Boosting the participation of young people with disabilities in integrity initiatives in Nepal
- Location
- Nepal
- Grant Amount
- EUR 65,280
- Start/Finish
- May 2018 – Apr 2019
- Donor
- Pro Victimis Foundation
How can we ensure that our approach is accessible to the most marginalised people, and that citizens who usually find it hard to participate are meaningfully included? That was the focus of this pilot project in Nepal which focused on ensuring that all Integrity Clubs were accessible to students with disabilities. Integrity Action is not an expert on disability issues, but we are working to ensure inclusion in all our operations and so we sought expert support in this initiative.
Mithilesh Mahatu is president of the Integrity Club in Namuna Machchindra School in Lalitpur, Kathmandu Valley. He is partially sighted and speaks proudly of the club and its activities: “When I was in Class 7, I could not join any club. Now there is a club where I am welcome. It’s a club for everyone. I feel like people like me can be involved in monitoring.”
The aim of this pilot initiative was to boost the participation of young people with disabilities in integrity initiatives in Nepal. Since 2016, Integrity Action has been establishing Integrity Clubs in Nepal, clubs in which students aged 15-18 learn about integrity and monitor projects and services in their community, including their own schools. The student monitors use our technology tool DevelopmentCheck to report problems and fixes.
This initiative focused on ensuring that students with disabilities were actively involved in the Integrity Clubs and were able to meaningfully contribute to monitoring activities. One part of the initiative was to carry out a piece of research which led to specific recommendations on how to increase participation of students with disabilities in these Integrity Clubs.
We also aimed to learn how to improve the accessibility and inclusion of our own approach, with the aim to ensure that this becomes an integrated part of our overall work on a broader level.
This initiative was implemented by partner organisation Campaign for Human Rights and Social Transformation (CAHURAST) and the recommendations on ensuring the active and meaningful inclusion of students with disabilities in Integrity Clubs are being rolled out across the SHINE initiative in Afghanistan, DR Congo, Kenya, Nepal and the occupied Palestinian territory, as well as in Integrity Clubs in the Romania initiative.