Empowering women. Advancing equality. Building an inclusive society.
Women and girls with disabilities claim their rights, use the services they need, earn their own income, stay in education and lead their own organisations.
Women and girls with disabilities face discrimination both as women and as persons with disabilities. Article 6 of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities recognises that they are subject to multiple discrimination. In Bangladesh this often means missing school, having no income of their own, being left out of health services and being more exposed to violence.
DRRA promotes women’s empowerment by strengthening women’s rights, leadership, economic independence and participation in decision-making. Through skills development, vocational training, entrepreneurship, access to financial services, livelihood opportunities and social business initiatives, we support women to build sustainable incomes and greater control over their lives.
We place particular emphasis on women with disabilities and women from marginalised communities, addressing barriers to education, employment, mobility and social participation. By working with families, communities, local institutions and government stakeholders, DRRA strives to create an inclusive environment where every woman can exercise her rights, realise her potential and contribute meaningfully to society.
Source: DRRA’s KISHORI (Knowledge on Inclusive Sexuality and Health) baseline, a survey of 1,400 adolescent girls with disabilities aged 10 to 19 in Jashore and Satkhira, March to August 2019.
The programme rests on rights and on women’s own organisations. On that foundation stand three pillars of support: services, economic empowerment and education.
Select a pillar or the foundation to read more.
Every women’s group DRRA supports follows the same steps, from first contact to leadership. Each step builds on the one before it.
Everything rests on rights. Since 2009 DRRA has worked to put the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD) into practice for women and girls, alongside the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW).
Women-headed organisations of persons with disabilities (OPDs) are at the centre of the work. Run by women with disabilities, they grow out of self-help groups, raise their members’ concerns with service providers and local government, and increasingly raise funds and run projects of their own. DRRA has supported women leaders in disability and rehabilitation since 2013.
Mainstream services often overlook women and girls with disabilities. DRRA makes services accessible to them and links each woman and girl to the services she needs.
Sexual and reproductive health and rights information and services that girls and women with disabilities can understand and use. The KISHORI project and DRRA’s 2018 study with Banchte Shekha mapped needs and services, and DRRA helped develop a standard operating procedure on disability-inclusive family planning in 2020.
Water, sanitation and hygiene facilities that women and girls with disabilities can reach and use with privacy and safety, including for menstrual hygiene at home and at school.
Help to report violence and discrimination and to seek justice, through Union Parishads, One-Stop Crisis Centres, women’s affairs officials and the national helpline 109.
Training in using mobile phones and the internet safely, designed around women’s needs, so that women and girls with disabilities can find information, reach services and run their businesses.
Help to obtain a disability identification card and to enrol in government schemes such as the disability allowance and the maternity allowance.
An income of her own gives a woman a stronger voice at home and in her community. DRRA combines three approaches, linked to its four models for economic inclusion.
A productive asset, chosen with each woman to match her skills and the local market, gives her a real start towards earning.
Trade-based skills training, group savings in self-help groups, and links to microfinance and government services, through models such as JIBIKA.
Women build enterprises around local products: Sundary Honey in Satkhira, which involved 70 women with disabilities by 2019; Bangla Ma; and Malancha, a clothing brand for the products of DRRA’s community garment model.
Girls with disabilities often miss out on school, especially when cost, distance or menstruation get in the way. DRRA helps them enrol, stay and succeed.
Scholarships cover school costs so that girls with disabilities can enrol and stay in school.
Community Learning Centres offer non-formal inclusive education, life skills and pre-vocational training for girls and young women who are out of school. DRRA’s 2021 analysis of the Non-Formal Education Act 2014 recommended how to make non-formal education accessible.
Schools with private, accessible toilets and menstrual hygiene support, and dignity kits with menstrual and personal hygiene items, so that girls do not have to miss school during their periods.
Health and rehabilitation services that women and girls with disabilities can use.
From early learning to Community Learning Centres.
Four models that turn skills into income.
Skills, income and a voice for young people.