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Southern based thematic research

Seven research projects were commissioned by the Disability KaR programme. Supported by the Programme Advisory Group, in which disabled people were in the majority, a research agenda was formulated.

This was firmly rooted in the research priorities and criteria of Southern DPOs, as expressed at the Malawi roundtable event . It resulted in the production of seven short-term but ambitious research projects, all of which were characterised by collaborative working between disabled people in the North and South and the active involvement of Southern DPOs. The research included:

1. Research gaps on the topic of disability and development
2. Disability policy and legislation
3. The collection and use by disabled people of statistical data
4. Whether disabled people’s voices are being heard in the development process
5. Mainstreaming disability in development cooperation
6. Disabled people in conflict and emergency situations
7. Inclusive education in Asia and Africa

Download the full research priority list (Word 1 page, 25 KB)

The research projects directly involved disabled people and were informed by the social model of disability. Many of the projects have been implemented by disabled researchers in the South or are North-South collaborations involving DPOs and disabled researchers. The projects signal a different way of working, which challenges the traditional research paradigm and places disabled people firmly at the centre of disability research.

As Mark Harrison, the Disability KaR Programme Director says of the programme: "The challenge has been to connect the practice of the programme to the principles of human rights and disability equality. This has meant we have worked to open up the programme activities to disabled people from the South and the North in a new way. To begin this process the policy project consulted members of the disability movement from Europe, Africa and Asia on the agenda for research. This engagement was deepened at the Malawi roundtable , where participants articulated a clear research agenda and principles for how disability research should be carried out.

"It was this agenda that informed the commissioning of research in the policy project, the thematic research projects and the research prospectus. This process has produced an exciting set of collaborations between disabled researchers from across the globe. Based on the principles of emancipatory research, this work has produced a number of valuable insightful reports.

"By collaborating with researchers in developing countries, many of whom are active in the disability and development movement, the programme aims to provide a realistic representation of where disability and development is at the present time, examine the opportunities that exist for disabled people to become engaged with the development process, and to positively influence DFID’s overall research goals.

In conclusion there was consensus that traditional research often involves wealthy non-disabled outsiders questioning people about their lives which is not a reliable way of getting information. Researchers concluded that it is essential that disabled people are fully involved in future research, including setting the agenda."

More on the thematic research projects (Disability KaR website)