each of these we need to find a special place for the disabled elderly, landless, orphans etc • This takes time and a consistent approach • Example:A community development project in Kampong Speu province Cambodia, included as “common good” the building of a school but also supported the poorest in provision of clean water, chicken-raising and kitchen gardening

  10. Thmey village,Kampong Speu, Cambodia

  11. Advantages of specific projects • Raises profile • Specific initiatives for people living with HIV/AIDS created an environment in which HIV was recognised as a major health and social issue • More effective at ensuring the involvement of people with disability • Recognises the value of PWD

  12. Specific initiatives Vietnam: Training of parents and teachers of the disabled to become advocates particularly in communities and schools Self-help groups Livelihood development Vocational training Parents as trainers

  13. Specific initiativesCambodia- Maryknoll • Deaf Development Program • The majority of deaf people in Cambodia live isolated lives in the provinces. Deaf men work in the rice fields with their hearing siblings. Deaf women are kept at home to cook and clean. They have no language except for some “home signs” made up by family and only understood by family.

  14. Maryknoll-DDP • Most students have never been to school • For deaf students over 16 years • Two year program: sign language, basic literacy and numeracy, life skills • Organises vocational training • Three centres:Kampot, Kampong Cham, Phnom Penh • Staff includes 9 deaf people • Provides hostel accommodation

  15. Vocational training

  16. Lao PDR- two programs • Lao Disabled People’s Organisation (LDPA). Support for children with intellectual disability – volunteer-run school, training of parents and teachers of children with ID. First initiative in the country; LDPA has potentially wide-reach • CRS – Sight and Sound project. Training and support of teachers in identifying hearing and visual impairment among children; provision of aids – glasses, hearing aids • Both projects are supported by government

  17. For discussion • Where do we start? • Is mainstreaming just an idea rather than a strategy? • Is mainstreaming another word for marginalisation? • How successful are development agencies at mainstreaming?

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