This is the first interview in our “Inclusive Philanthropy: Foundations and Disability Rights” series, where we explored how philanthropic foundations support disability rights and disability advocates.
We interviewed Tuomas Tuure and Amu Urhonen, who shared the work of the Abilis Foundation, a Finnish non-governmental organisation that funds grassroots organisations of and small businesses run by persons with disabilities in developing countries.
Question: How is the Abilis Foundation advancing disability-inclusive development? Can you tell us some of the main programmes you support?
Answer: The main purpose of the Abilis Foundation is to fund projects designed and implemented by persons with disabilities in developing countries. The Foundation grants funding to organisations or groups of persons with disabilities in the Global South for projects based on their own ideas and needs. Most of the support goes to organisations in the least developed countries, notably in programme countries in Africa and Asia. Abilis is often the first donor to grassroots-level actors that can then be supported by other donors.
Advocacy at the domestic and international level is a major segment of Abilis Foundation’s activities. The objective is to extensively promote the human rights of persons with disabilities as stated in the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. We collaborate broadly with authorities and non-governmental organisations, including organisations of persons with disabilities, for the promotion of the human rights of persons with disabilities. We promote engaging persons with disabilities as experts from planning through to implementation, monitoring and reporting.
Question: The GLAD Network is a coordination body for donors supporting disability-inclusive international development and humanitarian aid. What are the benefits for the Abilis Foundation of being a member of this network?
Answer: Abilis is a founding member of the GLAD and has a vital interest in preserving the active participation of persons with disabilities in a coalition that has a broad representation of donors. In addition, we enjoy the support to our policy work and the ability to improve direct contacts with other donors. As GLAD has developed, countries are playing a bigger role, and it is a challenge to connect with the Global South grassroots organisations. Abilis can support this because it works with small organisations of persons with disabilities.
Strategically we find GLAD to be an important network since it allows us to do thematic work on topics such as climate change’s impact on humanitarian work, which both deepens our capacity, as well as provide opportunity for collaboration with other GLAD members. The close ties we have formed with other organisations and individuals in GLAD are a vital part of our international advocacy work.
Question: How does the organisation involve and collaborate with persons with disabilities (and their representative organisations) when deciding which actions to support?
Answer: Fully. Abilis only supports the actions of persons with disabilities themselves without any exceptions. Through our quality assurance policies, the applications then go through a process, and unsuccessful applicants can receive advice on how to improve. Abilis is a flexible donor, so for example, COVID-19 and the war in Ukraine have rapidly changed our priorities and actions.
Question: How do you see support for disability-inclusive evolving in the next few years? What are the topics and regions that your organisation is focusing on?
Answer: Increased attention to the Triple-Nexus approach (editor’s note: the humanitarian-development peace approach, known as the Triple-Nexus approach is an operational framework that focuses on ensuring actions in these 3 topics are complementary and coordinated), work on rebuilding Ukraine, collaboration within peace, security and humanitarian spheres to help fragile states, climate actions to be disability inclusive and cross-cutting support to actively help persons with disabilities help themselves.
Abilis focuses on making sure persons with disabilities can actively participate in development not just as beneficiaries but as actors. In Nordic countries, few actors in this field actively hire persons with disabilities, so we also try to lead by example within our peer groups.