Policy and campaigns

Campaigning globally for inclusive development

• Young Voices: opening the door to tomorrow’s leaders
• The Millennium Development Goals: working towards a post-2015 development framework
• The UN Convention: an opportunity to push for change
• Edamat: a toolkit for mainstreaming disability policy
• Our campaigns around the world

Young Voices: opening the door to tomorrow’s leaders

Young Voices members meet the Prime Minister of Sri Lanka

Leonard Cheshire Disability’s Young Voices programme brings together groups of young disabled people from 22 countries across Africa, Asia and the Americas. The programme empowers young disabled people with the knowledge, skills and confidence they need to understand and advocate for their rights as set out in the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. Each Young Voices group chooses their own working style. Some take part in UN initiatives and make links with development agencies. Some work in partnership with disabled people’s organisations. Others contact and lobby government officials and other influential decision makers themselves. All groups use creative and innovative methods such as film, music and social media to campaign for the rights of disabled people.
You can find out more about Young Voices on our Young Voices website. You can also view their films on YouTube.

The Millennium Development Goals: working towards a post-2015 development framework

In September 2000 world leaders came together at the United Nations to adopt the United National Millennium Goals (MDGs), committing their nations to a new global partnership to reduce extreme poverty. To achieve this they set out eight time-bound targets – with a deadline of 2015. Our view is that it will not be possible to meet the MDGs unless people with disabilities are explicitly included in all stages of development. However, disability was not explicitly mentioned in any of the existing 8 MDGs and does not appear in the MDG framework’s 21 targets and 60 indicators.
The debate on what should follow the MDGs when they expire in 2015 is now well underway. With the 2015 deadline fast approaching, our policy and campaigns team is working hard to ensure that disability is a priority in the new post-2015 framework.
Read a short brief and one page chart about our work on the MDGs. You can also read a speech on disability and the MDGs made in April 2013 by our International Policy and Campaigns Manager at the Results UK National Conference.

Our activities include campaigning and lobbying with other disability organisations via the BOND Disability and Development Task Group and the International Development and Disability consortium (IDDC), and a publication from our research centre: ‘Disability and the Millennium Development Goals: A Review of the MDG Process and Strategies for Inclusion of Disability Issues in Millennium Development Goal Efforts’.

The UN Convention: an opportunity to push for change

Over 130 countries have signed the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, the first international human rights treaty of this century. The Convention became legally binding under international law on 3 May 2008. Governments around the world now must enact new laws to address the rights it contains. If effective, these new laws could bring about a sea change in the daily experience of people with disabilities around the world. Leonard Cheshire Disability now works with a range of partners around the world to make sure countries ratify and implement the Convention in a meaningful way.
Read more about the UN Convention.

Edamat: a toolkit for mainstreaming disability policy

How do policy makers ensure that all of their decisions and plans address the needs of people with disabilities? How can campaigners check that government acts seriously on its promises to take disability into account in every policy area? The answer to both questions is the EDAMAT toolkit, which we developed with partners in other EU countries. This acclaimed tool is a practical help to anybody looking to benchmark the level of mainstreaming of disability in any policy area. Edamat is available in several languages. Read more about Edamat here.

Our campaigns around the world

At any one time, our regional offices and Global Alliance partners are supporting campaigns and advocacy at local and national level. Please contact the regional offices directly for more information.