Empowerment and Parents leadership towards inclusive society

Tajikistan has been through a dramatic social change with the collapse of a comparatively well-running social welfare system during the Soviet time. The country struggles to develop the infrastructure, funding and human resources necessary to address the rights and needs of People with Disabilities (PWDs) and provide them with relevant support. Civil society initiatives and dialogue among civil society and with state actors are limited and awareness on national level changes and laws among government officials at the district level is poor. In 2012 about 26,345 CWD (ages 0-18) were registered with the Ministry of Labour and Social Protection of Population (MSPP).Tajikistan civil society working towards disability inclusion is fragmented and needs to be unified and strengthened through the Disabled People Organizations (DPOs) and Parent Association. These are vital to achieve an effective civic coalition fighting social isolation, neglect of human rights and reduction of the stigma and discrimination of CWD.

A rights-based approach (RBA) is still in its infancy, but notable developments in the recent past show a slow shift towards a rights-based social model on disability. Still, the majority of DPOs and the Associations of Parents of CWD (PA) don't have a comprehensive view of disability rights, relevant instruments and strategies (e.g. CRPD, CBR, RBA) and lack skills to transfer them into programming and effective advocacy. On the other hand the major actors, i.e. Ministry of Education (MOE), Ministry of Health (MOH) and Social Protection (MHSP), Parents Associations (PA), and Public Organizations (PO), have been sensitized on the CRPD and have started to show interest in a rights based approach. There is also the implementation of the government policy on social services for PWDs, including community-based services, in particular day care centres. Currently there are up to ten day care centres for CWDs. The Government since 2009 has contracted the provision of social services to NGOs and some of them now operate under a social contracting scheme.