More Power to Disability Justice Activists and Organisations.
Disability justice activists and organisations of persons with disabilities (OPDs) are leading real and lasting change while facing discrimination and exclusion.
These OPD leaders are skilled and passionate about creating positive change. They understand the priorities of their members, and they have the right to speak for themselves.
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Yet they hardly receive or control any funding at all: Grants for disabled people constitute just 3% of all human rights funding, even though disabled people make up 16% of the world’s population.
Even that tiny amount is mostly spent and controlled by others. Recent research published by the Global Action on Disability (GLAD) network states that “the quality of funding is as important as its quantity”. When a trickle of funding does reach disabled activists and their organisations, they are often told how to spend it by funders and intermediaries. The funding is usually short-term and inflexible and cannot be used to focus on the priorities of disabled activists themselves, including movement building.
Alan Herbert from Black Albinism explains more in this short video:
Funders often assume disabled activists and their organisations cannot manage financial resources properly. Complex requirements for accessing funds exclude grassroots groups and favour larger intermediaries that may ‘consult’ disabled people while keeping control of the money and the power to make decisions.
More and better funding for disability justice means transferring real power and resources to activists and organisations who know best what needs to be done and who can do it well. One approach is participatory grant-making, where disabled activists themselves choose who should get funding.
Access to funding: Zenna’s story
Zenna is a panel member on a participatory grant in Tanzania. A disability justice leader herself, she helped decide which activist initiatives should be funded.
“People with disabilities are very skilled and should be given a chance to lead. In my country, it’s not very easy for Organisations of People with Disabilities to get funds. When people with disabilities apply for funds, in most cases they are rejected due to negative attitudes towards them. Yet it is very easy for an organization that’s not for people with disabilities to apply and get funds.
“A case in example is the grantees that won in the pilot phase of the participatory grant model in Tanzania. These are very small Organisations of People with Disabilities but with very brilliant ideas that I can guarantee will cause a movement of change. The fact that they were given a chance to easily access funds and decide how they were going to use them through their different projects is a game changer.”
What do we mean by Fairer Funding?
Disability justice activists and organisations we work with have told us that the way funding works currently needs to change urgently. A fairer funding system will mean they can lead work for real and lasting change for disabled people.
Fairer funding for organisations of persons with disabilities means them having the power to set their own priorities, lead their own work, manage their own resources, and be heard.
We want to see:
More Funding.
An increase in the amount of funding being controlled and spent by organisations of persons with disabilities.
A higher percentage of donors’ funding being controlled and spent by disability justice activists and organisations.
Better Funding
More power for disabled people in the design and allocation of funds and fewer barriers to applying.
More long-term funding and unrestricted, flexible funding that allows grantees to choose how funds are used.
The amount of funding directed to OPDs needs to increase, but most importantly how OPDs are funded needs to improve. A fairer, more participatory, system will provide OPDs with flexible funding to do long-term work that aligns with their own priorities and strengthens movements for disability justice around the world.
There’s a need to prioritise and be intentional about funding for OPDs in general and considering reasonable accommodation too.
Dr Sarah Mwikali, Co-founder Gifted Community Centre, Kenya
The Fairer Funding community is looking to work together with donors, funders, INGOs and OPDs to find a way to make this happen and create a fairer funding system that supports disability justice.
Please get involved and join us in making this vision a reality.
What would fairer funding mean for organisations of persons with disabilities?
In this video, Scader Louis, co-founder of the Spinal Injuries Association of Malawi, talks to Alan Herbert, Black Albinism Kenya, about the challenges of accessing funding, unequal partnerships, and what a fairer funding system would mean for organisations of persons with disabilities.
You can view the full Fairer Funding video series on YouTube.
get involved
Join our Webinar
Join our webinar on 20th March to find about more about Fairer Funding.
Write to your MP
Write to your MP about cuts to aid spending and how this relates to Fairer Funding.
Gorret’s Story
Hear from Gorret, and OPD leader, on how unfair funding systems have affected her work.