Abilis Foundation

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Abilis Foundation

• Established in 1998• Board of Directors consists of disabled

experts and activists (different backgrounds)• Employs disabled persons – experts, both

in Finland and in the Global South• Headquarter in Helsinki with 14 staff

members

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Abilis Board

Abilis office staff

Abilis Foundation

• Promotes equal rights and opportunities for people with disabilities (PWDs)

• Supports and empowers PWDs living in developing countries to act as full citizens in the society

• Assists this easily marginalized and minority group to work for human rights and improvements of living conditions

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Abilis Foundation

• Has a cooperation contract with MFA• A 3-year funding agreement• Present agreement 2013-2015

• Must follow the Finnish Development Policy Guidelines

• Annual budget has increased steadily• 2014: 2,8 M€ (2015: 2,9 M€)

• Searches for other funding sources to secure the continuity of the operation

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Principles of Abilis work (1/3)

• Support to DPOs in the Global South• Building of the capacity of DPOs

• Funding for organizations that include disabled people in their leadership

• During the entire project cycle, in planning, implementation, reporting and evaluation, PWDs plays the key role – they are not only beneficiaries

• Funding for small-scale reliable projects of good quality, 500 - 10.000 € / year

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Principles of Abilis work (2/3)

• Main focus areas and themes are:• Human rights of PWDs• UN Convention on the Rights of PWDs• Income generation (IG) of PWDs• Independent life and empowerment of PWDs• Status, education and IG of disabled girls and

women• Living conditions of disabled children

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Principles of Abilis work (3/3)

• Partnership Programmes in 12 countries (Bangladesh, Ethiopia, India, Cambodia, Kyrgyzstan, Mozambique, Nepal, Somaliland, Tajikistan, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia)

• One regional Abilis office (Mekong region)

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Added value of Abilis work

• Abilis reaches grassroot groups• Abilis empowers PWDs to work for their

rights and conditions• Abilis acts as a bridge between the

disability movement in the Global South and the Global North

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Grant making of Abilis

• Abilis is a donor agency funding development projects

• Open call for proposals where Southern DPOs can send applications

• Situation in Nov/Dec 2014: 352 ongoing projects in 40 countriesAbout 70 % of the projects are in Abilis

Partner Countries

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