Country strategy

Disability situation in Nepal

The history of disability organisation and rehabilitation in Nepal dates back to 1964. Initially disability organisations were established as schools and charity "for" organisations with the school for visual impaired persons in 1964, a school for hard of hearing in 1966, establishment of Nepal Disabled and Blind Association in 1968 and Association for the welfare of Mentally Retarded in 1981. Gradually more "for "organisations were established and legislation and policies were developed; mainly after the International Year of Disabled Persons (IYDP) in 1981 and the UN Decade of Disabled Persons 1983-1992. In 1985 the Community Based Rehabilitation (CBR) programme for children with disability was initiated in Bhaktapur district. In 1984 the National Association for the Welfare of the Blind was established, the Kathmandu Deaf Association was established in 1980 and National Federation of Deaf and Hard of Hearing in 1995. The National Federation of Disabled Nepal and National Association of the Blind were both initiated and registered in 1993. The self-help organisations and disability organisations were established after the 1990 Democracy movement. Since then many disability organisations both “For” and “self help” were established and operating in different parts of Nepal.

DPOD's focus areas in Nepal

There have been no major initiatives taken to integrate disability as cross cutting issues at the policy level. Hence, there is a serious need for advocacy and lobby for the implementation of disabled friendly plan and policies. Also, the right based approach emphasised on the state/government responsible for ensuring and delivering the rights of People With Disabilities. For this, DPOs and civil society can play a major role to create pressure; advocate and lobby at policy level for the rights of People With Disabilities. Based on the situation analysis the key focus areas of work for DPOD funded programme are identified as:

Advocacy and lobby
Mainstreaming of disability issue
Capacity building of partners.

Country strategy

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