1. Engaging with the Disabled Community
Brecon Molo Community Partnership - Working with Disabled People and their Organisations
Engaging with the Disabled Community

2. Background and Introduction
Brecon, in central Wales, has been Linked with Molo, in Kenya, since 2007
Disability has been part of Brecon Molo Community Partnership from the start
Training in Community Based Rehabilitation (CBR ) (2009&11) used south to south Link with Embu
Since CBR training, activities tended to focus on developing services, such as
Exchange of service providers, particularly health
Developing low-tech equipment, e.g. APT
However, there was a lack of involvement of disabled people and their families

3. Disabled People’s Organisations (DPOs)
The UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD), along with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), respectively promote a right based approach to disability work and the mainstream inclusion of disabled people within development work
Community development, for disabled people, is more than just providing localised services
Disabled people and their families need self-advocacy and mutual support
DPOs are often well placed to access their local disabled communities, understand their needs, and mobilise disabled people and their families
Whilst DPOs are often small and may have low capacity, with support, they can be effective in achieving social change

5. Empowering the Disabled Community
April 2016 the idea of a Disabled Community Trainer initiative was discussed and agreed with people in Molo, including a disabled activist
October 2016 BMCP hosted an open afternoon to recruit volunteer into its disability group in Brecon
February people from Brecon, 3 of whom were disabled, and two of whom were close family members, travelled to Molo
Ran 2 courses, with assistance of Molo Red Cross
Getting to Know Cerebral Palsy (parents & CHWs)
Disability Community Trainers (disabled people)
Both courses designed to train grass roots activists to cascade information throughout parents’ groups and DPOs

6. Disabled Community Trainers - Aims
To empower a small group of disabled people to talk about disability issues in their communities
To recruit participants connected with DPOs
To start a process of empowering disabled people to advocate their self-defined needs, working through a DPO structure
To provide a mechanism through which disabled people from Brecon and Molo could start working together.

7. What the participants brought to the Training
Participants eager to support other members of their DPOs, e.g. One member came with a list of children who needed equipment and support
A very strong focus on how to generate income both for individuals and their DPOs
Some understanding of what services and support were available but lack of confidence to challenge
A very localised, and disconnected, perspective

8. How the training was implemented
Worked alongside a disabled Kenyan facilitator who had many years experience of being a member of, and of working with, DPOs
Swahili main language, using interpreters (appropriate language important, when working at grass roots level)
Participants encouraged to explore what they saw as the key issues – could be different from our expectations
Agenda altered as we learned what participants priorities were

9. Outcomes and Achievements
Enabled people to talk about their disabilities in a positive way
People discussed barriers they had to gaining effective services and how to overcome them
Participants came together to form a group to support each other
Participants undertook to share their learning with their local disabled communities

10. Reflections To Date
Important to encourage and nurture disabled people involvement at the Brecon end
The Molo Red Cross helped in the recruitment of the initial group of Disability Community Trainers. However future we need to liaise with this group directly.
South to south connections of disabled people needed to support the efforts of the Brecon Molo Link

11. The Future
Having now developed relationships with disabled individuals and, through them, having direct contacts with DPOs, we need to build on this by agreeing with them how we can work to respond to their needs
Increasing the awareness of what DPOs, and disabled people, are doing in other parts of Kenya, and beyond, and encouraging them to link up with each other
Sharing ideas and experiences between disabled people in Brecon and Molo