People with Disabilities, Food Insecurity, and COVID-19: Part Two
Partnerships are Crucial for Inclusive Programming
By Leia Isanhart, Angela Kohama, and Madeline Sahagun
This blog is the second in a two-part series. Read part one to learn how to integrate a disability inclusive lens into food security programming in the context of COVID-19.
COVID Pivoting: How did we do it?
COVID-19 hit Madagascar five months after the Maharo activity kicked off its inception phase. Maharo is a USAID Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance (BHA)-funded resilience food security activity (RFSA) operating in the south and southwest of Madagascar. As the activity had barely begun implementation, the team made some serious pivots to ensure successful implementation. Yet, Maharo’s commitment to disability inclusion did not waver in the face of the operational challenges brought on by COVID. Instead of cancelling or delaying a series of disability inclusion trainings that had just begun, Maharo shifted the content to an online format. Maharo also prioritized service delivery to directly meet the changing needs of different project participants — such as women and people with disabilities — that were affected by multiple factors, including COVID, climate change, and food insecurity.
“To ensure women’s livelihoods, we thought it would be better to accelerate entrepreneurship training for women and people with disabilities, because we could not afford to wait for the process we had established at the beginning. So given the context and the priority needs of the participants, we were obliged to prioritize things and respond to the needs of the participants as best we could.” — Vero Ramananjohany, Gender, Youth and Social Dynamics Advisor at CRS Madagascar.
Maharo’s commitment to inclusion was made easier thanks to a strong partnership with Humanity & Inclusion (HI). In part one of this blog series, we emphasized that inclusion is an intentional and continual process. Partnerships can play a key role in supporting organizations to reach their inclusion objectives, especially in the midst of unexpected challenges like COVID. As demonstrated with the case of Maharo, partnerships work best when they are mutually beneficial, advancing the social mission of mainstream organizations like Catholic Relief Services (CRS) and disability-specialized organizations like HI.
The foundation for this partnership lies in CRS and HI’s geographic overlap and shared commitment to serving populations living in particularly vulnerable circumstances, in both humanitarian and development contexts. HI and CRS both have technical experience in livelihoods and food security programming. Both organizations receive funding from USAID, which shares a commitment to disability inclusion in several countries. USAID has also been receptive to CRS proposals to incorporate inclusive approaches in food security activities. In this context, HI supports CRS’ food security activities with a focus on people with disabilities, who have not traditionally been incorporated into CRS activities. The partnership also helps both organizations collectively advocate for the rights of people with disabilities, raising awareness of inclusion barriers and benefits.
For activities implemented by multiple partners with different organizational missions and mandates, it is crucial that partners agree on shared, realistic expectations. The partnership between HI and CRS is a great example of why this is important, especially in the context of a large food security activity committed to achieving results at scale in an emergency context. Vero added that another key to success is a real commitment and support from the activity’s senior management team.
Both HI and CRS staff agreed that good communication, understanding of each other’s expectations, and having shared goals from the start contributed toward reciprocal trust and successful collaboration. Complementarity is also key, as are knowing what support the other needs and moving forward at the same pace.
“CRS has been in Madagascar for a very long time. So has HI. So we each have knowledge of the field in our own area, with a lot of experience. This is something that is really beneficial in our collaboration. We have experienced many things that we can share and thus enrich each other.” — Alexis Rukezamiheto, Maharo’s Inclusion Technical Advisor.
Organizational structure is another key ingredient that set Maharo up for successful collaboration among its partners. The project team created a staffing structure that promoted information sharing between HI and CRS. This included ‘seconded’ staff between CRS and HI and a shared office space.
HI’s Technical Assistance to CRS
The disability inclusion technical assistance strategy was built on HI’s approach to technical assistance, which was adapted to this context. CRS has extensive technical expertise in delivering food security, but limited experience in adapting food security activities to reach people with disabilities. Working with a disability-specialized organization like HI allows CRS to learn how to identify participation barriers and tweak activities to improve access for people with disabilities.
The HI team demystified the inclusion process for CRS by demonstrating tangible steps while working side-by-side during the learning and adaptation phases. HI’s technical experts provided valuable insight into CRS’ organizational barriers to inclusion. Their accessibility audits and accompanying recommendations help organizations like CRS understand why inclusive projects must also have inclusion in the workplace. CRS Madagascar learned from its past experience that providing assistance to people with disabilities goes beyond just labeling this group as ‘vulnerable,’ rather towards identifying tailored approaches to support the different people with specific needs.
Acknowledging the need to gather expertise and partnering with HI from the very beginning of the proposal stages of the Maharo activity was key and fruitful. We hope this two-part series — exploring disability inclusion within the Maharo activity in Madagascar, and the partnership between CRS and HI that makes it work — has provided some key insights for prioritizing inclusion in your humanitarian response efforts.
True food security means food security for ALL, and we challenge you to reflect on who is most, and least, impacted by your programming. The journey to inclusion is not only vital, but also a realistic possibility for humanitarian programming.
This blog is the second in a two-part series. Read part one to learn how to integrate a disability inclusive lens into food security programming in the context of COVID-19.
