Life Haven Independent Living Center, a member of the Philippine Coalition on the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, releases its most recent case study on the impact of the World Bank funded National Community Driven Development Program (NCDDP) on persons with disabilities in the Philippines. The Community Driven Development approach allows empowered community members to control projects. The basic assumption is that residents are in a better position to identify their needs and the problems that they face in community development. These residents then become responsible implementers who monitor the progress of sub-projects. The approach has been adopted by many countries as a poverty-reduction strategy, which has resulted in improvement in: community economy, the health of community members, delivery of public services and the general well-being of the community. However, the design of NCDDP is not inclusive of persons with disabilities, despite the fact that it uses the Community Driven Development approach. The target areas of implementation are poor municipalities where records show a bigger percentage of household population with disabilities compared to higher income municipalities. Without reference to and components of disability in the World Bank Safeguard Policies, it will be very difficult for persons with disabilities to participate and be included in the whole community development process.
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