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Danish Disability Fund

APPLICATIONB1: SMALL-SCALE DEVELOPMENT PROJECT

(max. DKK 500,000)

1. Cover page

Danish applicant organisation (financially responsible):

Danish Association of the Blind (DAB)

Contact person for the project: Name: Abigail Bentil HoltenEmail: [email protected]:

Other Danish partner(s):(if relevant)

N/A

South Partner(s): Sierra Leone Association of the Blind (SLAB)

Project title: Strengthening the Capacities of SLAB

Country(ies): Sierra Leone Country’s GDP per capita: USD$ 1,800

Project period: Commencement date:September 2018

Completion date:August 2019

Total number of months: 12 months

Total amount applied for: 513.394 DKK (incl. disability compensation)

Is this a new activity? [ X ] Yes, a new activity[ ] An activity in extension of a previous project, namely:

Is this a re-submission? (i.e. a revised version of a previously submitted application).[ X ] No[ ] Yes, date/year of previous application:

Do you want a response letter in [ ] Danish or[ X] English

Insert synthesis of the project in Danish

I april 2018 indgik DBS et formelt partnerskab med blindeorganisationen i Sierra Leone (SLAB), og dette er partnerskabets første reelle projekt. Målet er at styrke blindeorganisationen, via en række strategiske indsatser indenfor følgende områder: 1. Organisationsopbygning med vægt på udvikling af en organisations- strategi; 2. Fortalervirksomhed og bevidstgørelse med særligt fokus på inklusion af blinde og svagsynede børn og unge i skolesystemet, samt styrkelse af medlemmers evne til at fungere som talerør for egne og ligestilledes rettigheder; og 3. Træning af blinde og svagsynede i kompenserende færdigheder som en forudsætning for medlemmers mulighed for at begå sig i deres nærmiljø og deltage aktivt i lokalafdelinger, samt en undersøgelse af barrierer og muligheder i forhold til implementering af indkomstgenererende aktiviteter. Det forventes, at projektet vil understøtte SLAB’s udvikling til en organisation der i højere grad, end det har været muligt tidligt, bliver en stærk fortaler for blinde og svagsynedes rettigheder. Det er

Application – B1: Small-scale development project – DANISH DISABILITY FUND (Jan 2018) OLD FORMAT NEW FUND LIMIT

To be filled in by DPODDisability Fund ref. no.Date received

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tanken, på indeværende tidspunkt, at projektet vil være et første skridt i et udvidet projektsamarbejde mellem SLAB og DBS.

2. Narrative application1. WHAT IS THE CONTEXT AND THE PROBLEM? (suggested length: 2-3 pages)

1.a The overall context (max. 1-1½ page*)

Sierra Leone’s economy and infrastructure are now slowly recovering from the combined effects of the decade long civil conflict and later the Ebola outbreak which almost brought the country’s economy and infrastructure to its knees. With the support of development partners such as UNDP, DFID and others, Sierra Leone is beginning to build itself back up.

The population of Sierra Leone is estimated at just over seven million people comprising of about 16 ethnic groups. It is considered among the countries’ with the lowest human development in the world, ranked at 179 of 189 countries in the 2015 UNDP Human Development Index. In the World Bank’s estimation, about 70.2% of the population live below the national poverty lines.

Though there exists some data on the number of PWDs in Sierra Leone, this data is questionable. For instance, the last census of 2015 puts the nation’s population at 7,092,113 of which 93,129 equivalent to 1.3% are PWDs.1 The DPOs and the National Commission on Disabilities in Sierra Leone however forcefully dispute the data that was unearthed after the census and rather put the number of PWDs as over 4 times the number presented in the report2. The number is probably much higher when WHO’s estimation of 15% of the population is taking into consideration.

Contributing to the high prevalence of disability in Sierra Leone is the decade long war, which caused over 50,000 deaths, and left many maimed physically and psychologically and the PWDs are highly visible every day and everywhere in Sierra Leone. They include both former soldiers and civilians and cut across all tribes, religions, and socio-economic backgrounds, reflecting the impact of the war on the population.

Sierra Leone has begun to recognize the urgency and importance of such statistics for better policies and program developments. In order to remedy the precarious situation of PWDs, the country has signed the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, and its national human rights strategy includes safeguards for people with disabilities. In addition, Sierra Leone included persons with disabilities in the mandates of the 2005-07 Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP) and enacted the Persons with Disability Act in 20113. Other key policies supporting the inclusion of persons with disabilities of note in Sierra Leone include:

• Chapters 3 and 8 of the 1991 Constitution which specifically mentions PWDs under broad human right protections • the 2002 Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) to address war crimes • the 2004 Human Rights Commission of Sierra Leone Act • Enactment of The Persons with Disability Act in 2011, which calls for the creation of a National Commission for Persons with Disabilities and a National Development Fund • signatory to six of the seven human international human rights conventions, including

1 For a further breakdown of figures according to types of disability, see annex F.2 Interviews during fact finding mission with SLAB leadership, the national Commission on Disabilities Sightsavers International3 Cited from the context analysis by the local consultant during the fact finding mission.


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the UNCRPD in 2009. Meanwhile, the WIPO Marrakesh treaty was signed in June 2013 but it is not ratified nor deposited at WIPO’s headquarters in Geneva 4

Despite the legal regimes intended to support and promote the rights of PWDs, there is a void in implementation and monitoring, contributing to discrimination and marginalization. While NGOs and OPWDs have been responsible for service delivery and for representing PWDs, they have limited capacity due to unpredictable funding, poor disability data, negative public perception of persons with disabilities, and poor support and lack of access to public goods as well as government guidance.

The disability movement in Sierra Leone is made up of over 100 DPOs and institutions of learning and training for PWDs, and is organized under the auspices of the umbrella organisation SLUDI 5. Historically, there has been friction between SLAB and elements of the disability community which was fueled by varying opinions on advocacy strategy, a feeling that some organisations were more elitist and domineering over organisations with less educated membership and other forms of disgruntlement. However, the friction has been resolved and the disability movement is working together as one body and will work to mitigate frictions arising from inequalities and lack of opportunities and at present, SLAB sits on the executive board of SLUDI 6

Even though the disability movement in Sierra Leone face a mountain of challenges with respect to their rights, and not less handicapped by the lack of funding to undertake advocacy and awareness raising, they have been able to Marshall their few resources together and along with a few partners such as Sightsavers and Handicap International, 7they have been able to achieve reasonable break throughs. For instance, the disability movement as a collective under SLUDI has supported the drafting of an inclusive education policy and SLAB was highly instrumental in this process. Currently, the draft policy has been approved by the administrative arm of the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology (MEST) and is awaiting approval by the Minister of Education in order for the policy to be passed on to parliament to be made into a law. Moreover, the disability movement has also pushed for the successful implementation of the right to access free health care for PWDs, which was hitherto not implemented by the state. The DPOs have managed to secure this right from the government and PWDs report that they now have access to free health care and surgery; they however have to foot the cost of their medication.

Furthermore, a SLAB district chairman was as recently as March elected to his district council in Bombali district without any affirmative action. A few other PWDs are active in politics resulting in the election of 2 members of parliament who are PWDs8.

1.b Specific challenges faced by those groups of persons with disabilities, or their organisations, for whom the project aims to bring about change

The challenges facing PWDs and their organisations in Sierra Leone are many, and a snapshot of their challenges include lack of access to education and educational facilities, lack of shelter and accommodation for beggars who are the PWDs, acute lack of employment leading to severe economic hardships as well as general exclusion and discrimination in the society9.

4 As above, report from local Consultant. 5 Sierra Leone Union on Disability Issues.6 Interviews during fact finding mission with SLAB and SLUDI.7 Currently known as Humanity and Inclusion.8 Interviews during fact finding mission with SLAB, and SLUDI9 Further background notes on the plight of PWDs can be found in the annex F.


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For further details about the specific challenges facing OPWDs, see annex F. However, their challenges are quite similar to those of SLAB and some of SLAB’s challenges noted from the fact finding mission are highlighted below:

SLAB currently does not operate using a national strategy as well as plans for advocacy and fundraising. The last strategic plan was between 2011- 2013 and has not been renewed due to the outbreak of Ebola and the lack of funding. Besides, Strategic planning, organisational and managerial skills are concentrated among a selection of national and district leaders. The limited funding and lack of a general national strategy has also hampered the smooth coordination of regular meetings both at the national and local levels.

SLAB is heavily dependent on external donors, and therefore very vulnerable with respect to financial and administrative stability. At present, SLAB has no on-going projects. The last project that was funded by Sightsavers ended in 2016 and all the project staff have left in the absence of any remuneration. SLAB therefore has no remunerated staff at its offices and the few available staff work on purely ad hoc and voluntary basis. SLAB as part of SLUDI obtains very limited funding from the NCD 10at the local level to undertake limited advocacy work or other projects. Though SLAB has organisational structures right from the national level to the very local level with a committed membership base, strong advocacy and fundraising skills are lacking at the national level and many members have become inactive. Consequently, accessing funding and resources through fundraising, and obtaining media attention for highlighting the challenges of BPS in the country is hampered.

Though some national and district leaders of SLAB have knowledge of the provisions detailed in various national policies favoring BPS in particular and PWDs in general, the members of SLAB lack knowledge about these important policies that should promote the rights of BPS. Their lack of knowledge stems from the fact that a lot of members are not well educated and therefore do not understand the high level English used in the formulation of the policies. Moreover, the national policies do not exist in accessible formats such as braille and audio. Consequently, the contents of the various disability promoting policies are inaccessible and not known to the members of SLAB hence, it has become challenging for the members to carry out effective advocacy without knowing what their rights are by law.

Due to the long distances in travelling to attend district and chiefdom meetings and limited funding for activities in the local branches, it is difficult to maintain the membership base in existing branches let alone attract new members or expand SLAB into new districts.

Though member registration and a form of membership list based on participants to branch activities exist in SLAB, it is however not maintained and updated regularly nor disaggregated. There is no data uniformity across the ten district branches.

Travelling within the districts and chiefdoms is often difficult as public transport is unreliable or dangerous for BPS persons, which furthermore exacerbates the organisation of activities in the branches. Additionally, the physical environment is not accessible and the lack of O & M training of SLAB members make it almost impossible for them to participate and in community activities leading to further exclusion. SLAB as an organisation does not have a vehicle that can be used for official organisational purposes.

The limited vocational training and income generating activities in existence are carry overs from the CBR project supported by Sightsavers International. A vocational and rehabilitation center established by SLAB under the CBR project with Sightsavers in early to mid-2000s for various vocational training in soap making, tailoring, baking and weaving could not be sustained by SLAB at the end of the CBR project and is now funded by the government through the ministry of Social

10 National Commission on Disability


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Welfare, gender and Children’s affairs. The center is mostly now used for training of sighted street children. However, at present, the local branches do not have any space to undertake these vocational training activities and since duty-bearers are not proactive in this area, it means that, a large number of SLAB members remain jobless without any form of income generation. .

The fact finding team also found out that, many SLAB members do not possess vocational training nor income generating skills; and even the few who benefited from vocational training and income generating skills under previous CBR projects funded by Sightsavers have not had the resources required to put their skills to use. Therefore, both the beneficiaries and those who did not benefit from any income generating skills are begging on the streets.

Social workers in Sierra Leone are very scarce to put it mildly and almost nonexistent, to put it bleakly. Therefore, it is challenging to recruit qualified personnel to undertake O & M training for BPS persons. This has resulted in BPS persons being heavily dependent on their family and further leading to exclusion from the community.

As already mentioned above, SLAB does not have any paid administrative staff nor working equipment at their offices. They do not possess a braille embosser that can be used in Brailling organisational reports and briefs to share with their members. Whenever the organisation needs to share copies of a particular document, the information has to be typed using a Perkins Brailler which is a very slow and arduous task and as such, very few copies are ever produced for dissemination.

2. WHICH EXPERIENCES AND RESULTS DOES THE PROJECT BUILD UPON? (suggested length: 2-3 pages)

2.a Knowledge about or previous experience of cooperation with the South partner

Is the partnership between the Danish applicant and the South partner organisation known to the Danish Disability Fund, i.e. described in (an)other application(s) in previous years?

Yes X Insert the six-figure Danish Disability Fund reference number(s): HP 131-162No

Does the project’s theme lies within the partners’ normal field of work?

Yes XNo

SLAB and DAB have been in contact since the 1980’s when contact was established through the World Blind Union (WBU), and DAB represented by Mr. John Heilbrunn (DAB vice president) visited Sierra Leone and SLAB in the late 80s. In the ensuing years, the relationship between SLAB and DAB resulted in a series of leadership training seminars during the 1990’s and culminated in the establishment of a permanent SLAB secretariat in Freetown funded by DAB in 1995.

Later in the preceding years, DAB made another critical intervention by reactivating the National Braille Printing Press getting to the end of the 1990s which made it possible for the Press to produce badly needed braille text books for primary and secondary blind school children. An equally important relationship was also forged, when DAB organised and funded SLAB’s participation in a seminar on Braille production in


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West Africa in Accra Ghana in 1996. Additionally, DAB funded SLAB general assembly meetings, contracted a Barrister to assist SLAB’s legal work, funded SLAB membership/ participation in African Union of the Blind (AFUB) and WBU, not to mention relief funding for some individual members of SLAB at the height of the civil war.

However, as a result of the attendant effects and risks at the height of the civil war, it was difficult to continue the development of the mentioned activities and attempts to develop local branches and create income generating project, e.g. within textile production, came to a halt. In the years 1997-2001 DAB assessed that it was literally impossible to continue the collaboration with SLAB, nevertheless, DAB still supported the running of the SLAB secretariat with 2000 USD from its own funds for another year.

In 2001 DAB conducted a brief fact finding visit to Freetown where opportunities were discussed for involving SLAB in further disability policy work, among other things because one of its driving executives, Kabbakeh Noah (now Acting Director), at that time served as a regional representative in AFUB for English speaking West Africa. However, the unrest of the previous years had weakened the organisation considerably. Nevertheless, SLAB managed to achieve significant financial support from Comic Relief, which was intended to develop a number of local branches of the organisation from a bottom up approach. Considering this significant funding to the organisation, as well as the fact that DAB in the meantime had initiated project collaboration in several other countries, a decision was made to end the collaboration between SLAB and DAB. However, contact has been maintained between the organisations on an irregular basis throughout the years, e.g. in the context of the WBU.

2.b Assessment of partner capacity

On the basis of the points mentioned under 1.b, DAB considers that many of SLAB’s challenges are as a result of the lack of human and financial resources as well as lack of relevant skills with respect to advocacy, fundraising and the like.

It is important to bear in mind though that SLAB has a functioning organisational structure with branches in 10 out of 16 districts of Sierra Leone and further exists in over 100 chiefdoms which is the lowest administrative level in the country11. It has democratically elected leaders at all the levels, in spite of the lack of funding. The leadership are strong and committed and are transparent in their dealings with the members. The current SLAB structure is as a result of previous projects funded by Sightsavers and others and SLAB understands the need to increase their presence in other parts of the country in order to not only increase their membership base, but also to broaden their efforts at promoting rights of BPS persons.

Moreover SLAB is an organisation which focuses on advocacy by highlighting the successes, challenges and opportunities of BPS persons. SLAB also focuses on the empowerment of BPS persons and has in recent years focused and spearheaded advocacy for inclusive education, the recognition of braille as the official mode of writing of BPS persons, and, as mentioned elsewhere, has been instrumental in the successful advocacy campaign which has led to the implementation of free health care for all PWDs in Sierra Leone. At the moment, SLAB along with other organisations under the SLUDI umbrella are advocating for inclusive governance, which was stated, pledged and written in the election manifestos of all the political parties. An inclusive governance whereby qualified PWDs would be appointed to serve in the newly elected government which came into power after a free, fair and relatively violent free elections in March this year.

SLAB has experience in implementing CBR projects under which empowerment has been a component. The empowerment has been in the areas of O&M training, skills training and other important areas. SLAB branches are also involved in very small collective income generating activities such as farming, animal

11 See annex A for further details on SLAB’s administrative structure.


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raring, gara tie-dye and soap making. A few district branches also operate a small microcredit scheme with funding received from a benevolent donor Mr. Bob Thomas, from which SLAB district members or groups can source funding in order to carry out some form of income generating activity.

Further, it is important to emphasize that SLAB has the capacity to administer, implement and monitor this proposed project due to their previous experience in implementing the projects with budgets up to £618,000, together with Sightsavers and Humanity & Inclusion among others.12

Despite all the internal and external challenges surrounding SLAB, DAB considers SLAB to be a robust and resilient organisation in the face of all the above mentioned difficulties. On that basis DAB concludes that SLAB has the capacity to implement this proposed project with the appropriate support addressing the lack of organisational skills, human and financial resources.

2.c Learning of relevance to the application

The main learning points brought into this proposed project are based on lessons learned and best practices identified over the years, through DAB’s full portfolio of development projects and SLAB’s experience from previous projects. The first main learning point, related to organisational development, is that a development of a SLAB strategy and the following strengthening of democratic procedures would create a feeling of ownership to the organisation among the engaged members; it would give the leaders legitimacy and generate mutual commitment between leaders and members. This will again function as additional stepping stones towards active participation in local communities and branches. It is the experiences derived from CBR projects that SLAB has developed a cohort of intellectually empowered leaders with some organisational skills who have kept SLAB afloat even in the absence of donor funding.

The main learning point when it comes to advocacy is that if empowered SLAB leaders at local and national level manage to engage directly with duty-bearers in a strategic manner (incl. if well-prepared model programmes and proposals with budget needs are presented) – and if engagements are supported by awareness raising initiatives - then duty bearers will address BPS issues to a higher degree. Besides, SLAB has learned to value the strength of the collective disability movement in terms of advocacy action and is therefore poised to engage SLUDI in the planning of meetings with duty-bearers in order to avoid disgruntlement.

In relation to empowerment, the main learning point is that acquiring skills, in particular skills which can compensate for a visual impairment and thereby enable BPS persons to cope with daily challenges, is a lever for empowerment. While organisations of BPS persons in general cannot take responsibility for the overall psychological and personal development of their members, they can promote the development of skills which can mitigate and compensate for the disadvantage brought about by visual impairment, and thereby help their members to navigate in the society, in both concrete and abstract terms. Training in O&M contributes by equipping members of the target group with skills which potentially enables them to take part in the life of the community and the activities as well as the management of SLAB branches. Thus, rehabilitation is also a strategic tool which is meant to bring about change at individual, community and organisation level, and is thus not only an indispensable service offered by SLAB to its membership. However, individual empowerment does not automatically translate into active community or organisational engagement, which is why a number of supporting activities have been included, such as member meetings at local level and livelihood activities.

Giving livelihood grants to enable members, to either gain new knowledge through training or through small scale employment initiatives, has proven to carry good results in terms of strengthening the planning

12 See annex E for the results of an Octagon organizational assessment of SLAB


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and management of small activities as part of branch level meetings as well as awareness raising as the potential employment opportunity associated with empowerment can help showcase the capabilities of BPS persons to the society at large. Besides, DAB has positive experience in implementing social grants as part of empowerment component for instance in projects in Rwanda, AP region and in Ghana which shows that, empowerment through O & M as well as livelihood enhancement has catalytic effects on member mobilisation and increase in branch activity participation. 13

2.d Preparatory process

In 2017 DAB initiated a process defining criteria for potential new partnerships and consultation of a number of stakeholders for their input and advice. One of these five was SLAB. Based on the dialogue between the two organisations it was mutually decided to move ahead with a pre-study in which the terms and focus of a future partnership could be fully explored. The pre-study therefore took place from the 15th of April to the 22nd April. During the pre-study a MoU on the general principles and nature of the partnership was agreed upon and signed between DAB and SLAB.14

The pre-study team from DAB returned to Denmark with an appreciation of the challenges facing SLAB and BPS persons in Sierra Leone and common objectives and areas of collaboration were identified by which a partnership through a project could be supported between SLAB and DAB.

While on the fact finding mission, SLAB and DAB discussed the various findings, and SLAB took the lead on how the envisaged project should entail and what objectives the project should aim at achieving and this process was carried out with DAB’s guidance. After the visit, email correspondence and telephone calls have taken place between key staff and resource persons in DAB and SLAB where further questions and ideas have been discussed. The actual drafting of the present application has taken place in close collaboration between the two organisations and SLAB is well informed of every step of the application process.

3. WHAT CHANGE WILL THE PROJECT ACHIEVE AND HOW? (suggested length 6-8 pages)

3.a Change which the project aims to bring about (max. ½ page)

The project aims at effecting a change where SLAB gradually becomes a strong voice in the disability movement, while being organised according to strategic goals and objectives. Furthermore, the project seeks to ensure that, SLAB is more stable by scaling up its attention to self-sustaining strategies, with the necessary capacity to empower members through the impartation of knowledge about their disability rights to enable SLAB members engage duty bearers from a legal standpoint, advocacy skills training and development of lessons and best practices that can lead to income generation for SLAB members.

The project hence will focus on interventions within these three areas namely, organisational development, advocacy and member empowerment. It is the expectation that the internal evaluation will show that the foundation has been laid for a changed situation where SLAB is a strengthened and more active voice for the rights of blind and partially sighted persons, with an increasingly strong and committed membership base that participate in planned activities and has improved skills to carry out advocacy both on the

13 DAB’s partnership projects in Rwanda (e.g. HP 129-037), in the Asian Pacific regional project (e.g. HP 311-056) and in Ghana (e.g. HP 115-077).14 See annex G.


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national and local levels. An organisation whose members have gained on a foundational level, increased self-dependence and self-worth in their families and communities within Bo district.

In concrete terms, the project aspires to increase the organisational capacity of SLAB by ensuring that SLAB is initiating steps to be governed by strategic goals and is able to activate its membership.

With respect to organisational development, it is expected that key SLAB national and local leadership (gender balanced) have acquired skills in strategic planning and fundraising, and SLAB members within Bo district branch are actively participating in SLAB activities; and a strategic plan spelling out the organisational goals and targets, and focused on fundraising, is drafted, known and discussed by SLAB national leadership and leaders and members in Bo district branch, and is hopefully ready for adoption at the next National General Assembly.

In relation to advocacy, the project aspires to increase SLAB’s engagement with duty bearers in order to highlight the needs of BPS persons. To this end, it is expected that SLAB has steadily reinforced capacities in advocacy resulting in duty bearer engagements and has raised awareness on the rights of BPS. Through the engagements, relevant duty-bearers at national and local level have been made aware of the needs of BPS persons concerning the inclusive education policy and other equally pressing commitments towards PWDs enshrined in the CRPD and the SDGs. At the same time, SLAB at national and local level has developed an advocacy priority plan (APP) and has also acquired skills to implement the plan.

Regarding empowerment, the project will ensure that volunteer SLAB members who are O&M trainers already present at local level get a training of trainer (ToT) course in O&M, and that members in Bo district branch have experienced a positive change in quality of life through access to O&M training and that the skills acquired has enabled members in Bo district to move in their local communities independently.

Additionally, through the implementation of this project, knowledge has been gained about best practices, constraints and possibilities in relation to the implementation of livelihood activities for BPS by interviewing SLAB members who have been successful and those who have not been successful at pursuing income generating activities. Lessons will also be generated from the results of a pilot social grant scheme for SLAB members in Bo district and all the lessons learned will expectedly be incorporated into a bigger empowerment intervention in the next phase of DAB /SLAB partnership.

3.b Target groups– among whom will you achieve change? (1-2 pages)

The project includes both primary and secondary target groups. It is expected to directly target and involve a total 1381 persons, the majority of which SLAB members (with some overlap), as follows :

The organisational development component will primarily target SLAB leaders and members and includes the following:

19 members of SLAB made up of 6 National Executive Board (NEB) members, 10 district chairpersons and 3 leading members of SLAB and a resource person (facilitator) will participate in a strategic planning workshop aimed at the drafting and development of a strategic plan.

The NEB will hold 2 meetings within the project lifespan to discuss internal SLAB issues as well as deliberate further on the new strategic plan and start focusing on fundraising opportunities for SLAB. The NEB is made up of 6 members at present; 5 women and a man who is the president.

Two meetings in 6 chiefdoms within the project district (Bo) will be held and the chiefdom committees are made up of 6 members each. These chiefdom meetings will be held in order to further strengthen the internal structure of SLAB and the chiefdoms will further discuss and give inputs to the new strategic plan and fundraising opportunities under discussion to make the


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process inclusive. Therefore, about 36 executives from the 6 chiefdoms will be directly targeted while the members of the chiefdoms will also be targeted indirectly when the chiefdoms report deliberations from the committee meetings. Every chiefdom has an average of about 100 members. Over 500 members of SLAB will be indirectly targeted in Bo district.

Four project management committee (PMC) meetings will be held during the lifespan of the project in order to internally monitor the implementation of the project and for the promotion of greater ownership and responsibility of the project. The PMC is made up of 8 members, gender balanced. This gives a target of 4 men and 4 women who are key SLAB members.

The advocacy component of the project will primarily target SLAB leaders and members, national policy makers, representatives from CSOs, NGOS, DPOs, and local community actors and duty-bearers, and includes the following:

19 SLAB national and local leaders to participate in an advocacy priority planning development workshop. The 19 SLAB leaders participating in this activity consists of the 6 NEB members, 10 district leaders and 3 key members of SLAB.

23 SLAB district and chiefdom leaders (representing district and chiefdom levels, both genders as well as youth representation) will be trained in community negotiation/advocacy skills focusing on the PWDs Act of 2011 and the Local Government Act 2004, in order to circulate knowledge about the new advocacy priority plan among leaders at the project district; using the above mentioned laws as point of reference.

A total of min. 180 BPS (30 participants per session, in 6 chiefdoms within Bo district) will participate in 5 bi-monthly sensitization sessions where they will gain knowledge about the contents of the PWD Act of 2011, the UNCRPD and SDGs as well as other national disability policies favorable to PWDs.

150 policy makers as well as representatives of CSOs, NGOS, DPOs, and local authorities will participate in one strategic public session in Freetown on key provisions in the Disability ACT in general and the draft inclusive education policy in particular. At least, 10 representatives of SLUDI will participate in the session.

At the local level, 240 community actors and duty bearers will be engaged in town hall sensitization meetings on the Disability Act 2011. The 240 community actors will be representing the 6 chiefdoms in Bo district (30 per chiefdom) and they include district council members, traditional rulers CSOs/DPOs religious leaders, health workers etc.

The empowerment component will primarily target the members of SLAB, and includes the following: 8 O&M instructors from the chiefdoms in Bo district who are low vision members of SLAB will

receive Training of Trainer (ToT) course in O&M. After the ToT training, they will go into the chiefdoms and further train 120 SLAB members (drawn from 6 chiefdoms, 15 per chiefdom gender balanced) in O&M in Bo district.

In relation to the study of best practices in implementation of livelihood activities, 4 persons (gender balanced) will be interviewed in Freetown and two other districts respectively by the project coordinator. The study will therefore target 12 members of SLAB.

A small pilot social grant scheme will be implemented targeting members of the 6 chiefdoms in Bo district (at least 10 members per chiefdom) will benefit from the pilot social grant scheme. A total of 60 members of SLAB (gender balanced) will thus benefit from the pilot social grant while providing key lessons that will enhance the livelihood section of an empowerment component of a future project.


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The secondary target group, who will benefit indirectly from project activities, embraces the following three groups:

First, the families of BPS beneficiaries can be expected to benefit from either a personally empowered and capacitated BPS member. Using the average household size of five in Sierra Leone, the number of family relations who will benefit from an empowered and active BPS will be well over 1000 taking into consideration that about 729 SLAB members from 6 chiefdoms will be sensitised.

Secondly, the wider BPS population in the Bo district will also benefit from regular and active branch meetings.The third group comprise of the general public and local communities whose awareness on BPS persons will be raised through town and community engagements, and through increased self-dependence of BPS persons it will be demonstrated that BPS persons can lead active and meaningful lives.

3.c Objectives and success criteria (1 page)

Have you chosen to attach a log frame or a similar type of results framework?

X

YesNo

See annex B for the details of the objectives of the project illustrated through an LFA.

3.d Strategy (suggested length: 3-4 pages)

In DAB’s time tested approach to undertaking capacity building projects with its partners, the experience has shown that, organisational development, advocacy and empowerment of BPS persons are interlinked and forms the tripod on which many of DAB’s projects are based on and this is in accordance with DPOD’s development triangle. Without an organisation which has capacity and structure to do advocacy to change the plight of BPS persons, empowerment of members cannot take place. On the other hand, without empowered members it is not possible to build a strong and vibrant organisation that can do effective advocacy. And without advocacy that addresses the issues and challenges of BPS persons, empowerment cannot be sustained, as there is no voice to speak up for BPS persons. For these reasons, the envisaged project involves all three components to a larger or lesser extent.

As already mentioned above, the project has the aim of laying the foundations that will make SLAB a strengthened and a more active voice for the rights of blind and partially sighted persons (BPS) in Sierra Leone, with a strengthened and committed membership base that participate in planned activities and has improved relevant skills to carry out advocacy both on the national and local levels.

The proposed project is considered to be the first phase in a projected long-term collaboration between SLAB and DAB, and taking into account the organisational challenges of SLAB as outlined above, the project will focus predominantly on the organisational development component since SLAB needs to strengthen its administrative and organisational base.

In this small scale project, the project will benefit the national executives of SLAB since all trainings and significant meetings will include executives from the 10 SLAB district branches. However, only one district is


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an active implementing district in this project. Bo district is in the southern region of Sierra Leone. SLAB has 6 active chiefdoms in the district and the chiefdoms are the base of SLAB. Bo district was selected by SLAB among its 10 district because, it is neither truly rural nor very urban in nature making it an ideal district to start this first phase in the long-term partnership with DAB. Additionally, it was part of an earlier CBR project which supported SLAB to set up a branch in the district. Besides, Bo had a strong membership base before the Ebola pandemic and has since a reduced base in terms of numbers. In spite of that, activities are still going on there though on a limited basis with regards to empowerment, advocacy and even some fundraising activity. These reasons among others led both SLAB and DAB to conclude that, a successfully implemented project on a pilot basis in Bo district will be definitely replicable in other districts.

Outcome 1: Organisational development: SLAB is governed by strategic goals and is able to activate its membership.

In order to address the challenges, described under 1.b, the organisational development component sets out to first, initiate work on a strategic planning workshop which will be facilitated by an external resource person, where the leaders of SLAB from all its branches and committees participate in making inputs into a draft strategic plan. SLAB’s national general assembly is not due within the lifespan of the envisaged project since the next general assembly will take place in 2020. Therefore, the project will support the regular organisation of two meetings in the National Executive Board and two chiefdom executive committee meetings in each of the six chiefdoms in Bo district. At these meetings the draft strategic plan will be discussed at length in order for the members to gain knowledge about the contents of the draft strategy while collecting inputs from the local members.

These meetings will be held not only to discuss internal SLAB business, but also to further the discussions on the strategic plan and also to begin discussions on fundraising strategies as part of the drawing up of an organisational strategy. It was made abundantly clear that fundraising has not been internalized especially at the national level of SLAB. A fundraising strategy is therefore envisaged as part of the draft strategic plan right from the beginning of this partnership with SLAB in order to ensure that SLAB is better self-sustained in the absence of funded projects. The inputs that will be assembled from the various committee meetings will be forwarded to the facilitator for incorporation into the draft strategy. The project has as an aspiration to secure a draft strategic plan which will hopefully be ready for adoption after further deliberation at the next NGA for onward implementation in the next phase of the long-term partnership. Furthermore, in order to enhance local ownership of the project, an 8-member project committee will be formed to internalize local monitoring and learning within the lifespan of the project. The composition of the PMC includes, the project coordinator, 2 members from NEB, 3 key SLAB members and 2 representatives from Bo District. The PMC will therefore support the work of the project coordinator in terms of implementation.

In addition, SLAB will set up an accurate and disaggregated membership database to track the progress of the organisation in terms of membership mobilization. Before the Ebola crises, SLAB had over 4000 members but only have about 2500 as of present and, the membership data at present has not been updated since 2015. The database will be fed and managed by the Project coordinator who will input data obtained from membership registration forms used in the 6 chiefdoms in Bo district. The database will disaggregate data relating to gender, age, education and employment status, and other relevant data. The data base system will first be based on data from Bo district to test the usability of the system, and depending on the level of success, it will also input data obtained from other SLAB district branches. Moreover, 5 bi-monthly meetings will be held within the project lifespan to reactivate SLAB members since the meetings will be more interesting organized around knowledge acquisition and livelihood enhancement.15 A reenergized SLAB with regular activities both at the national and local levels will

15 See Outcome 2 and 3.


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therefore rekindle the interests of the non-active members to rejoin SLAB thus increasing its membership base for even greater advocacy campaigns.

Outcome 2: Advocacy: SLAB has reinforced advocacy capacities resulting in duty bearer engagements and has raised awareness on the rights of BPS.

SLAB recognizes that, in order to be able to engage duty bearers, the organisation itself will need a coordinated and effective advocacy priority plan spelling out exactly which pressing issues should be focused on when engaging duty bearers while even allowing room for deviations stemming from unforeseen issues which might need urgent advocacy action.

The advocacy component thus employs a two-pronged approach to undertaking advocacy. First, SLAB will increase their members’ knowledge about the National Disability Act and scale up the knowledge of members in Bo district through a series of internal actions. When this is done, then, SLAB will proceed to engage duty bearers with the full knowledge that the membership base of SLAB at least in Bo district have a working knowledge of their rights and are working under the guidance of an advocacy priority plan.

Therefore, through this project, SLAB will develop an advocacy priority plan (APP) that will direct advocacy efforts at national and local level and will also acquire skills to implement the APP. In order to bring this about, a national workshop on the development of the APP will be organized for 19 key SLAB leaders and members and this workshop will be facilitated by an external consultant. The APP which will be developed at the workshop will lay down the advocacy priorities SLAB will be focusing on in the stipulated timeframe. The implementation of this APP is expected to begin within the lifespan of this proposed project pending the adoption of the draft national strategic plan.

In order to further internalize the APP, a second workshop on community negotiation skills will be organized in Bo district for 23 district and chiefdom leaders of SLAB. The newly developed APP will be the reference point for the community negotiation skills and the participants will learn how to engage the local duty bearers using the APP. The workshop will also be facilitated by an external resource person. This workshop will be significantly different from the national APP workshop in that the sessions would be carried out in a simpler manner bearing in mind that there will be differences in educational levels. Besides, the APP will be concretized for the local situation because, the local level might not necessarily be advocating for the same reliefs as the national level.

Additionally, SLAB will translate the national disability ACT of 2011 into Kreo which is spoken by over 90% of the population in Sierra Leone in order to make the law more understandable to ITS members who are less educated. SLAB will further braille the disability ACT into braille and make copies for its branches to reduce the inaccessible nature of the ACT for its intended beneficiaries. These processes are expected to increase SLAB members’ knowledge about the content of the disability act, hence ensuring that, SLAB has strengthened its ability to advocate for their rights from a legal standpoint.

In order to give a further boost to the internalization of the new APP while spreading the knowledge on the disability act and the community negotiation skills, the project will support bi-monthly sensitization chiefdom meetings in each of the six chiefdoms in Bo district. This will strengthen SLAB as an organisation while motivating members to participate regularly.

These bi-monthly meetings are SLAB structured meetings; however the members will through the proposed project gain more knowledge and skills with regards to their rights hence putting them into a good stead when engaging local duty bearers. SLAB district leaders who participated in the various workshops will facilitate these information dissemination sessions in order to deepen understanding among the leaders themselves and also to give these sessions a relaxed atmosphere since their leaders are well known to them.


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The second prong under this strategy that will be adopted to achieve Outcome 2 is by strengthening SLAB’S engagement with duty bearers in order to first, highlight the challenges facing PBS persons with respect to inclusive education and remind duty-bearers of their commitments to PWDs under the tenets of the CRPD and the SDGs as well as other pressing challenges which will be spelled out in SLAB’s APP. Second, to increase SLAB’S visibility while legitimizing SLAB as the mouthpiece of BPS persons. Specifically, SLAB will engage the relevant duty-bearers at national level and in Bo district.

In order to realise this, first, SLAB will organize a national strategic public forum for duty bearers in Freetown. This forum will give SLAB the opportunity to discuss their most pressing challenges directly with duty bearers. DAB’s experience in development partnerships has showed that, given BPS the opportunity to be their own mouthpiece is a good advocacy tool in itself since duty-bearers have the chance to closely interact with BPS persons themselves and not through surrogates. SLAB will plan this forum with SLUDI in order to maintain unity and avoid unnecessary squabbles. It is expected that representatives from the ministries of Education, Science and Technology, gender and children and social welfare, labour and social security, the national commission on disability, parliamentarians, and a host of other duty bearers will attend the strategic public forum. Since SLAB does not work in isolation and works closely with CSOs, representatives from CSOs including Network movement for justice and development, Sightsavers International, Humanity and Inclusion, Helen Keller Foundation, OPWDs under the SLUDI umbrella and other stakeholders will also be in attendance to lend their strength in numbers and in voices to this advocacy action with the media in attendance.

Secondly at the local level in Bo district, SLAB will invite local duty bearers to a community town hall sensitization meeting in order to make the local authorities aware of the specific local needs of BPS persons in Bo district. Both DAB and SLAB’s experiences has shown that, the needs of BPS persons at the local level might not exactly be the same as the reliefs sought at the national level. It is therefore important that, the duty-bearers at the local level interact with BPS in the locales to enhance further and closer advocacy promoting relations. It is expected that about 240 community local duty bearers will be in attendance. The duty bearers will be from 6 chiefdoms in Bo district (40 per chiefdom), they will include, district council members, community rulers, local CSOs, local DPOs, religious leaders local heads of institutions, health workers etc.

It is expected that, these processes enumerated above will lay the foundations towards a gradual rapprochement that will open the minds of duty bearers to the challenges of BPS persons and PWDs in general and facilitate the gradual inclusion of BPS persons at policy discussions, especially those that has bearing on the lives of BPS persons in particular.

Outcome 3: Empowerment: knowledge has been gained about best practices, constraints and possibilities in relation to the implementation of livelihood activities for BPS and, members in Bo district branch have experienced a positive change in quality of life through access to O&M.

The empowerment component of the envisaged project employs 2 strategies to kick start the process towards empowerment among SLAB members in Bo district. The first is through the provision of O & M training. As mentioned under 1.b, there is a lack of social workers to undertake CBR projects in the field in Sierra Leone. Therefore, in order to fulfill the section of this outcome relating to enhancement of quality of life through the acquisition of skills in O & M, SLAB will first organize a TOT session for 8 strong partially sighted SLAB members from the 6 SLAB chiefdoms. These selected 8 will be trained by the one and only known qualified O&M trainer in Sierra Leone in Freetown.

After their training, the newly trained partially sighted SLAB members will return to their chiefdoms in Bo district and train 120 members in O&M (15 per district over a period of 6 months) and the 8 trainers will receive a little allowance over the period in order to keep their commitments up while holding them to


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their obligation. This TOT mode of spreading knowledge about O & M is a widely utilized method in places lacking qualified social workers and instructors and DAB’s projects in Rwanda and in Mongolia has successfully implemented O & M using this model. Through the project, white canes will be provided for the trainees in the chiefdoms to enable the beneficiaries to properly receive the training and enable them move about their local community fairly independently. It is expected that, members in Bo district will acquire new skills which will in turn enable them to move around independently within their local community; which will in turn facilitate their active participation in chiefdom activities. The active participation of members in branch activities will enhance the organisational strength of SLAB and make the organisation attractive for new members16. Conversely, a strengthened branch has a stronger voice and improved capabilities to carry advocacy actions at the local level.17 The acquisition of O and M skills will thus reduce their dependence and exclusion within their families and communities at large while enabling the SLAB members to apply the new skills by a gradual increase in participation in branch activities.

The second strategy that will be employed to initiate empowerment in SLAB will be through a combined approach of a qualitative study and the piloting of a small social grant. Much has been written about the level of poverty and exclusion SLAB members endure each day. However, no concrete knowledge was obtained by the fact finding team as to why there is very low income generating activity and why even those who have acquired some training in vocational skills such as weaving and soap making have not put their skills to use hence, the high level of poverty resulting in begging on the streets. Both SLAB and DAB wish to economically empower SLAB members to reduce the high level of begging and in turn strengthen the branches since the resource of the organisation is its members. Nevertheless, both DAB and SLAB would like to embark on a fully fledged livelihood grant model from an informed, effective and inclusive manner the and in the absence of the required knowledge to do so, the project aims to contribute to such knowledge.

In order to then achieve outcome 3 which aims at gaining knowledge about the constraints and opportunities with regards to livelihood enhancement, the project coordinator who will be engaged to implement the proposed project will as part of his duties, visit 3 SLAB districts including Freetown to conduct qualitative interviews with 2 groups of SLAB members, beneficiaries of income generating skill training activities under previous projects and those who have not had any income generating skill training with the view to learn first-hand about the challenges and/or successes related to the previously undertaking income generating skill training exercise and also elicit concrete recommendations/lessons, best practices and opportunities, that will be useful in designing livelihood schemes in future project between SLAB and DAB.

However, the project will pilot a small scale social grant scheme for the members of the 6 chiefdoms in Bo district first to support on-going livelihood activities in the district such as agriculture activities, animal raring, soap production and other activities which have been supported through the donations by Mr. Bob Thomas. These existing livelihood activities though are on a very limited scale and scope, they have proved successful for the very few SLAB members who have formed a collective to undertake the livelihood activities. The project will therefore support the already existing collective livelihood schemes and new collective teams by implementing a pilot social grant only to groups of people engaged in a livelihood activity to facilitate income generation among SLAB members who are begging on the streets. Application guidelines have been developed to regulate the social grant schemes and its selection process.18 Secondly, it is expected that lessons can be drawn from this small scale pilot social grant scheme thus further enriching the analysis of the qualitative study which will be carried out.

16Supporting Outcome 117 Supporting outcome 218 See annex I for the details of the application guidelines.


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In short, this component is designed as a knowledge seeking exercise in practice by economically enhancing BPS persons through a combination of a qualitative study and a practical knowledge building exercise by the piloting of a small scale social grant scheme.

SLAB collaborates with various organisations in carrying out advocacy campaigns and it is expected that, the cooperation will continue even under this project. As a member of SLUDI’s executive board, SLAB will continue to promote inclusive governance under the newly elected government. SLUDI will definitely join the strategic public forum which will be organised by SLAB as part of the advocacy component of the proposed project. At the local level, SLAB’s branch in Bo district is a member of a disability coalition which pursues various advocacy actions towards the duty bearers. This project will strengthen SLAB’s standing in the coalition and it is expected that members from the disability coalition in the district will also join the community and town hall sensitisation that will be organised by SLAB in the district.

SLAB enjoys good relationship with Sightsavers and Humanity and Inclusion who have funded projects with SLAB. These 2 development organisations are heavily involved in the promotion of the inclusive education policy and as long as they remain active in Sierra Leone, they will be a form of resource to SLAB and it is expected that, SLAB will use them as a resource and they will in turn continue to use SLAB’s expertise in matters pertaining to BPS persons in Sierra Leone. The media in Sierra Leone especially at the local level has maintained good relationship with SLAB and the disability movement. In Bo district, the members reported during the fact finding mission that, free radio slots were offered for awareness raising. This close partnership with SLAB is expected to continue and the project will facilitate an even closer relation with the media both at the national and local level19.

Lastly the monitoring system will highlight the results achieved from the interventions carried out through the project and will showcase to duty-bearers and the general public that empowerment training and capacity building both for the individuals and for the organisation as a whole has a positive result for BPS persons and SLAB.

3.e Risks

As part of the pre-study mission, a detailed risk assessment was carried out and is attached as appendix D. However, a brief highlight of the most significant risks identified are as follows:

Risk Mitigation strategyThere has been friction between SLAB and the rest of the disability movement in the past which has fragmented the advocacy messages of the disability movement. Continuous disunity will weaken the effectiveness of SLAB’s advocacy work.

SLAB and the rest of the disability movement under SLUDI have resolved their differences and are poised and willing to work together to champion the course of PWDs and indeed, SLUDI refers to SLAB as the more experienced group in the disability movement. Members of SLUDI will be invited to SLAB’s advocacy actions towards duty bearers for a stronger voice.

The corruption level in Sierra Leone is perceived and measured to be significant, which also makes operating an NGO more challenging. However, none of the stakeholders including Humanity and Inclusion and Sightsavers who have undertaking projects with SLAB reported any case of financial impropriety or corruption. It is therefore hoped that, internal financial misconduct in SLAB is either nonexistent or negligible.

Sierra Leone civil society, of which SLAB is part, is advocating for stronger anti-corruption measures being put into effect by the government and that corruption is being addressed in the public as a significant problem. SLAB will report perceived corruption to relevant authorities for them to take action. Nevertheless, financial control mechanisms need to be in place to ensure accountability and transparency.

19 Supporting efforts under outcomes 1-2


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Sierra Leone is a post-conflict and post-pandemic country with a low growth. Overall political stability is deemed to be fairly high, and security issues subsequently is also deemed to be fairly high, for many years a UN stability monitoring force were stationed in the country but withdrew in 2012 national security forces have taken over national safety and security since then.

SLAB and DAB will monitor the security situation closely and take adequate actions in regards to a changed security situation should it be needed.

There is a risk that the new government will set up other political priorities changing focus away from inclusive education. However, there seem to be a broad political support for the disability movement and the chief of the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology made it clear that, the Inclusive education policy will receive the needed attention.

SLAB’s advocacy work will continue unabated and even strengthened no matter the government In power and as part of the strategy, duty-bearers from different parties will be lobbied as part of the advocacy work on national level to gain consensus on issues plaguing BPS persons.

Rainy seasons are becoming more erratic and strong in the west-African region thus making road maintenance more difficult and expensive.

The project related activities will be planned taking into consideration the meteorological conditions so as to avoid disruptions and delays in project implementation.

3.f Monitoring, documentation and learning – how to ensure learning in the project

Monitoring, documentation and gathering of learning will be a responsibility of the SLAB project coordinator, supported by SLAB leadership, and carried out in close collaboration with the DAB project coordinator. A monitoring plan will be developed, jointly by SLAB and DAB, within the first few months of the project period. It will be based on project indicators and baseline and contain details (data collections methods, frequency, responsibility etc.) on the below listed elements and components:

Quarterly written progress and financial reports will be submitted by SLAB leadership and the employed project coordinator to DAB, and weekly phone or skype follow-ups will be carried out between the SLAB and DAB project managers. The reports will form the basis for a dialogue on project progress and any needed assistance or adjustments to ensure that the project stays on track and that learning is properly disseminated at relevant levels in SLAB and DAB. The project coordinator is responsible for gathering reports from local branch meetings with information on number of participants, gender distribution, topics discussed etc.

Pre- and post-questionnaires will be used in connection with trainings, and training reports made from the various training sessions with information about what was learned. A self-assessment questionnaire will be filled out by trainees in order to assess the effects of the received training 3 months after the training.

Pilot grant scheme: The grantees will report on the status of their activities, challenges and successes, problems for implementation, 3-6 months after they have received the grant. These reports will be incorporated in the quarterly written progress report to DAB. Also, the data will aim to capture whether more members are becoming active in the local branch activities, what effect the active membership has on local advocacy and fundraising.

Member database: The gathered data will be used statistically to systematize information about the BPS person being members of SLAB, e.g. for use in advocacy work, project application etc. Further the project coordinator will develop a simple and accessible membership tracking and registration system and this system will be used for recording members’ attendance to meetings and participation in activities.


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One separate report will be produced by the SLAB project manager on the study identifying best practices in relation to the implementation of livelihood activities for BPS and shared with DAB.

One monitoring trip to SLAB by DAB. Finally, SLAB will develop and implement an internal monitoring plan that will enable SLAB to follow

up and showcase the results of the member based activities in the Bo district branch and the organisation as a whole. This plan will be developed in order to ensure learning and follow up platform that can help showcasing positive change as a result of the empowerment grant and mobility training.

3.g Information work

There will be no funds set aside for information work in the project. However, DAB will share information about the project through various means:

Through articles in the DAB membership magazine describing for the members of DAB what the project aim to achieve in terms of positive changes for blind and partially sighted, and what general areas we operate in thematically.

Through Facebook and website articles we plan to sensitise the public to the positive changes the project plan to bring about, and also the actual living conditions for BPS persons in Sierra Leone.

Staff from the team for international development will visit interested local branches of DAB to convey members about our development work and in particular about the conditions of BPS persons in Sierra Leone and what difference our intervention and partnership with SLAB makes for this group.

The team for international development of DAB may visit other interest groups to share information about the difference the project is bringing about in the lives of BPS persons in Sierra Leone.

3.h Setup – division of roles and responsibilities between partners

DAB’s team for International Development currently employs four project managers who manage the different projects that DAB is involved in. One project manager will be responsible for the envisioned project and serve as the main contact and resource person for SLAB on planning and implementation of activities as well as monitoring of project progress. In Sierra Leone, a qualified local project coordinator will be hired to undertake daily planning, coordination, implementation, overseeing and reporting - through the M&E system - in close collaboration with the SLAB leadership and the DAB project manager. The SLAB National Executive board (NEB) will have responsibilities in terms of overall political accountability. The NEB, or a group of members of the Board, will also have as its responsibility to oversee the approval and use of the Social Grant.

A project management team (PMC) made up of 8 key members of SLAB will be set up to internally monitor the progress of the project in Sierra Leone in order to enhance local ownership of the project. The PMC will hold 4 meetings within the lifespan of the project and support the work of the project manager in the project monitoring and implementation. As a political counterpart to the NEB, the DAB development committee (consisting of five elected members and the DAB vice-president) will follow the work and progress of the project and will provide input and support as regards the overall political and strategic priorities.

On an overall level, and as mentioned above, a MoU on the general principles and nature of the partnership has been agreed and signed between DAB and SLAB (see Annex G). Any adjustments regarding the project will be done in partnership between SLAB and DAB as outlined in the MoU and internal DAB guidelines for project implementation. Likewise, it will be a shared responsibility between the SLAB


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leadership and the DAB international team and leadership to discuss the nature of future interventions based on the results and learning generated through the project.

3.i The budget explained

Does the budget include spending on the Danish organisation’s man-hours dedicated to activity-specific assistance?

YesNo

When considering the total project budget, 53% of all costs will be spent directly on activities in Sierra Leone while 47% will cater for expenses relating to monitoring, contingency, administration and staff.

Seen in isolation, the budget in Sierra Leone is divided between 75% activity costs and 25% costs for administration and staff costs.

In terms of administration, the project will cater for the recruitment of a project coordinator among other items. This is to ensure that the best qualified person is identified.

The activity budget is weighted in such way that more funds are allocated to empowerment (39%) and advocacy (35%) activities and less to organisational development (26%). However, the activities under empowerment and advocacy are designed with a view to adding to organisational strength, so are supportive of the targets under outcome 1 as well.

The budget for DAB man-hours mainly covers technical advice and support in regard to the development of an organisational strategy, identification of advocacy priorities, monitoring, gathering of learning and documentation with a view to enhancing effectiveness and laying a solid and sustainable foundation for further organisational development. Considering that this is a first project collaboration between SLAB and DAB, close monitoring and significant guidance by DAB is to be expected.

4. WHAT ARE THE PROSPECTS AFTER THE PROJECT?

4.a How to ensure sustainability

The project is expected to be the first phase in a long-term joint collaboration between SLAB and DAB and as such the project does realistically not expect SLAB to achieve full sustainability by the end of the 1 year project period. However, due to the financial straits SLAB was operating in, some sustainability measures are incorporated in the project including: the increasing of SLAB’s own internal fundraising opportunities through the taking of monthly dues (a process already initiated by SLAB), donor mapping exercises right from the first phase of the cooperation between SLAB and DAB and, the non-funding of transportation allowance (TNT) to members who will be attending bi-monthly meetings. These small measures are due to the reality that the journey towards sustainability can be a long one.

Importantly, it aims to strengthen the capacity of SLAB at different levels with the objective to enhancing SLAB’s role as an advocating voice for promoting BPS rights and establishing and consolidating sound organisational systems and procedures, including member mobilisation, for future organisational and financial sustainability.


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X


The signed MoU underpins the commitment for long term collaboration in a partnership between SLAB and DAB that expectedly will last for a decade and more. When a desirable level of capacity and empowerment is reached, the partnership will be concluded by instigating an exit strategy lasting 2-5 years. As such, the project sets out on a slow but sure footing in order not to overwhelm the partner from the unset. So at the first phase, the organisational development component is designed to ensure that SLAB can carry out proper administrative tasks, implement activities and have increased skills to engage duty bearers nationally as well as locally in the targeted branch. The advocacy training will strengthen CAB’s advocacy and awareness-raising activities, not least on local level, in order to steadily work for positive change for BPS persons on all levels and will add to SLAB being a democratic and legitimate organisation.

The empowerment component is designed as a combination of a qualitative study that will yield lessons that can be inputted into the next phase, and a strategic service delivery which, coupled with the organisational development, will work to empower members and the targeted local branches and through this also strengthen SLAB as a democratic member based organisation.

Ultimately, the proposed project is designed as a pilot to test the partnership and capacity of SLAB, and the lessons that will be gained will inform the principles that will underpin the long-term partnership between the two organisations.

4.b New phases and future cooperation

As mentioned, DAB and SLAB has signed a MoU which provides the framework for the partnership collaboration between the two organisations. The MoU will be re-evaluated after one year and then again every three years for possible adjustments. SLAB and DAB are both committed to long term development and therefore a continuation of the current envisioned project into a new phase or project will take place, considering political and /or economic funding priorities internally and externally. See Annex G for more information.


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3. Budget Summary

Main budget items: Financing planFull amount Of this, from the

Disability Fund Of this, from other

sources

1. Activities 270.690 270.6902. Investments 29.236 29.2363. Expatriate staff 0 04. Local staff 50.118 50.1185. Local administration 31.273 31.2736. Danish project monitoring 37.047 37.0477. Evaluation 0 08. Information in Denmark (max. 2% of 1-7) 0 09. Total project expenses (budget line1-8) 418.364 418.36410. Budget margin (min. 6% and max. 10% of

9)41.836 41.836

11. Disability compensation 17.607 17.60712. Auditing in Denmark 2.000 2.00013. Subtotal (Budget line 9-12) 479.807 479.80714. Administration in Denmark (max. 7% of 13) 33.586 33.58615. Total (Budget line 13+14) 513.394 513.394

Note: Exchange rate used for the budget: 6,5 / 0,000835


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4. Cros-cutting issues

Cross-cutting issues addressed by the project applied for as percentages of budget spending

Gender Environment Good governance and human rights

HIV/AIDS Reproductive, maternal, neonatal and child health (RMNCH)

Weight (%) Weight (%) Weight (%) Weight (%) Weight (%)75% % 75% % %

5. Annexes

Annex no. Annex title:A Partner profileB LogframeC BudgetD Risk assessment matrix for SLABE Octagon model for SLABF More on Sierra LeoneG Signed MOU SLAB-DABH Tentative implementation PlanI Guidelines to the pilot social grant schemeJ List of abbreviations


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