Disability is not Inability

:: PARTNERSHIPS AND LINKAGES NECESSARY BETWEEN NACC PWD AND ABBA:
After recent meeting within the ABBA process there emerged direct similarities that enable synergy between the of ABBA and the annual NACC PWDs stakeholders M&E forums. Since both are five year projects targeting evidence based AIDS management within disability linkages at the onset are integral.

The recent local chapter of the ABBA process led by RATN seeks to link HIV/ AIDS management with evidence based data to enable effective mainstreaming of the HIV management within the disability sector. While the National HIV/AIDs Strategic plan 2000 did not include the persons with disabilities some sort of inclusion was evident in the Kenya National HIV/AIDS Strategic Plan 2005-2010.

Some PWD stakeholders including in the NACC led forums have been complained that disability is peripherally mentioned in the strategic plan to which i agree. A number of PWDs have thought they should have been mentioned among the vulnerable groups in the plan. (maybe ABBA will prove this to policymakers at NACC).

The fact that they PWDs are not mentioned under the title targeting vulnerable groups may be taken to imply that they are not considered vulnerable by the KNASP plan 2005-10.

But again just like the constitutional review draft documents it is always not easy to include all the stakeholders in a draft document. or that is the answer i got when i enquired this issue with some technocrats at NACC. Stakeholders identified a major need in the review of the previous KNASP 2000: to target interventions more effectively on vulnerable groups. ABBA hopes to facilitate targeting of the same within the disability sector. This it will do by redefining vulnerability in its various dimensions which need to be reflected in the design of interventions.

However within the Monitoring and evaluation framework NACC has been engaging PWD stakeholders for some time now.

And i believe quite a number of us in the industry have attended these meetings. The last one held at the Bounty Hotel in September was quite eye opeing in terms of the need for evidence based reporting. This was developed in some form. Yet the onset of ABBA will cristalise it.

Facilitated by a consultant quite adept in her work there was progress in terms of the roles DPOs need to undertake to ensure whatever they do is captured within the some M&E framework. The M&E forms are quite dependent on the national policies and assumptions that ABBA seeks to redefine and maybe make more effective.

The appropriateness to the disability community of the strategies and policies used in KNASP 2005 Strategic plan is the burden which ABBA carries. One common aspect of the NACC PWD stakeholders forums is the questioning of the same. Many may be wondering the exclusion from health facilities, VCT services etc, but also the policy guidelines may need adjustment to cater for persons with various disabilities.

It is our prayers that ABBA the quest will answer these questions and help mainstream disability within the national strategic framework. The mainstreaming is necessary not only for purposes of enabling the three ones to be entrenched. It will also entrench the disability sector in the KNASP strategy's resource envelop.

The three ones entail the need for specific subsectors like disability to work under the one strategic plan and one monitoring and evaluation programme. Again this implies that the onus of the ABBA process would more or less be to prove the efficacy of the existing policies within Health and HIV/AIDS and explain the ways in which adaptations acn be made to ensure inclusion of persons with disabilities.

The end result of the ABBA would see more effective interventions targeting the disability sector being within the national framework both in planning, implementation and monitoring level. It would be easy unlike now for DPOs representatives to fill in M&E forms for the purpose of one evaluation report within common priority areas.

The engagement of the strategic plan within the framework of ABBA may be crucial to ensure some critical linkages and realisation of the full benefits of ABBA not only to the disability AIDS management but also to the inclusion in national development and resource plans, including Economic recovery Startegy (ERS), the MTEF and the annual Budget cycle. Congratulations to RATN for this initiative.

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Category: Inclusion, education

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