A Step Toward Inclusive Development: The World Bank and Disability

The World Bank has taken an important step toward promoting ‘inclusive development’ for persons with disabilities, the world’s largest minority group.  Persons with disabilities face significantly higher risks of poverty globally due to barriers that limit access to education, employment, and full participation within society.  Compounding this problem, persons with disabilities often do not benefit from international development projects because policies overlook disability issues and/or programming is not designed with persons with disabilities in mind and, thus, is not accessible.[1] The World Bank aims to eliminate poverty in developing countries and now recognizes that persons with disabilities must be included in all Bank funded projects in order to effectively fight poverty. 

The World Bank has initiated a review of its policies with the goal of mainstreaming disability issues and promoting inclusive development.  The Bank Information Center (BIC), in collaboration with the Lebanese Physical Handicapped Union (LPHU), has launched the Disability and World Bank Safeguards Campaign.  The campaign aims to encourage inclusive development by: integrating disability into World Bank processes; ensuring that programmes funded by the World Bank consider disability in both planning and execution; and mainstreaming disability issues.[2]

Development projects that lack accessible infrastructure exclude persons with disabilities from benefiting from an array of public spaces, such as courthouses, health clinics, schools, and employment settings.  Often development institutions invest large amounts of money into buildings that are not accessible to persons with disabilities.  Designing and building accessible infrastructure at the outset of a project is more cost effective than retrofitting ramps, elevators, and other accessibility features down the road.

To provide a practical example, funding a programme to build a school in a developing country is not inclusive if the school is not physically accessible to students with disabilities.  Beyond the physical accessibility of buildings, development institutions must also consider whether programmes are inclusive of persons with disabilities. For instance, development programmes that promote education for all must ensure that: school curriculum is accessible to students with disabilities; teachers and other staff are trained on how to provide reasonable accommodations; parents are aware of their child’s right to an education; and programme activities related to education law and policy frameworks include disability issues. The above illustration provides an example of how disability could be incorporated into education programmes, however, these principles apply across all development sectors.  When planning development initiatives, disabled people’s organizations (DPO) are an invaluable resource to ensure that all project activities are truly inclusive of and accessible to persons with disabilities.

Development projects that are not inclusive and accessible discriminate against persons with disabilities and therefore are not in compliance with international human rights law.  Article 32 of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities requires States Parties to ensure that international development programmes are “inclusive of and accessible to persons with disabilities.”[3]

 

The Disability and World Bank Safeguards Campaign represents a significant achievement in advancing inclusive development at the policy and programmatic levels.  Other international development actors should follow-suit by mainstreaming disability as a cross-cutting issue.  By mainstreaming disability work, the international development community can better serve persons with disabilities, a segment of society which is often overlooked under the current development framework.

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[1] Bank Information Center, “Disability and World Bank Safeguards Campaign,” accessed 4 February 2013, http://www.bicusa.org/issues/safeguards/disability/.

[2] “Disability and World Bank Safeguards Campaign,” http://www.bicusa.org/issues/safeguards/disability/.

[3][3] United Nations, Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, accessed 4 February 2013, http://www.un.org/disabilities/documents/convention/convoptprot-e.pdf.