Disability Monitor Initiative-Middle East, (DMI-ME) Monitoring Legislative Change, Social Innovation and Public Policies

Location: Lebanon , Egypt , Palestine , Jordan , Syria , Iraq and Yemen

Launched by CBM and Handicap International (HI), together with Bethlehem Arab Society for Rehabilitation (BASR), , Arab Organisation of Disabled People (AODP), Lebanese Physically Handicapped Union (LPHU) and The Al-Hussein Society for the Habilitation/Rehabilitation of the Physically Challenged (AHS), the DMI-ME is an advocacy initiative that gathers and disseminates information on relevant disability topics underpinning the move towards full participation and equal opportunities of people with disabilities.

The DMI-ME is primarily based on field research consulting with people with disabilities, service providers, members of civil society, government officials and local authorities. The objectives of the DMI-ME are to build up knowledge on the situation of people with disabilities, examine best practices in terms of social innovation happening on the grass-roots level as well as to inform about policy reforms on the national and international levels. The aim is that the DMI-ME will serve as a tool for reporting on critical issues affecting people with disabilities in an effort to support the empowerment of relevant stakeholders with information.

Monitoring social innovation
One of the key features of the DMI-ME is whilst disseminating information, it monitors social innovation carried out by local actors including Disabled Peoples Organizations (DPOs), service providers and local authorities. The methodology behind the DMI-ME is to gather information on a local level through field work within HI, CBM or partner projects in order to have first hand information. It includes consulting with people with disabilities, their representative organisations, service providers, as well as local and national authorities.

Monitoring legislation
The DMI-ME will monitor the evolution of legislation of all the above listed Arab countries with regards to the compliance, or not, with the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD).

Monitoring public policies
Often the missing link between socially innovative practices and upgraded legislation is the development of sound public policies. In the Middle East , a key focus of the DMI-ME will be the monitoring of development and enforcement of public policies and allocation of public resources. Attention will be paid to budgeting issues, decentralization, and institutional capacities to enforce legislation. The DMI-ME will also pay a special attention to policies of multilateral and bilateral agencies as they can strongly influence local stakeholders both from civil society and the public sector.

A combined perspective
In this way the DMI-ME has a unique perspective on disability issues; it looks at both the macro level policies in place while monitoring how these policies translate into practice and how these practices impact the lives of people with disabilities. The DMI-ME should contribute actively to making available knowledge that will help stakeholders in the implementation of the UNCRPD. The objective of the DMI-ME is to be an advocacy tool to monitor and facilitate the sharing of knowledge on the ways that local organisations, authorities and international agencies develop and support reforms that promote and enable the full participation of people with disabilities.

The Disability Monitor Initiative- Middle East and the Making It Work project
The ratification of the UNCRPD sets a major challenge: how to bridge the huge gap that exists between the standards set by this international convention and the actual standards of existing services, systems and policies, particularly in low or middle income countries. The central aim for Making it Work is to reduce this gap through processes of information dissemination and exchange, and in doing so, to promote a model for inclusive development. The purpose of this initiative is to develop a monitoring tool that will support the collection and exchange of information about inclusive disability policies and practices. The goal is to promote a bottom-up approach to inclusive development, where actors and agencies working at the field level (particularly in countries where there are limited resources) have the opportunity to influence national development frameworks, in collaboration with policy-makers and civil society groups.

The Making It Work initiative is based around four clear objectives:

Making It Work builds upon lessons learned through the Disability Monitor Initiatives in both South East Europe and the Middle East (www.disabilitymonitor-me.org) and also the work of Source in managing an international information exchange system. The guidelines for the development of such initiatives will be elaborated based on the South East Europe and the Middle East Disability Monitor Initiatives. An international website presenting the Making it Work project and putting forward current initiatives will be launched in September 2008.