Objectives of the action

The overall objective of the project is to strengthen the role and capacity of disability focused civil society organisations to work with local government to ensure that persons with disabilities are better represented in the policy making process and that their rights are understood, upheld and protected.

The specific objectives are:

1. Establish a framework for government decision-making and action that guarantees that the needs and rights of PWDs are recognised;
2. Strengthen the involvement of disability focused civil society organisations and of PWDs in government decision-making processes and in monitoring actions taken by local government;
3. Provide disability focused CSOs with skills and tools to raise awareness and to represent the diverse needs and issues facing PWDs more effectively to government and wider society;
4. To strengthen national and cross-border cooperation to promote international standards in understanding disability and the rights of persons with disability.

Target group(s)

Disability focused CSOs, national and local governments

Final beneficiaries

People with disabilities

Estimated results

1. A framework is established to ensure the needs and rights of PWDs are recognised;
2. CSOs are better able to lobby and hold the government to account;
3. CSOs are actively involved in government decision making process;
4. Cross-border cooperation is strengthened to promote better understanding of disability and the rights of persons with disability.

Members of the partnership

The key role of the British Council, which is present in all the countries, will be the overall management of the project and the leadership in arranging the establishment of the regional network and the exchange of experiences between the countries, study of the international best practices, the facilitation of the dialogue between the various stakeholders within countries the management of expert leads and co-ordinating monitoring and evaluation framework.

The partner in Lebanon is Lebanese Physical Handicapped Union (LPHU), a grass root advocacy organisation for the handicapped in Lebanon founded in 1981.

Associate partners are identified from all the participating countries including the representatives of local and national governments whose input and engagement is important to ensure the two-way cooperation and dialogue between the national and local governments and the CSOs.

Broad project timeframe

The overall project duration will be 34 months. The first 12 months of the project will be dedicated to the set up of the project, development of national action plans and establishment of the advisory groups, sharing of best experience through the international workshop and the UK study visit. The second 12 months will dedicated to the development of the toolkits and the capacity building workshops organised in each ENPI region, and the application of the new decision-making framework. The last 10 months will be devoted to piloting the new decision making framework, organisation of the international workshop to share the results achieved in the ENPI regions, evaluation of the project results and impact, reporting and the audit.