MERGING MOVEMENTS:SUPPORTING INCLUSIVEWOMEN’S RIGHTS WORK

THROUGH INNOVATIVEPARTNERSHIPS

Photo Credit: MIUSA

Photo Credit: WoDYEO

Increasingly, women’s rights funders arerecognizing the need to be moreintentional about including those who areon the margins of society. As one of themost historically marginalized groups inthe world, women and girls withdisabilities have long been under-resourced despite their contributions ascommunity leaders. There is a criticalneed to bridge the women’s rights anddisability rights fields by strengtheningpartnerships between disabled women’sgroups and women’s rights organizations.

Women’s rights funders are in a uniqueposition to bolster the work of the groupsthey already support by ensuring diverseperspectives and leaders are part of theirefforts. They can also direct much-needed resources to support womenwith disabilities directly as they developand lead their own organizations andmovements.

Mobility International USA (MIUSA) andMADRE, an international women’s humanrights organization, had the honor andprivilege of working together, to furtheralign MADRE’s values of equity andinclusion with its organizational culture,policies, and practices. During a two-year

P A G E 1

partnership on the Commitment toInclusive Excellence Initiative, MIUSAworked closely with MADRE to learn moreabout MADRE’s work and how MADREcould better align its feminist valuesinternally and in the work MADREsupports and leads globally.

This practice note is intended to share theprogress and learning trajectory fromMIUSA and MADRE’s partnership on theCommitment to Inclusive ExcellenceInitiative. We are excited to share theprogress that both MIUSA and MADREhave made in this endeavor because webelieve it begins and sets a new standardfor how disabled women and girls shouldbe successfully included and celebrated inall programs, movements, services, andleadership of organizations.

“MADRE is one of the few international women’s organizations taking the initiative and leading byexample on disability inclusion. They not only understand their responsibility to promote inclusion of

women with disabilities in their work, but they also recognize the incredible opportunity to be aninnovator and to drive change through an inclusive, intersectional approach.”

– Susan Sygall, Mobility International USA (MIUSA) CEO

Photo Credit: www.kiefelphotography.com

In 2018, Mobility International USA(MIUSA) and MADRE launched aninnovative partnership to integratedisability inclusion as a core part ofMADRE’s feminist values and principles.Following an in-depth and long-termstrategic planning process, MADREdetermined the need to be moreintentional about intersectionality acrossall areas of its work, and specifically tofocus on building power, voice andagency among five priority communities:young women and girls, Indigenouswomen, Afro-descendent women,LGBTIQ people, and people withdisabilities.

“It was the right moment. We werehearing from our partners, recognizingthey were doing the work to be moreinclusive without putting the label on itnecessarily. We were taking our cuesfrom the ground. It also had to do withthe political context of that time. Webelieve that building the strongestpossible movements really depends onwho is in the movement space, howintersectional those movements are, andhow effectively they draw on theirstrengths,” said Cassandra Atlas,MADRE’s Director of Learning andEvaluation.

Develop, sustain, and integrate a highlevel of awareness, consciousness,and capacity around an intersectionaldisability lens for all MADRE staff

Translate that understanding andawareness into practical steps thatinfuse all aspects of MADRE’s work,including operations, development,communication and programmaticactions

Build the same awareness andcapacity in funders, grantmakers, andMADRE’s local partners so that theycan be more actively inclusive ofpeople with disabilities in their ownprograms at every level.

MADRE recognized the need tostrengthen its organizational expertiseon disability inclusion and sought outsideassistance from MIUSA to help reach itsgoals.

Together, MADRE and MIUSA embarkedon a long-term engagement to increasethe inclusion and participation of peoplewith disabilities at all levels of MADRE’swork and in the programming MADREsupports worldwide. MADRE, withtailored consultation, training, andtechnical assistance from MIUSA,worked to:

How the PartnershipBegan

P A G E 2

Long-termEngagement ProcessMADRE's and MIUSA’s multi-stagedprocess included: 1) an organizationalassessment, 2) staff training at MADREheadquarters, 3) development andimplementation of concrete andmeasurable actions plans, 4) remotetechnical assistance, 5) a refreshertraining, and 6) development of materialsand dissemination of results and lessonslearned.

After conducting the initial assessmentwith MADRE staff, MIUSA designed anddelivered a two-day training at MADRE’soffice in New York. The assessmentprovided insight into the needs for thetraining and also served as a baseline tobe able to track changes to MADRE'slearning and practices around disabilityinclusion over time.

In the training, MADRE staff learnedabout disability rights history,achievements, and global challenges.Staff explored possibilities for where andhow MADRE could play a role in mergingdisability rights and women’s rightsmovements. And, MADRE began toenvision the real and sustained effortthat would be needed to achievemeaningful change and disability justice.As a result of the training, a clear and boldshift in thinking started to take place,especially given that MADRE had cometo this process with limited formal

training or prior experience with disabilityrights issues.

"There were many a-ha moments duringthe training,” recalled Susan Sygall,MIUSA CEO. "One of my favorites was,when discussing reproductive health, therealization that serving disabled womenand girls is not an extra component or anextra service or a lesser priority. Anyonewho serves women and girls mustinherently serve disabled women andgirls. No questions asked, no excuses.”

MADRE’s Executive Director YifatSusskind expressed a similar sentiment.“This training feels like the key to actuallyacting on our principles about disabilityrights, unlocking a new way of thinkingthat will make MADRE a betterorganization.”

The training was just the beginning. Overthe next several months, with MIUSA’ssupport, MADRE developed clear actionplans to move toward greater disabilityinclusion within the organization andacross all areas of programming andpartnerships. MIUSA continued to workwith MADRE to operationalize these newideas, strategies, and commitments, providing technical assistance,researching and compiling additionalresources, and offering guidance onplanning accessible events andimproving website accessibility. MIUSAalso assisted with dissemination ofMADRE’s job postings and grantopportunities to global disability rightsnetworks.

P A G E 3

Approximately one year later, MIUSAheld a follow-up “refresher” training withMADRE staff.

By this time, MADRE had significantlyexpanded, doubling its staff size sincethe previous year, which promptedMADRE and MIUSA to hold a secondround of disability training for new staffmembers, to ensure skills and knowledgeon disability inclusion were equitablydistributed across the organization. Inaddition, MIUSA used the reconvening asan opportunity to dive deeper into howdisability inclusion could be extended toMADRE’s partners and how to addressdisability inclusion in monitoring andevaluation processes.

ChangingOrganizationalPractices andProgramsAs a result of MADRE's and MIUSA’sengagement, MADRE has madesignificant strides in moving disabilityinclusion from paper to practice within itsorganizational culture, practices, andprograms. While many changes weremade quickly, others are still in progressor are being implemented over a longertimeframe.

Operations and Human Resources:

Immediately, MADRE began to integratea greater focus on reasonableaccommodations for people withdisabilities at all MADRE public events,

training and workshops, whether in theU.S. or abroad. This entailed ensuringaccessibility of physical spaces (includingMADRE office spaces, to the extentpossible), provision of sign languageinterpreters, and incorporating newlanguage related to disabilityaccommodations in externalcommunications. MADRE also adjustedjob postings and locations where positionswere listed to ensure its recruitmentpractices were reaching andaccommodating people with disabilities.

Communications:

MADRE assessed its current website foraccessibility issues and began vettingexternal consultants to ensure all MADREcommunication products and platformsare accessible to people with disabilitiesand that MADRE’s digital outreach is

P A G E 4

Photo Credit: MIUSA

P A G E 5

intentional about meeting basicaccessibility standards. As such, MADREis in the process of developing websiteaccessibility protocols for improving andmaintaining accessibility.

MADRE also began to more intentionallyhighlight the leadership and participationof women and girls with disabilities withinMADRE partnerships on its website.MADRE further added a feature to itssocial media editorial calendar to trackwhich communities and perspectiveswere being highlighted on MADRE socialmedia, to more easily identify whencertain communities were missing.

Learning and Evaluation:

MADRE adjusted its learning andevaluation frameworks, partner reportingtemplates, and information gatheringtechniques to sensitively collect data ondisability inclusion. By being moreintentional with data collection, MADRE is

now able to use meaningful insight tocollaborate with its partners to makeadjustments and improvements withintheir organizations to engage andsupport people with disabilities.

To this end, in 2019, MADRE’s Director ofLearning and Evaluation also attendedMIUSA’s Gender, Disability andDevelopment Institute (GDDI), part ofMIUSA’s Women's Institute onLeadership and Disability (WILD), withthe Executive Director of MADRE’sNicaraguan partner, Wangki Tangni.There, they engaged in dialogue andmutual learning with women leaders withdisabilities from around the world onintegrating a gender and disability rightslens across humanitarian anddevelopment sectors. MADRE’s partnerwas then able to take these learningsback to her local community toincorporate into outreach andprogramming.

Photo Credit: MIUSA

Advocacy:

MADRE built out strategies for moreinclusive human rights advocacy work,expanding its work in solidarity withdisabled women’s and people’sorganizations and women with disabilitiesto increase their access to policy spacesand centers of power in order toadvocate for themselves and theircommunities.

For example, in Nepal, MADRE resourced local partner, National IndigenousWomen Forum (NIWF), to advocate onbehalf of the rights of Indigenous womenand women with disabilities before theUnited Nations (UN) Committee for theConvention on the Elimination of allForms of Discrimination Against Women(CEDAW). This resulted in the inclusion ofthe priorities and concerns of womenwith disabilities in CEDAW’srecommendations to the Nepalesegovernment. This win has been animportant tool for NIWF to pressure theNepalese government to acknowledgethe rights of Indigenous Peoples,including women with disabilities,specifically.

MADRE’s human rights advocacy teamhas taken concrete steps to encouragethe UN Secretary General to push for fullparticipation of women with disabilities inpeace implementation and the realizationof the Women Peace and Security (WPS)agenda. MADRE’s recommendation that“peacekeeping and special politicalmissions … improve their monitoring and

P A G E 6

reporting of threats and violence againstactivists including women human rightsdefenders, with data disaggregated by …disability” was recently included in theSecretary General’s final report on theimplementation of the WPS agenda tothe UN Security Council.

Grantmaking and Partnerships:

MADRE’s work to advocate for the equalrights and full participation of peoplewith disabilities in communities aroundthe world expanded within its localpartnerships. Since beginning anengagement with MIUSA, MADRE hastaken steps to ensure that partners'programs are inclusive of women andgirls with disabilities and that they areworking in solidarity with disabledwomen’s organizations. MADRE is alsoresourcing and implementing programsspecifically for people with disabilities

Photo Credit: MADRE

P A G E 7

through grantmaking. Since 2018, over$400,000 in grants have been disbursedto advance disability justice andoperationalize a concerted disabilityrights portfolio of work with current andnew partners in the countries whereMADRE works.

For example, in Palestine, MADREpartnered with the Palestinian MedicalRelief Society (PMRS) to provide urgentand long-term focused health services tocommunities affected by Israeli militaryviolence with little to no access to healthservices. MADRE supported PMRS to runmobile clinics that provided post-operative care including check-ups,medication, wound dressing, andphysiotherapy services as well as theprovision of assistive devices to promotelong-term care and mobility for nearly300 Palestinians with disabilities.

Through its VIVA Girls Initiative, MADREis awarding grants to adolescent girls andyoung women who identify as Afro-descendant, disabled, Indigenous and/orLGBTIQ, and those from communitiesconfronting climate crisis, war, conflict,disaster, and their aftermath. Notably, in2020, 20% of programs resourcedthrough MADRE's VIVA Girls Initiativespecifically supported girls withdisabilities in the communities whereMADRE works. In order to effectivelyreach this population, MADRE initiated anopen call process for girls’ proposals thatspecifically took into account the myriadneeds and abilities of girls, advertisingthe call and accepting applicationssubmitted in multiple formats including

audio and video recordings to extendaccess to both hearing and visuallyimpaired applicants. The inclusive natureof the open call process led to 1,633applications for work with young womenand girls with disabilities. Noworganizations run by and for disabledwomen and girls are receiving grants.MIUSA was able to promote thisopportunity to its hundreds of alumni inover 90 countries, a number of whomwere successful grant recipients.

Support to young women and girls withdisabilities through MADRE’s VIVA GirlsInitiative has likewise built girls'leadership that has been critical insupporting local communities to mitigateand recover from the impacts of theCOVID-19 crisis.

Photo Credit: PMRS

For example, with MADRE’s support, theNational Indigenous Disabled WomenAssociation (NIDWAN) in Nepal is trainingyoung women through Zoom to collectlocal data surrounding the experience ofyoung Indigenous women with disabilitiesduring the pandemic and distributeessential food and hygiene supplies towomen and girls with disabilities.

In Panama, a young girl activist, andgraduate of MIUSA’s WILD program, ispartnering with the Equality and Genderfor Women with Visual DisabilitySecretariat to distribute aid kits to people

with disabilities that are specific to theirneeds.

And in Sierra Leone, Women withDisabilities Yearning for EqualOpportunities (WoDYEO) is dispersing aid and personal protective equipment(PPE) and raising awareness of COVID-19with posters, flyers and video clips thattarget the diverse needs of people withdisabilities, including information onsexual and reproductive health. Theseare but three of numerous examples ofhow MADRE has enabled disabledwomen and girls to not only participate inprograms, but lead their communitiesthrough crisis.

Shaping a NewFeminist FutureMIUSA has worked with many largeinternational organizations and funderswho are now taking the stance ofrequiring reasonable accommodations.The impact of this shift will change theworld and the lives of millions of peoplewith disabilities, especially women andgirls with disabilities, who have beenhistorically excluded. MADRE has set thebar high and is a leader and a pioneer inmeaningfully changing the status quo forinclusion of women and girls and peoplewith disabilities. The level of commitmentfrom MADRE’s Executive Director andstaff, and MADRE’s dedication toimplementing new strategies in how itworks with partners and grantees, is alandmark cause for celebration.

P A G E 8

Photo Credit: NIDWAN

MADRE’s progress and learnings havepositioned the organization to be a modelto its peers and partners for how to bemore intentional about disability inclusionin their practices and programs. Thoughits new strategies, policies, and changesmay take time to perfect, MADRE’s effortis bold, meaningful, and paves the way forother organizations to learn fromMADRE’s experience. It is both MIUSA'sand MADRE’s hope that by sharing thisexperience we will catalyze otherorganizations and funders to be moreinclusive, as we all work together for amore just and equitable world.

Guiding Principles forHuman RightsOrganizations andFunders on Disability Inclusion

Consult disabled women and girls:Ensure that the expertise andexperiences of women and girls withdisabilities inform and guide yourwork by consulting with women andgirls with disabilities. Ask whether

A few key guiding principles emerged asa result of MIUSA and MADRE’sengagement process. These principlescan be applied to human rightsorganizations and funders' work.Organizations and funders should bemindful of these principles as they makeprogrammatic and funding decisions anddecide future priorities:

Twin-track approach: Beyondensuring that people with disabilitiescan access all programs, there may bereasons to implement programsspecific to people with disabilities.Disability-focused programs can builda sense of community, empowermentand pride, or focus on disability-specific resources or considerations.Implementing a combination ofprograms accessible to all while alsooffering disability-specific programs,as needed, is known as the “twin-track approach.”

Infiltration strategy: Practice“infiltration,” a more proactive andintentional approach to inclusion.Infiltrate the disability community’sevents, share information withdisability networks, and invitemembers of the disability communityto your events and programs. Byinfiltrating, we accelerate inclusionand form partnerships withorganizations and movements so thatwe all move forward together.

Budget for inclusion: Unlike othertypes of diversity, disability inclusionmay require additional and proactive

your partners and granteescollaborate with groups led by womenand girls with disabilities or includethem in their decision-making andactivities. Ensure that you arereaching out to women and girls withdisabilities when recruiting staff,board members, advisors,consultants, and interns.

P A G E 9

strategies to ensure that dedicatedfinancial resources are available toremediate or remove environmental,communications and other barriers toaccess. Allocating 3-5% of your budgetfor disability inclusion is recommended.

P A G E 1 0

MADRESPEAKS

FB.COM/MADRE.ORG

MADRE@MADRE.ORG

MADRE.ORG

MOBILITYINTL

FB.COM/MOBILITY.INTERNATIONAL

SDUNN@MIUSA.ORG

MIUSA.ORG