Reflections from our engagement in the Sustainable Water and Waste Management Public Forum

 

In line with our work in the climate justice space, we have recently taken part in the Kenya Sustainable Water and Waste Management Public Forum where we shared perspectives around disability inclusion. 

The two-day event brought actors who had been engaged by the Strengthening Civil Society Engagement for a Just and Sustainable Urbanization (SCEJU) – a 3-year project working with, among others informal water and waste actors - co-funded by the European Union and implemented by the consortium of Civil Society Urban Development Platform, Pan African Climate Justice Alliance and the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung.

Coming into this space was critical for us, given the project we are running on making the green transition inclusive of women with disabilities in Isiolo and Nairobi Counties. In Nairobi County for example, we see how issues of waste management are critical for our community of women with disabilities while in Isiolo County we see how issues of access to water are negatively affecting the daily lives of women with disabilities. 

Our conversations, therefore, have often considered how people with disabilities, including women with disabilities can actively participate in projects that entail action in both water, as well as waste management sectors. 

This Forum was therefore an opportune moment to learn from the SCEJU project, build alliances, and explore ways that such projects can ensure they are engaging communities of women with disabilities.  

Yet, even as we meaningfully took part in the Forum, we reflected quite a bit on why such spaces, and many others, should be cognizant of the space of people with disabilities. In an editorial, José María Viera, the Executive Director, International Disability Alliance writes that for too long, development actors have approached disability inclusion primarily as a question of ensuring that persons with disabilities benefit from programmes designed by others. 

He writes:

We ask whether a school is accessible, whether a transport project includes wheelchair users, whether a social protection programme reaches persons with disabilities, or whether an employment initiative includes workers with disabilities. These are important questions. But they reflect only part of what inclusion should mean.

Yet, as Jose Viera continues in his powerful reflection, persons with disabilities are not simply beneficiaries of development. 

'We are political, social and economic actors with the knowledge, expertise and legitimacy to shape development itself.' José María Viera, the Executive Director, International Disability Alliance

We see this clearly even as we come into this space. Women with disabilities are making decisions at household level when it comes to water and waste. We do not come into the conversation only as ‘beneficiaries’ rather as people actively shaping the ecosystem, hence the key regard for the contributions of women with disabilities within the water and waste sectors.  

Community Actors Panel

We took part in the Community Actors Panel represented by our member Vilda Atieno. The question at hand helped us to further explore and address perceptions towards people with disabilities and how their roles can be viewed within the water and waste management sectors.

Q.  ‘In many ways, informal actors in the water and waste sector view this as a labour intensive undertaking. How would you suggest for inclusion of people with disabilities in this sector?’    

We reflected that disability is not homogeneous. People with disabilities have different skillsets and desires about what they can and cannot do, just like the rest of the population. The decision whether something is labour intensive should be left to people with disabilities to decide and make decisions as per the information they have.

Often, if the sector is viewed as labour intensive, one of the disadvantages is that people with disabilities will not get any information about the sector, meaning that they will be automatically excluded from the beginning.  It is important therefore to insist that all information about the waste and water sector and opportunities within the sector are made available in accessible formats so that people, inclusive those with disabilities, can make their choices about taking opportunities in the sector.

In this response we also reflected about opportunities within the Water and Waste sector value chains; the need to classify them and also consider the existing assistive technologies and adjustments that can be applied to ensure that opportunities within the waste and water sectors are a possible choice for people with disabilities who want to engage in that sector.

It was a meaningful two-day event where our members also got to exhibit the work they are doing that is advancing the circular economy, showcasing products that they have created such as bags and beadwork. The exhibition booth was an active space where we also got to interact with more stakeholders attending the Forum and having enriching conversations.  

We are truly grateful to all the organisers who gave us a central role in the Forum, and who were open to learning more about how they can engage the disability community in the waste and water sectors. We look forward to further collaboration. Thank you to the Civil Society Urban Development Platform, Pan African Climate Justice Alliance and the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung for a wonderful collaborative space.