Photo: Fred Hsu CC by 2.0 Lima, Peru
The Disability and World Bank Safeguards Campaign celebrates the International Day of Persons with Disabilities by working with Disabled Persons Organizations (DPOs) and civil society organizations (CSOs) in Lima, Peru to build and enhance their capacity on the World Bank. The Campaign will conduct a one and a half day training with approximately twenty members of the disability community from around Peru on how the World Bank works and key advocacy strategies for influencing the World Bank. The time is ripe for advocacy from persons with disabilities and disability advocates as the World Bank is in the midst of reviewing its environmental and social safeguard policies, the World Bank’s “do no harm policies.” As the policies currently stand, the needs and rights of persons with disabilities are not included in the safeguard policies, and without these protections, persons with disabilities could be harmed by, left out of, or not able to benefit from World Bank projects.
The first draft proposal of the new Environmental and Social Framework includes persons with disabilities under “disadvantaged or vulnerable groups” which is a step in the right direction to ensure the proper protections for persons with disabilities; however, it is imperative that the Bank looks at the unique impacts of projects on persons with disabilities and not just “disadvantaged or vulnerable groups” as a whole. Additionally, the Bank must address issues of accessibility and inclusion to ensure that persons with disabilities are included and considered in all phases of the World Bank project lifecycle from design to implementation to monitoring and evaluation. The needs and rights of persons with disabilities must also be included throughout all relevant proposed standards.
Society and Disability and the Peruvian Down Syndrome Society are the Disability and World Bank Safeguards Campaign focal points for Latin America and are responsible for providing evidence on how World Bank projects are impacting persons with disabilities and work with other DPOs and CSOs to advocate to the World Bank office in Lima, Peru on making the World Bank more inclusive for persons with disabilities.