Presentation on the Voices of the Marginalised project

1. Innovation through empowerment:
The Voices of the Marginalised project
Dr. Marion Steff
4th February 2016

2. The consortium

3. Why the Voices of the Marginalised
project? (1/2)
• Started in 2012 at the time of the MDGs
• 8 goals set up in 2000 to reduce poverty in the
world by 2015
• Major progress were made to reduce poverty
• Yet, persons with disabilities & older people were
not included

4. Why the Voices of the Marginalised
project? (2/2)
• Beginning of the Post-2015 discussions
• UN wanted to be more opened and transparent
with the process and include all stakeholders
• More talks about inequalities, reaching the
poorest of the poor

5. Purpose
To gather the voices of
persons with disabilities and
older people, and provide
qualitative input to inform
Agenda 2030 and the
Sustainable Development
Goals.

6. The originality of the project (1/2)
• Older people and
persons with disabilities
trained to become
researchers and collect
stories themselves.
• Stories collected also
from local organisations
working on ageing or
disability.

7. The originality of the project (2/2)
Methodology used: Community-based participatory
research (CBPR). It involves:
– Committing to sharing power and resources
– Working towards beneficial outcomes for all
participants
– Equitably involving community members,
organisational representatives and researchers
– Sharing expertise, decision-making and ownership
– Bringing unique strengths from all

8. Ethical principles of CBPR
• Mutual respect
• Personal integrity
• Equality and inclusion
• Democratic participation
• Active learning
• Making a difference
• Collective action

9. Location
1st Phase:
Bangladesh (pilot/
2012-2015)
2nd Phase:
Tanzania (2015-
2016)

10. Commonalities in both findings
Peer researchers identified emerging issues that
particularly affect people with disabilities and
older people.
Commonalities:
• Access to health and education
• Employment
• Family difficulties & marriage breakup

11. Quotes from participants
• “When I was in primary school, I would tell the
teacher that I could not see. I would ask him to read
for me. But the teacher would tell me that if I don’t
see, why do you come to school then?” Person with
visual impairment, 25, Kibaha district (Tanzania)
• “My problem is that since I was about 60, I’ve at
times found it impossible to eat, and at other times I
don’t eat. Sometimes my sons give me a lot,
sometimes they don’t.” Older person, 78, Cox’s Bazar
(Bangladesh)

12. Contextual differences
• According to natural hazards: disasters in
Bangladesh
• According to taboos: Sexual violence in Bangladesh
• According to local beliefs: witchcraft and the
mistreatment of persons with albinism in Tanzania

13. Quotes from participants (1/2)
Talking about rape: “We say we don’t know
who’s doing this. But it’s not true. We know.
It’s a kind of social stigma. If you know that
one of your children is being raped, there’s a
natural tendency to hide that. It’s shameful in
this society so we tend to hide it.” Participant
from a NGO (Bangladesh)

14. Quotes from participants (2/2)
Talking about witchcraft and albinism: “The
way I see it, politic is the source of killing of
people with albinism. The reason for my
argument is that whenever there is an
election, the killing of people with albinism
increases. This year, the community raised its
voice and it stopped for a while.” Participant
from a NGO, Dar es Salaam (Tanzania)

15. In all stories
• All participants experience stigma and
discrimination as well as experiences of
empowerment. Examples: Pride of being married,
to send children to school, to have a livelihood,…
• Further analysis in the Tanzania project with the
following research question: How did participants
experience old age and/or disability?

16. G
How did
participants
experience
old age
and/or
disability?

17. Ex. of recommendations
at the national level (1/2)
In Tanzania:
• Engaging with the government to implement the
National Disability Policy of 2004;
• Legislating the national policy on ageing so that
there is a binding legal framework under the new
Ministry of Health, Social Development, Gender,
Older People and Children.

18. Ex. of recommendations
at the national level (2/2)
In Bangladesh:
• Promote awareness about disability and
ageing being led by the District Social Welfare
while being monitored by the District
Disability Federation.
• Facilitate loans and increase stipends while
increasing jobs quota.

19. Global key recommendations (1/2)
• Ratify, implement & monitor the UN Convention on
the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD);
• Support the elaboration of a UN Convention on the
Rights of Older People (UNCROP).
• Improve disability and older-person data gathering
and analysis mechanisms (SDGs)
• Disaggregate data by age, gender, location,
ethnicity and disability (SDGs targets & indicators)

20. Global key recommendations (2/2)
• Promote the full and equal participation of older
people and persons with disabilities in policy
making at all levels.
• Raise awareness about the experiences of
people with disabilities and older people to
reduce stigma and discrimination.
• Ensure SDGs-compliant development to provide
public services that are inclusive to people with
disabilities and older people

22. Thank you! Questions?
Web page: www.sightsavers.org/voices
Contact details: msteff@sightsavers.org
Twitter: @mllemarionamtl
@Sightsavers_Pol
@adduk
@HelpAge