Programme :
Applying agile concepts and principles to national action planning for
disability-inclusive development and poverty reduction
By Clinton E. Rapley
Director of Planning Services
Associates for International Management Services
Text version of a PowerPoint presentation
Slide 1
UN ESCAP Regional Workshop on Comprehensive National Plan of Action on
Disability - Towards the Mid-point Review of the Biwako Millennium Framework
for Action Bangkok, 19-21 October 2005
Applying agile concepts and principles to national action planning for
disability-inclusive development and poverty reduction
Clinton E. Rapley / Director of Planning Services
Associates for International Management Services
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Focus of the presentation
- Practical approaches to improve analysis, planning and decision-making
for inclusive development and poverty reduction for all - the particular
contribution of agile concepts
- For all: development should contribute to improved levels of living,
well-being and human security without discrimination on the basis of
condition or gender
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Presentation agenda
- Review recommended national actions to eradicate extreme poverty and
hunger - first policy priority of UN Millennium Declaration
- Principal elements of strategic planning for disability-inclusive
development
- Key issue clusters for reinforcing the disability perspective in
mainstream development
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Analysis and planning for “goal-oriented investment framework” to
achieve the MDGs - Investing in Development
- First, map key dimensions of poverty
- Second, needs assessment, and identify public investment requirements
to achieve MDGs
- Third, formulate 10-year framework for action; public investments,
management and finances
- Fourth, elaborate 3-5-year MDG-based poverty reduction strategy within
10-year framework
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Goal-oriented investment framework is, however, disability exclusive
- One change is required to achieve disability-inclusive action in
implementing a “MDG-based” poverty reduction:
- All actions must promote accessibility to general systems of society
- And actions must contribute to progressive removal of barriers to
development participation for all
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Disability-inclusive strategic analysis and planning: “agile” concepts
- Agile concepts are from information systems and programming field
- Focus: better information for disability-sensitive analysis and
planning decisions through user involvement, dialogue and feedback,
planning in appropriate detail, and pro-active re-factoring to reduce risk
and improve quality
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Summary of “agile” planning and programming values
- Individuals and interactions are valued over processes and tools;
- Working software is valued over comprehensive documentation;
- Customer collaboration is valued over contract negotiation;
- Responding to change is valued over following a plan.
- Source: <http://www.agilealliance.com/intro>
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Disability-inclusive strategic analysis and planning: five elements
- Vision statement - core values and guiding principles
- Situation analysis - principal issues and trends
- Goals and objectives - normative basis of the plan and its
relationship to national policy
- Strategy and implementation plan - instrument that guides
decisions to achieve objectives
- Monitoring and evaluation - social learning concerning plan
processes and results
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Key issue clusters in strategic planning to reinforce the disability
perspective in mainstream development
- Policies and planning issues cluster - placing disability as a key
horizontal theme
- Institutional arrangements and coordination mechanisms issue cluster -
disability-sensitive priorities in policies and public investments
- Resources issue cluster - resource decisions promote accessibility and
remove barriers
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Disability-inclusive visioning, policy formulation and planning
- Normative guidance shall promote accessibility with reasonable
adaptation, progressive removal of barriers to participation on the basis
of equality between women and men.
- Normative consultations shall be open, transparent and include
provision for consultations with persons who use augmentative and
assistive communications devices and procedures.
- Strategic action to eradicate poverty shall provide for equality
between women and men – persons with disabilities and non-disabled persons
– and between urban and rural areas.
- Additional measures may be required to address persons with
disabilities with special needs or in special circumstances, such as
natural disaster, conflict or accidents
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Summary of institutional arrangements and coordination mechanisms
Three levels of institution arrangements
- Policy and planning level institutions: focus on translating
policy intent into specific actions and planned outcomes;
- Public-private advocacy and civil society level institutions:
links policy, planning and budgeting processes and implementation
arrangements with stakeholders – public and private;
- Operational level institutions: focus on delivery of inputs to
intended beneficiaries, conversion processes and results.
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Summary of institutional arrangements and coordination mechanisms
Three types of coordination mechanisms
- Policy coordination: focus on ensuring that policies and plans
promote accessibility and progressive removal of barriers;
- Sector coordination: focus on efficient and effective
coordination of planned actions to achieve plan goals and objectives,
which is premised on effective and informed participation of stakeholders
;
- Procedural coordination: focus on effective incorporation of
accessibility considerations at outset and throughout mainstream planning
and programming in all sectors to ensure that outcomes are accessible and
promote progressive removal of barriers.
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Disability-inclusive national investment and policy priorities per MDGs
- Gender equality: overcoming pervasive gender bias
Empowerment shall be promoted on the basis of equality between women with
disability and non-disabled persons. Investments in health, education and
community infrastructure shall provide accessibility with reasonable
adaptation for all.
- The environment: investing in better resource management
Investments in sustainability shall include progressive removal of
barriers to participation in the economic and social sectors as well as
civil and political sectors. Investments in public infrastructure shall
provide accessibility with reasonable adaptation and include input from
persons with disabilities.
- Rural development: increasing food output and incomes
Investments in rural infrastructure shall promote accessibility and
progressive removal of barriers to participation in all aspects of rural
development. Gender- and disability-biases in extension services shall be
addressed so that all citizens can exercise individual choice and
enterprise in open markets.
- Urban development: promoting jobs, upgrading slums and developing
alternatives to new slum formation
Investments in urban development shall promote accessibility and
progressive removal of barriers in new infrastructure and in the
renovation of existing infrastructure, with emphasis on health, education,
water, sanitation and shelter.
- Health systems: ensuring universal access to essential services
Universal access to essential health services must provide accessibility
with reasonable adaptation. Special attention shall be directed to
community approaches to early detection and appropriate intervention to
address preventable causes of disability and to improve health status of
infants and mothers.
- Education: ensuring universal primary, expanded secondary and
higher education
Investments in universal education shall provide accessibility with
reasonable adaptation, promote inclusive approaches and include teacher
training of teachers in education of children and young adults with
disabilities in the mainstream.
- Science, technology and innovation: building national capacities
Science and technology should direct special attention to promoting
accessibility with reasonable adaptation, with emphasis on accessible
information and communication technologies in the light of their
capacities to provide new and expanded access to knowledge and to
exchanges of information that enhance individual choice and increase
opportunities to participate in civil and public life, in new and
non-traditional livelihoods, and exercise individual choice and
enterprise.
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Reinforcing the disability perspective in development cooperation
activities
- Resource allocation decisions reflect policy priorities.
- From the disability perspective, resource allocation decisions shall
promote accessibility to the general systems of society, otherwise they
are not efficient.
- However, development cooperation activities of the United Nations
system and the Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper process of World Bank-IMF
do not incorporate specific guidance on disability in mainstream
development.
- Since the development goals of Millennium Declaration are disability
exclusive, Governments are at a disadvantage when negotiating grant
assistance and development finance for disability-inclusive development
strategies.
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Key development cooperation documents
- Common Country Assessment - analysis of situation and
assessment of national development issues and trends
- United Nations Development Assistance Framework - strategic
planning document to guide operational activities of UN system
- Country Programme Document - based on UNDAF results matrix and
describes expected results of UN system assistance and how these will
contribute to planned outcomes
- Poverty Reductions Strategy Paper process - joint World Bank-IMF
programme of assistance to low-income countries
- Changes in procedures so that development cooperation will contribute
to empowerment of persons with disabilities in the mainstream requires
Governmental action and follow up in intergovernmental fora of UN and
World Bank-IMF.
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Concluding remarks
- Development policy is at a crossroads
- Gender mainstreaming is a recognized strategy for gender equality
and empowerment of women
- Persons with disability remain on the sidelines, often being
identified as members of a vulnerable group requiring social protection
because of their condition
- International development agenda can not be said to provide
appropriate guidance for efficient, just or sustainable action to
improve levels of living, well-being and human security for all
- Disability is not a sector.
It is an essential horizontal theme in comprehensive development analysis,
planning and evaluation
- Accessibility to the general systems of society increasingly is
recognized as an essential component of the human rights framework for
development.
Development decisions shall promote accessibility and progressive removal
of barriers to participation in all aspects of development - social,
cultural and economic, and civil and political.
- Inertia - if not an observed failure of imagination - in the
international public sector concerning the disability perspective in
mainstream development.
- No reference to persons with disabilities in reports of UN
Millennium Project or submitted by Secretary-General to sixtieth session
of General Assembly
- 2005 World Summit outcome only “recognizes the need” to guarantee
“full enjoyment” of rights of persons with disabilities without
discrimination; no guidance is provided on development participation.
- Agile concepts and values can contribute to improved planning and
decision making for all.
Improving flows of accessible information contributes to better
governance, transparency and accountability in decision making processes
for all.
- Role of management and politics: achieving inclusive development
requires time, dedicated efforts, sustained political support and
effective beneficiary involvement throughout the development cycle.
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Good to great: achieving disability-inclusive development in the
mainstream
- Management: articulates a vision, builds consensus on ends and
means, and guides and motivates action
- Disciplined core team, with emphasis on obtaining skilled and
experience people for - not after - the task
- Disciplined thought, with emphasis on unifying and simplifying
process
- Disciplined action, with emphasis on what to do, what not to
do, and when to stop ineffective activities
- Disciplined focus on results, with emphasis on quality outcomes
among intended beneficiaries, not process
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