4.7.6 Mainstreaming and setting priorities
Sectoral mainstreaming
As PRS is an overarching strategy, a wide number of issues are addressed, such as the economy, infrastructure, health, education, social protection, etc. All of this is certainly important for people with disabilities – indeed, it would be ideal to mainstream disability throughout the whole PRS. However, the case studies show that in reality this has not been possible for two reasons:
- The World Bank has defined already gender, environment and governance as cross-cutting issues. Adding another cross-cutting issue to the existing ones could prove counterproductive, as policy-makers might only mainstream them on paper, but risk losing the focus when implementing these policies.
- In many countries, sector strategies are elaborated by separate working groups. If DPOs want to include disability in all sectors, they need to participate in all working groups. This is sometimes challenging, and certainly time-consuming.
In summary, it is recommended that people with disabilities and their organisations set clear priorities as to which sectors they want to focus on when seeking to mainstreaming disability.
From the national to the grass-roots level
Apart from mainstreaming disability into all sectors, it is also important to address all administrative levels (national – provincial – district – community, etc.). In all case studies the national level was addressed. The Cambodian, Vietnamese and Bangladeshi case studies show how disability can also be addressed on a district or commune level. PRS is a national strategy, which makes it very important to address the national level. However, if the other levels are not targeted, people at the grass-roots level risk never receiving and benefits from poverty reduction.
