Oxfam’s Journey Towards Disability Inclusive Practice

Where have we come from? Disability not on Oxfam’s agenda No commitment to including disability even though recognised status of PWD Lack of knowledge, skills, and in-house resources, and perception of inclusion as ‘too expensive and difficult’

What has changed? A higher level of agency commitment (IPS Directorate level) A Disability Action group established 10 staff (developing a disability inclusive plan) Initially this was around a Diversity Plan in HR about 3years ago then recently re-started A Disability Inclusion Policy Developed (identified as a priority in Oxfam’s program policies review) Several staff have attended disability inclusion training with CBM/Nossal, and Oxfam held a session on disability with guest speaker Seta Macanawai – CEO of the Pacific Disability Forum

What has changed? Some pockets of disability inclusive practice though not systematic or spanning Oxfam’s practice (mainly in creating accessible toilets and supplies in emergency responses in Sri Lanka and Timor) Integrated disability into Oxfam’s emergency response manual (e.g. Guidelines for conducting a needs analysis, community consultations, and response supplies and equipment) Integrated disability into Oxfam’s Quality Assessment Framework - a program cannot be approved unless it has shown how people with disability will be included

Why have things changed? A core group of committed disability inclusion advocates in Oxfam - most of whom do the work despite it not being explicit in their job descriptions Established good networks in the disability sector, with NGOs such as CBM that keep prompting us and offering their support (Jo and Pauline send us s, and arrange lunch with us to touch base on our progress and keep momentum) High level prioritising by AusAID and ACFID – now required to demonstrate and report on disability inclusion in AusAID contracts & the Code of Conduct Self assessment

What is standing in our way? Competing priorities at Oxfam Lack of resources - commitment Lack of knowledge on how to include people with disability Perception that disability inclusion is specialised and requires technical resources and is expensive Workplace culture of being busy and no time to really consider what is most important in terms of meeting our organisational commitment to serving the poorest!

Keeping on moving Disability has been included in our quality appraisal framework, though we need to equip staff with knowledge of how to create disability inclusive programs for this to be effective Grand launching of our new disability policy to create buzz and raise awareness Looking for entry points to utilise our resources given the constraints of Field Office budgets – e.g., funding pilots through Oxfam’s hubs (i.e. Gender justice) Gathering examples of our disability inclusion programming

Keeping on moving Piggybacking on the work done by other Oxfam affiliates, e.g. OGB ‘Disability inclusive practice’ paper in our work with other Oxfam affiliates Lobbying to include disability in Oxfam’s annual program report and other publications Engaging other units in the agency such as images, coms, and media to promote the participation and representation of PWD in our work Calling on our friends at CBM/Nossal for help and support along the way

Messaging Part of the Rights- Based Approach and therefore Oxfam’s mandate (must strive to reach the poorest and most vulnerable, the right to inclusion, the dangers of inadvertent discrimination) Deconstructing the myth that disability inclusion requires specialist/technical knowledge Using the AusAID and ACFID requirements to spearhead action