This is the fifth interview in our “Inclusive Philanthropy: Foundations and Disability Rights” series, where we explore how philanthropic foundations support disability rights and disability advocates.
We interviewed Catalina Devandas, Executive Director of the Disability Rights Fund and its sister organisation, the Disability Rights Advocacy Fund. The organisations mobilise resources using grantmaking, technical assistance, and advocacy strategies to support organisations of persons with disabilities in challenging ableism and other oppressions in advancing the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD).
Question: How are the Disability Rights Fund and the Disability Rights Advocacy Fund advancing disability-inclusive development? Can you tell us some of the main programmes you support?
Answer: The Disability Rights Fund and Disability Rights Advocacy Fund are first and foremost human rights organisations that promote the right to development, including disability-inclusive development, as an integral part of human rights. We support those most underrepresented in the disability movement to participate in and benefit from all areas of development (civil, political, economic, cultural, environmental and social) through a rights-based approach. Organisations of persons with disabilities engage in legal and policy reform that promotes the inclusion of persons with disabilities across all sectors at the national and local levels. This includes access to inclusive education, social protection, employment, health, political participation, protection against violence, abuse and exploitation and mitigating the impacts of the climate crisis and humanitarian emergencies, among others. As part of this work, we resource technical assistance among OPDs to advance their rights advocacy goals. And we increasingly invest in movement-building activities for organisations to come together, learn from each other, share expertise, and strategise.
In particular, we focus on supporting organisations of persons with disabilities in the Global South. Within these countries, multiply-marginalised groups face greater barriers to participation and have less access to resources and opportunities. By resourcing the broader disability rights movement in our target countries, we contribute to diversifying the movement globally and promoting more inclusive agendas. Not only are underrepresented groups rising as leaders within their countries but also at regional and global levels.
Advancing human rights and disability-inclusive development cannot be achieved without international solidarity and an enabling environment of cooperation among States, international organisations and donors. To this end, we also engage in peer advocacy with donors and international cooperation actors to direct more attention and support, including funding, to disability movements- and to do so in a way that centre the values and vision of grassroots organisations.
Question: The GLAD Network is a coordination body for donors supporting disability-inclusive international development and humanitarian aid. What are the benefits for the Disability Rights Advocacy Fund/Disability Rights Fund of being a member of this network?
Answer: We are one of the inaugural members of the GLAD Network and served on the Steering Committee from its inception until 2023. The importance of the GLAD Network cannot be understated. It is a dedicated space for donors that provides the opportunity to strategise at a global scale. It allows members to build on our individual and collective resources, connections, and know-how to leverage funds and raise awareness on disability inclusion. This is a critical endeavour because funding for disability inclusion remains scarce and wholly inadequate for the systemic changes needed across societies: in 2019, only 4% of OECD members’ human rights funding, and 3% of foundation human rights funding was directed to persons with disabilities.
Being part of the GLAD network helps us understand and influence donor priorities on disability-inclusive development. The network keeps us privy to emerging priorities and allows us to collaborate with like-minded partners for advocacy opportunities. We participate in several working groups including on climate action, inclusive health, inclusive education, inclusive employment and gender equality. Most recently, we have been working within the new sub-Committee on Care of the Gender Equality Working Group, where we are collectively exploring how to promote inclusion within care economy discussions of the experiences and perspectives of persons with disabilities, particularly women and girls with disabilities—both as care givers and care receivers.
Question: How does the organisation involve and collaborate with persons with disabilities (and their representative organisations) when deciding which actions to support?
Answer: We put into practice “Nothing Without Us” for the inclusion of persons with disabilities across all our decision-making processes, including through participatory grantmaking. This means that persons with disabilities are part of our governance, grants decision-making, and staffing. The Disability Rights Fund and Disability Rights Advocacy Fund have an active Grantmaking Committee composed of donor representatives and global leaders with disabilities. They review and monitor country strategies and make final grant decisions through a consensus process. Our program staff are from and work in the regions where we fund, and the majority come from the disability rights movement.
Moreover, we centre intersectionality and the belief that successful movements include the leadership of people in the movement’s margins, such as women, Indigenous Peoples, refugees, and persons living in rural areas. Gender transformation is a priority for the Disability Rights Fund and Disability Rights Advocacy Fund, recognising the disproportionate impact of ableism and structural patriarchy on women and girls with disabilities and persons with disabilities of diverse sexual orientation, gender identities and expressions, and sex characteristics. Our Gender Guidelines and their Implementation Plan have intensified our support to women-led and gender-diverse organisations of persons with disabilities.
Moving forward, we intend to evolve our participatory model to encompass all areas of our work by challenging power imbalances, strengthening accessibility and inclusion, reframing our partnerships with the disability and broader movements, learning and adapting together, cultivating trust and solidarity, and connecting movements to achieve rights for all people with disabilities.
Question: How do you see support for disability inclusion evolving in the next few years? What are the topics and regions that your organisation is focusing on?
Answer: Fifteen years on from the adoption of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, the human rights and development field looks very different from pre-Convention days for persons with disabilities. The disability community has grown and expertise on disability rights is expanding. Yet, this knowledge and know-how continues to be centred within the disability community, and only exceptionally flows through into other sectors and movements. At the same time, there is still much for the disability community to gain from working with others. We will continue to foster solidarity across movements so that the concerns and priorities of persons with disabilities not only belong to them, but equally and unequivocally belong to others—the feminist and youth movements, environmental and climate justice sector, or LGBTQIA+ community.
We also plan to broaden our scope of engagement and advocacy, shifting from the traditional focus centred on national authorities to also encompass a diversity of community actors. This aligns with shifts in players and power that currently shape human rights and development agendas. And we will continue to engage in peer donor advocacy to ensure that resources are available for persons with disabilities to engage in these critical areas.