Blog post written by Phillipa Tucker – Coordinator Eastern and Central Europe, EDF
We all understand sustainability to mean different things. Many think of climate change, others think of long term positive impact, others talk of cascade effect and multiplier effects. We all understand sustainability to be important and the challenge of the century. But what do we mean and how do we do it in responding to the war in Ukraine when supporting people with disabilities? And how do we construct our daily work to achieve these lofty goals?
The EDF team quickly began emergency response work when violence escalated in Ukraine in February 2022. Within weeks, our members in Ukraine and neighbouring countries were supported with resources to respond to the asks from people with disabilities on the move.
What was immediately obvious was the need for logistical support to support people with disabilities: mobility equipment left behind had to be replaced; food, hygiene, medicines, clothing, accessible housing and transportation and many more basic needs needed covering. Access to suitable schools, social services, social protection, rehabilitation and therapies came later.
Very quickly, we also understood that sustainability had to be built into our response. Gordon Rattray explains: “EDF and its members have adapted their work to meet the challenge of the needs of people with disabilities, and are certainly making a difference. But it is essential to think long-term. Governments and humanitarian agencies are not including disability in emergency preparedness. How do we change this? By having persons with disabilities inside the emergency response systems, as leaders and technical advisors, we build an integrated response that will meet the needs of people with disabilities.”
Organisations of persons with disabilities need more say in decisions now and in the future. The team took time to unpack issues as they emerged every step of the way, discussing strategic options, possible positive and negative outcomes and tapping into experts where necessary. See for instance our work on Inclusive Cash and Voucher Assistance in Ukraine. Taking the time to stop and think strategically was key in developing a project with the significant impact it has had to date.
Very soon afterwards, EDF’s project geared up to strengthen our members’ work in their countries to advocate for the inclusion of people with disabilities into all emergency response work, and into disaster risk reduction (DRR). The local and national disability movements were best placed to identify windows of opportunity to advance human rights despite the war. One excellent example of this was Romanian National Disability Council (CNDR). Sorin Tata, of the Romania Disability Forum, explains “We had to fight to get a seat at the table, but it was worth it. Now we are able to provide the technical expertise that the government needs to address and include the needs of people with disabilities; They do not yet know what needs exist, or even how to respond. That has been our role to bring that knowledge and assist in the broader planning. Now they are very aware that we add value, we all realise how much better the response can be now.” The long term (read sustainable) impact of these actions is that when people with disabilities contribute technical knowledge into relevant and influential decision-making spaces in emergencies, the response is more inclusive both in this occurrence and in the future. Other stakeholders in the space are able to learn and understand that people with disabilities bring expert knowledge and should always be included in discussions
Our Ukraine project also has a third pillar of work dedicated to strengthening organizations of people with disabilities (DPOs). This entails providing the right resources for DPOs to develop their own long-term sustainability, through better strategic planning, more organized resource mobilization, upskilling staff where gaps exist, and other activities designed to build the disability movement. In Romania, an expert with decades of expertise in the disability movement has been commissioned to work with CNDR staff to assess their current strengths and weaknesses, unpack their vision for the coming years and construct a bridge that spans between the two. There was a need for all EDF partner countries to build their vision of where they wanted to be in ten years and to work backwards determining how they would achieve their goals. By reverse engineering the vision, they are better able to understand the small steps between today and the future vision and make them into manageable actions. These visions inspire us and have real impact. In one country, disability rights activists knew that Ukrainians would one day return home. From the start, they planned to hand over best practices on rehabilitation for children so that the policy and practice in Ukraine would improve in the post war reconstruction work. This is thinking long-term and in a way that makes sustained changes.
So, what do we mean by sustainability? Here are a few take-aways:
- Always be led by what local experts advise. They know best what can be done, when and how in their cultural and political settings. They also know what should not be tried right now.
- Think long-term: Don’t think in months, but think in five or ten years, even beyond that. Having long-term vision will change the way you work.
- Reverse engineer: Where would you like to be and work backwards. Imagine your dream and then unpack and deconstruct the steps needed to get there.
- Ask questions: Pausing to stop and consider the wisdom of choices is time that is never wasted when sustainability is a priority. Take the time to think, rethink and consult and think again until you find the solution or action with the most sustainable outcome.
Marion Steff, Manager of the International Cooperation team at EDF, summarises it as such: “Thinking locally and being guided by national and local experts in disability rights and organisations of persons with disabilities are a must to achieve Sustainable Development Goal 16 (Peace, justice and strong institutions). At EDF, we are working actively to ensure persons with disabilities are not left behind and forgotten in this war. This work has to be done in partnership with our members: they know best what sustainability means for their country.”
About the project
CBM funded EDF and partners with 2 million euros beginning in April 2022. The partners are members of EDF in Ukraine, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Poland, Romania and Slovakia. Read more – Project objectives – Project updates