Building effective partnerships with the Disability Movement – sharing lessons learned

“CBM builds the bridges, the connection, and the link. Opening the door, getting the communication going, coaching people on how to pitch things and how to be strategic. They influenced the change in perceptions – of looking at people with disabilities as equal partners. Through this process or changing perception process, partners take this on.” CBM advisory partner

At CBM we want to learn. And the best way to learn is to listen. At the heart of what CBM does is our relationship with our partners and, in our commitment to global disability inclusion, many of those we closely partner with are Organisations of People with Disabilities (OPDs).

In 2021, the CBM Global Federation wanted to hear directly from OPDs, enabling us to listen and learn from them. Crucially we wanted to understand and hear what our partnership with them is really like from their perspective. As a result we conducted an extensive and informative listening exercise involving 32 different organisations across 14 countries.

The findings from this comprehensive outreach were which was launched at the recent Global Disability Summit alongside the 23 Commitments that signal the measures that CBM are taking to strengthen its partnerships with Organisations of People with Disabilities and engage with the disability movement in the ways that they have told us are most effective. Read CBM’s commitments here (open in new tab).

Here in the UK, we’re inviting you, your colleagues and partners, however and wherever you are involved in the international development sector across the world, to discover what we heard, how we’re responding as an organisation and how this links into important sector narratives around locally-led development. Do join us on 6^th April where you and those you bring along will hear some of our OPD partners reflect on the report and share with us all how they think partnerships with OPDs can be supported and strengthened in future. We will also hear thoughts directly from the FCDO.

Do join us on 6^th April and register here for our virtual event as we seek to learn and share together.

Sharing lessons learned from partnerships with organisations of persons with disabilities

• Speakers including: Kiengu Women Challenged to Challenge Kenya, National Union of Disability Organisations in Rwanda (NUDOR), Disability Rights Advocacy Centre in Nigeria (DRAC), FCDO representative from the Disability Inclusion Team, & CBM UK
• Wednesday 6^th April 2022, 10-11.30 BST
• British Sign Language interpretation and closed captions available

Register for the event here (open in new tab).

Image: The secretary of the local disability committee takes part in a meeting and training in Zimbabwe. © CBM/Hayduk