Training will help World Vision UK include people with disabilities

In July 2019, over 60 staff at international charity World Vision UK took part in CBM training to help them ensure that people with disabilities can benefit from their life-changing programmes.

People with disabilities often face the greatest barriers in poor communities, but are among those least likely to be able to access support from government services and from development or humanitarian programmes. CBM is committed to sharing its expertise to support and equip organisations, like World Vision, so that they don’t unintentionally leave people with disabilities behind.

CBM UK Chief Executive Kirsty Smith, one of the team delivering the training, said:

“It’s really encouraging that World Vision is taking disability inclusion seriously and great to see them seeking training for their staff to ensure an inclusive approach is rolled out across all of their programmes and advocacy work.

CBM has decades of experience in disability inclusion and we were thrilled to be able to draw on this to share our knowledge with World Vision employees. Through training other mainstream organisations, CBM can help change practices worldwide resulting in greater long-term impact for millions of people living with disabilities.

The World Vision staff were fantastic to work with, very open and keen to learn about the best approaches to disability inclusion, to apply this to their programmes. Part of the training was attended by senior staff which showed great commitment to inclusive practices at a high level within the organisation.”

One of the participants commented “CBM delivers excellent training! Usually varied and engaging, with many real-life examples. Tremendous depth, knowledge and experience of trainers.” An evaluation showed that 100% of participants in the first workshop agreed that it had improved their understanding around disability inclusive development with 69% of those strongly agreeing. All attendees in the second workshop agreed the training gave them practical ideas and tools to address disability inclusion in their work.

The training aimed to provide World Vision UK with a better understanding of disability inclusive approaches and help them improve the inclusion of people with disabilities into their policies and programming. It covered a range of topics including why disability is a key development issue, the difference between impairment and disability, the cycle of disability and poverty and the barriers and enablers to inclusion. It helped to identify gaps and opportunities for disability inclusion in World Vision projects, including inclusive budgeting, data collection, planning and design. It also explored models of working and disability inclusive language and communications.

The training was carried out by CBM UK Chief Executive, Kirsty Smith, CBM Senior Advisor on Disability Inclusive Development, Charlotte Axelsson and London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine Health, Management and Development Consultant, Enock Musungwini.

Following the training, CBM will be submitting recommendations to World Vision UK on how to improve the inclusion of people with disabilities across all programmes and advocacy work. At the end of the training CBM provided a resource that listed toolkits, websites and organisations World Vision UK could go to for further information and training.

Image: Nine-year-old Elisabeth was born with spina bifida and used to struggle to get to school – but since receiving a wheelchair from CBM’s partner in Tanzania, her sister can push her to school. © CBM/Hartung