Include Us - Nepal

Include Us!

In 2020, we started working with a group of self-advocates in Nepal. 

An evaluation of the project has now been completed. You can read the report here.

This was part of the Include Us project, which was a 5 year partnership between CBM Global and the National Federation of the Disabled - Nepal (NFDN).

Our first programme was 18 online sessions over 9 months from November 2020 to July 2021. We ran our second programme from February 2021 to July 2021. This involved 12 half-day online sessions and focused on self-advocates developing their own Easy Read service. 

In 2022 we delivered 5 extra sessions on developing an Easy Read service and ran an international webinar in December 2022. 

Our third programme ran from January 2023 and finished in September 2023.

In November 2023 we then had the opportunity to travel to Kathmandu, Nepal to work with self advocates using Forum Theatre. The focus was on employment.

We are now providing mentoring support to their Easy Read Quality Checking Group to further develop their Easy Read service.

See our graphic recordings of our sessions over three years below.

“This has changed my life” 

People First has supported a group of people with learning difficulties in Nepal, as part of a project called “Include Us”, funded by CBM and the Australian Government. CBM recently visited, to understand the impact of this work.
Shanti, who had been involved with the People First training, recently spoke at a big meeting in Kathmandu. She took the microphone and confidently addressed the crowd.  

“For a person with a learning difficulties like me, what’s happened has changed my life. I feel more confident -  to freely express my preferences – about what I eat and what I wear. My decision making has increased”.  

 Others jumped in. “Before I didn’t have any friends but now I have more friends”. Another explained how he now had a job in a restaurant doing washing up.  

The impact of the support has been transformational to the group of around 20 people with intellectual disabilities to improve their social connections, their communication skills and have a better understanding of their rights. 

The group talked about how they used to be bored and lonely at home. Now they are more connected with other similar people. And there’s been a clear shift in roles. Previously it was their parents trying to get them access to training, to benefits, to health support. Now these young people are learning to be advocates for themselves.  

The project has also given them opportunities to skill up around vocational work in hospitality. A number now have part-time jobs. Parents talked about the impact on the whole family when they see that their adult child can now, for example, confidently take public transport and feel less shy interacting with others.  

A mother of a man in his twenties explained. “It’s great to see my son involved in new things. And I’m also able to talk to other parents. Sometimes I have been pretty depressed - now I can share my feelings.”  

“I now have the courage to accept the child’s disability”, says another parent. “What the project has done is to push the parents… particularly to see the potential of their children, because often they are the ones holding them back - because of fears of that for their safety, or fears of bullying.”  

The National Federation of the Disabled Nepal implements this project. They are committed to ensuring people with disabilities can access important information. Their reports are all produced in a braille version, an audio version and an Easy Read version that can be understood by people with learning difficulties.  They pay a group of people with intellectual disabilities to check and edit the drafts of all Easy-Read publications, before they go to print. Parents saw the potential to do more of these easy read publications, around more complex issues such as sexual and reproductive health, managing relationships, and managing money.  

See the Easy Read summary of the project evaluation here

Blog by Julie Smith [email protected]  CBM Australia