Cheick Tidiane Diarra, 41, of Mali, was born into an extremely poor family with very limited means. Born with a physical disability affecting his legs, Cheick knew finding work would be difficult, especially in a country like Mali with all-but-nonexistent infrastructure and services for the disabled. Still, he refused to accept resignation as the answer: “I needed to prove that I was as capable as anyone else.”
Extreme poverty and disability are inextricably linked. The World Bank estimates that one out of every five people living below the $1.25/day poverty line has a disability.1 Persons with disabilities are likely to be among the poorest of the poor, doubly or, in the case of women with disabilities, triply marginalized. To add to the complexity of the problem, poverty is a root cause of disability due to malnutrition, inadequate health care, and greater risk of accidents.
| Trickle Up’s outreach to PWD is notably higher than that of most microfinance and microenterprise organizations. According to Handicap International, on average only 0.5 percent of microfinance clients are people with disabilities.2 In contrast, as of 2010, 12 percent of the people Trickle Up serves are people with disabilities, meaning that 3,500 people affected by disabilities have started or expanded microenterprises through their program in the last 4 years alone. In July of 2009, Trickle Up received InterAction’s first Disability Inclusion Award for their outstanding contribution to the humanitarian and development community. |
Serving people with disabilities (PWD) like Cheick is a core part of Trickle Up’s mission. The international poverty alleviation organization’s goals include empowering the extreme poor to take the first steps out of poverty and providing them with resources to build sustainable livelihoods for a better quality of life. In partnership with local non-profits, Trickle Up provides training and seed capital grants called Spark Grants to launch or expand microenterprises, as well as savings support to build assets. Since 2002, Trickle Up has made it an organizational priority to promote development programs that are inclusive of PWD via its local partners in Asia, Africa, and Central America.
Recent USAID grants to Trickle Up for disabilities projects have advanced the organization’s ability to serve PWD at greater scale and with greater impact. With a two-year grant from USAID/Mali, Trickle Up has:
- Provided disability inclusion training for its local partners with support from the Mali office of the UK-based NGO International Service, as well as regional disability experts from the Malian Regional Federation of the Disabled Persons’ Association;
- Supported 32 PWD savings groups in acquiring formal legal status as associations, heightening members’ visibility in their communities and increasing their access to legal entitlements;
- Provided each PWD association with specialized training to design and implement advocacy plans at the local and regional levels; and
- Collaborated with the international NGO Population Media Center to help break down social stigmas related to disability through a regionally broadcast serial radio drama featuring people with disabilities (based on actual Trickle Up participants).
Participants in Mali began by receiving microenterprise development training. Delivered over five days, the training included selecting a business; conducting a market study; learning how to calculate sales and profit and estimate operating expenses; and managing savings and credit activities. After the training, the participants received seed capital grants to invest in microenterprises.
To ensure sustainability, participants are trained to build savings and credit and are put into savings groups at the start of the program. They are able to build savings together, from which they can borrow and reinvest in their businesses in the future, as well as invest in group activities, such as cereal banks. Following the first and second years of the program, groups are invited to send representatives to attend regional training workshops, organized by Trickle Up, to strengthen their savings and credit activities. Furthermore, several groups have approached local, regional and national authorities to obtain funding for larger economic activities (larger than any activity supported by Trickle Up). These activities included obtaining land for small-scale agriculture/gardening, leasing facilities to stock cereal to run a cereal bank, and acquiring space and supplies for crafts.
Cheick fully benefited from Trickle Up’s comprehensive training. “Despite [my disability], I didn’t start begging,” Cheick proudly says. “I continued to persevere, going from job to job, until I finally started selling small goods and foods (tea and candy).” In 2007, Cheick was enrolled in Trickle Up’s poverty alleviation program. “Twenty-five men and women with disabilities were selected to form a savings group. We were first given business training, and then each member received a grant of 50,000 Malian Francs (approximately $100 USD). I used these funds, as well as a loan from my newly formed savings group, to expand my business by diversifying my products.”
Now in its final month, the project has enabled many people with disabilities not only to gain greater awareness of their rights and capacities, but also to engage with their communities and government officials. Radio shows and public events were especially effective in changing community members’ negative perceptions of PWD, helping them to recognize that PWD are in fact productive members of society. Through the use of media, PWD outside of the project were also empowered, and some individuals even reached out to our participants for additional resources. Facilitating direct engagement with government officials for PWD was a big step forward. The project participants felt empowered to call on their political representatives for support in achieving greater respect, recognition and services for PWD.
One challenge Trickle Up faced was the lack of sufficient integration into its mainstream programs and those of its partners; the PWD project was more like an add-on. In the future, Trickle Up will make a deliberate effort to ensure its work with PWD is streamlined within a single program approach. Fully engaging all of its staff, including those not directly involved with PWD work, will help ensure that PWD needs are addressed effectively.
Following its success in Mali, Trickle Up entered into a two-year agreement in September 2010 with the USAID Guatemala mission for a project to increase the number of PWD it serves in Guatemala, while simultaneously building the capacity of local partner organizations. Trickle Up plans to adapt the lessons learned from its Mali initiative to the unique needs of these areas. The organization is pleased to be able to help advance USAID’s work with key vulnerable populations as part of the Feed the Future Initiative via its focus on increasing economic and social assets for PWD.
Cheick is a testament to Trickle Up’s efforts and his own hard work. Three years after joining the organization’s program, he reports, “I now have myself a stall in the marketplace. Two years ago, I also bought myself a motorized tricycle that allows me to go long distances to sell my goods. I can also now temporarily hire employees as needed and pay them according to the services they provide. I also diversified my products, selling food and general supplies like tea, soap, sugar and light bulbs. Having a disability is not easy, especially with poor parents, but it has become more of a strength than a handicap.”
1 United Nations. “Enable!: International Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Fact Sheet” (August 2006) http://www.un.org/disabilities/convention/pdfs/factsheet.pdf
2 Handicap International. “Good Practices for the Economic Inclusion of People with Disabilities in Developing Countries: Funding Mechanisms for Self-Employment” (August 2006) http://www.handicap-international.org/uploads/media/goodpractices-GB-2coul.PDF
Acknowledgments
This publication was produced for review by the U.S. Agency for International Development. It was prepared by Arya Zartosht Iranpour of Trickle Up.
Disclaimer
The views expressed in this publication do not necessarily reflect the views of the U.S. Agency for International Development or the U.S. Government.
Notes From the Field are brief stories, usually contributed by field-based staff and practitioners, relating experiences and lessons learned through their microenterprise development and financial inclusion work. Notes From the Field are an excellent way for practitioners to share stories with others and contribute to continuous learning in the microenterprise development field.
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