LARGE SCALE DEVELOPMENT PROJECT (above 5 million DKK.)

Project title: Capacity Building of Organisations of the Blind under the Framework of the World Blind Union, Asia Pacific region. Phase III.

Applicant Danish organisation (financial responsible)

Danish Association of the Blind

Other Danish partner(s): NA

Local partner organisation(s): Mongolian National Federation of the Blind (MNFB), Lao Association of the Blind (LAB), Myanmar National Association of the Blind (MNAB), World Blind Union Asia Pacific region (WBU-AP)

Country (-ies):Mongolia, Lao PDR, Myanmar

Country’s BNI per capita: Lao PDR: GDI per capita 2012, Atlas Method, 1270 USDMongolia: GDI per capita 2012, Atlas Method, 3160 USDMyanmar: GDP per capita: 915 USD (2013 est.) Danida homepage

Project commencement date:October 2014

Project completion date:30. September 2017

Contact person for the project: Name: Susanne Koch AndersenEmail address: ska@blind.dkTelephone no.: +45 21716797Amount requested from the Disability Fund:12.830.340 DKK

Annual project cost:(Total amount requested divided by number of project years)4.276.780 DKK

Is this a re-submission? (i.e. a revised application, which has previously been submitted)[ x] No[ ] Yes, previous date of application: Is this:[ ] A new project?[x] A project in extension of another project previously supported by DPOD or others?[ ] A long-term project initially divided into several project phases, of which this phase is number [ ] out of [ ]. Note that section F must be completed if the project is divided into phases.In which language should the response letter from the Danish Disability Fund be written (choose one): [ ] Danish [ x] EnglishSummary of the project Projektet er en tredje fase som bygger på to tidligere faser finansieret af DANIDA. Partnerne er blindeorganisationerne i Mongoliet (MNFB), Laos (LAB), Myanmar (MNAB), det regionale ben af Verdens Blindeunion (WBU-AP) samt Dansk Blindesamfund (DAB). MNAB er en ny partner, som vil få adgang til erfaringer opsamlet af de øvrige partnere gennem de tidligere projektfaser. Søjlerne i projektfasen er:1. Organisationsopbygning af de tre nationale blindeorganisationer med særlig vægt på deres lokale afdelinger; 2. Fortalervirksomhed og bevidstgørelse med særligt fokus på inklusion af blinde og svagsynede børn på grundskoleniveau; 3. Træning af blinde og svagsynede i kompenserende færdigheder med henblik på at styrke selvtillid og evnen hos målgruppen til at stille sig frem som fortaler for blinde og svagsynedes rettigheder. Projektet implementeres indenfor en regional ramme i Asien-Stillehavsområdet. Der lægges vægt på systematisk erfaringsopbygning og – deling gennem et opdateret monitorerings- og evalueringssystem. Det langsigtede perspektiv er at kunne udbrede erfaringer og resultater til andre ressourcesvage blindeorganisationer i regionen samt at overdrage mere ansvar for opfyldelsen af blinde og svagsynedes konventionsbestemte rettigheder til de ansvarlige myndigheder i projektlandene.

11.06.14Date Person responsible (signature)

Høje Taastrup Thorkild OlesenPlace Person responsible and position (block letters)

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J.no. ( to be filled by DPOD) HP

List of Abbreviations

ABC = The Association of the Blind of Cambodia

BPS = blind and partially sighted

CILO = communication and liaison officer

CRPD = Convention on the Rights of persons with Disabilities

DAB = Danish Association of the Blind

DLS = daily living skills

DSW = Department of Social Welfare (Myanmar)

GNI = gross national income

ICT = information and communication technology

LAB = Lao Association of the Blind

LDPA = Lao Disabled People’s Association

MNAB = Myanmar National Association of the Blind

MNFB = Mongolian National Federation of the Blind

MOES = Ministry of Education and Sports (Lao PDR)

M&E = monitoring and evaluation

MSC = most significant change

NCBM = National Council for the Blind of Malaysia

O&M = orientation & mobility

OPWD = Organization of persons with disabilities

PSG = project steering group

SSF = small scale fund

ToR = terms of reference

ToT = training of trainers

UNDP = United Nations Development Programme

WBU = World Blind Union

WBU-AP = World Blind Union, Asia-Pacific Region

WHO = World Health Organization

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2. Application text

A. THE PARTNERS

A.1The Danish organisationThe Danish Association of the Blind (DAB) is an organization of people who are blind or partially sighted (BPS) established in 1911. The organization is led by BPS persons themselves and has developed from a loose network of persons with visual impairment to a strong and well-acknowledged disability organization in the Danish civil society with app. 9,000 members. DAB works for equal rights and inclusion of its members in all areas of society.DAB's work in the area of development cooperation is also carried out according to a rights-based approach and addresses the needs of BPS persons as a matter of equal rights, not privileges. The work is founded on the UN’s Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD). The application for, and implementation of, development cooperation projects, is guided by DAB’s International Strategy (2014-2018) and its Rolling Action Plan for international development cooperation (2014-2016), adopted by the DAB Executive Committee, as well as DANIDA’s strategy for support to civil society organizations. The main rationale behind engaging in international development cooperation is that DAB and its members expect full inclusion in the Danish society and should consequently demonstrate solidarity towards BPS people in developing countries. Besides funding part of the administration of the department for international cooperation (and also part of the salaries for staff working on the project in question), DAB allocates 1 percent of the charitable donations received annually to international development work.As organization, DAB has considerable experience to share with relatively new organizations of BPS persons in the global South in areas such as assistive devices, training in compensatory skills, organizational development, lobbying and advocacy as well as the mobilization of members. Furthermore, DAB has developed annual learning strategies to improve its capacity to implement development cooperation projects. DAB is a member of the European Blind Union as well as the World Blind Union (WBU), where DAB's vice-president chairs WBU's Development Committee coordinating policy issues and capacity-building efforts of blindness organizations globally. Currently, DAB employs four persons (equivalent to three full time positions) in its department for International Development Cooperation managing development projects in Ghana, Rwanda, Laos, Mongolia and Myanmar.Two previous phases of the project in question have been implemented in Mongolia and Lao PDR under the framework of WBU-AP. The granted amount for the second phase was 8.997.900 DKK. DAB has been cooperating with the World Blind Union, Asia-Pacific Region (WBU-AP), the Mongolian National Federation of the Blind (MNFB) and the Lao Association of the Blind (LAB) since 2006, while the cooperation with MNAB began properly in 2013.

A.2 Other Danish partners (Not applicable)

A.3 The local partner organisation(s)The proposed partners, MNFB, LAB, MNAB and WBU-AP, generally enjoy a high degree of legitimacy in relation to both their members and external stakeholders, and are governed by BPS persons themselves. All four organizations combat social stigmatisation, unemployment and poverty, not least in rural areas, where they work. Due to differing political contexts and organizational backgrounds, including earlier project involvement, MNFB, LAB and MNAB are at different stages in terms of organizational strength and capacity. However, the rationale behind the third phase of the project, based on experience from the previous two project phases, is that organizations of BPS persons face common and similar challenges to an extent that makes it beneficial to create common platforms where sharing of experiences, discussions and mutual learning can take place. The regional aspects and activities of the project form such a platform, not only for the sharing of experiences between MNFB, LAB and MNAB, but also for other member organizations of the WBU-AP.

The Mongolian National Federation of the Blind (MNFB) is a relatively strong organization with national coverage and 9,500 members (of which 62 percent are men). MNFB was founded in 1978, at that time including both persons with visual and hearing impairments, under the name of the Mongolian Association of Blind and Deaf Citizens. In 1993, the organization separated from the group of persons with hearing impairments and has since then represented only BPS persons. The mission of MNFB is to advocate for the

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blind, and work for their total integration into society through the development of services in education, rehabilitation, awareness creation and the promotion of the rights of women, youth and children. A strategic Plan has been developed by the MNFB Board for the period of 2013-2016 based on the values of solidarity and common interest, equal participation, and strengthening of intellectual power. MNFB covers all 21 provinces of the country and two urban districts1, but the majority of the provincial branches are still weak and in need of additional training and consolidation. MNFB has from its beginning given priority to the sustainability of its branches and has encouraged that the salaries of branch leaders, where they are paid a limited salary, be paid out of income from e.g. FM-radio stations or massage centers run by the organization. MNFB uses various initiatives to stimulate good performance by the branches. Every year, the best performing branch is given an award, based on assessment criteria related to membership service and motivation, promotion of Braille reading and distribution of audio books, advocacy activities, organization of leisure time activities, as well as social security and support work to members.With a view to promoting internal democracy of the organization, MNFB has recently included an additional two positions on the national board dedicated to representatives from rural branches. Six of the local branches have an elected board. At provincial branch level, the level of activity depends to a large extent on the level of engagement of the board members. Throughout the two previous project phases, this engagement has been stimulated and increased by participation in training activities. The organization’s bylaws have recently been amended, and child-membership is now allowed.MNFB has considerable fundraising activities at national level, and in local branches, for specific events and activities. The generation of own income for the organization provides the main financial basis, e.g. massage centres, representing 20 percent of overall revenue, management of FM-radio stations, and music band performances. MNFB is also actively applying for government funding, when available, as well as foreign donor funds.MNFB has made significant progress during the two previous phases of the project, especially regarding advocacy activities, geographic outreach, membership (MNFB increased their membership base with 4,500 persons during the second phase of the project) and central organization.

The Lao Association of the Blind (LAB) was established in 2005 as independent organization and recognized officially by the Lao government in 2007 (the latter was a significant result during the first phase of the project). Prior to the establishment as independent organization, LAB functioned as a unit within the cross-disability organization, Lao Disabled Peoples’ Association (LDPA), with which LAB maintains strong collaborative links. According to the external evaluation of phase II, the leadership of LAB is strong and holds typical characteristics of a first generation organization with considerable power concentrated in the hands of the founder and current president. LAB held its first General Assembly in 2011 (a result of phase II of the project) where a Board of five members was elected. Currently, LAB has app. 700 members and a strong focus on expanding the membership base. The organization has four provincial branches in Savannakhet, Luangprabang, Champasak and Xiengkhouang, of which three have been established with the support provided during the second project phase 2011-14. The branches are still weak and need to reach out to members by offering concrete support.LAB has recently developed its Strategic Plan for 2013-17. It addresses identified weaknesses in terms of need for fundraising, organizational strengthening, and advocacy for equal rights. According to the Strategic Plan, the main goal of the organization is to expand and uplift the social status of the blind and partially sighted through advocacy, capacity building and organizational empowerment so as to ensure the protection of rights and interests of the blind and visually impaired in Lao PDR. It further states the LAB objectives as:

- extending surveys and data collection for an updated central database with the aim of implementing rehabilitation activities (education, medical treatment, vocational training, etc.);

- promoting and protecting rights and benefits of female and male visually handicapped persons through awareness raising and capacity building activities at the central and local levels;

- making the association strong and sustainable through advocacy at central, local, committee and individual levels through fundraising and income generation.

In addition to the Strategic Plan, LAB has also developed its Advocacy Strategy and Action Plan for 2013-2017. The Advocacy Strategy supports the overall Strategic Plan and spells out specific strategies and

1Administratively, Mongolia is divided into 21 aimags (provinces) and Ulaanbaatar, the capital city. The aimags are divided into soums and each soum is divided into a few baghs. The capital city of Ulaanbaatar is divided into 9 districts and which further divided into over 130 khoroos.

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activities in the areas of advocacy training (manual in Lao audio books and Braille text); awareness raising on the blindness movement through mass media and events; promotion of inclusive education; promotion of disabled people’s rights to social services and benefits; and advocacy with government to allocate land for the construction of a permanent LAB office and vocational training center.LAB has taken initiative to raise funds through awareness raising campaigns and events, e.g. football matches and charity concerts, and has raised funds for the organization, which are spent on organizational development. A number of massage centres are the backbone of the organization in terms of the generation of income, also in the local branches. LAB has made progress during the previous phases of the project, especially when it comes to the application of different advocacy tools and the establishment and official recognition of local branches. The evaluation of the second phase concluded, however, that organizational sustainability is still weak with dependence on DAB and funds from other foreign donors. There is a need for organizational consolidation2, i.e. focus on the development of existing branches, rather than geographic expansion.

The Myanmar National Association of the Blind (MNAB) is recognized as member of WBU, as well as WBU-AP, and is as such the official national organization representing BPS persons in Myanmar. MNAB received its registration from the national government in late 2013 and is now fully authorized to operate as a legal entity with bank accounts and in several states of the federalized country. MNAB is, however, still a relatively small organization with 397 members (243 men and 154 women) and a number of collective members (self-help groups and schools for blind children).During a DAB fact finding mission to Myanmar in November 2013, an organizational assessment of MNAB was carried out using the OCTAGON3 approach (see Annex M). In sum, the assessment revealed the following focus points with regards to organizational development:

- strengthening of the office capacity;- outreach through the establishment of at least one local branch;- establishment of income generating activities;- staff training (budget management, information and communication technology (ICT), expertise on

blindness issues)

MNAB has a small secretariat characterized by strong dedication and enthusiastic drive, but limited administrative capacity. During the fact finding mission, it was also concluded that MNAB is in need of additional staff resources for financial administration. The annual turnover in 2013 was app.50,000 USD.Furthermore, the fact finding report, produced by an external consultant, concluded that MNAB is well-recognized within the broader civil society, among organizations of persons with disabilities (OPWD) and by representatives from the national government.Currently, MNAB has no local or regional branches and consequently no official “external face” beyond the national level. MNAB emphasizes the opportunities for outreach in geographic areas where schools for blind children exist. There is a lot of initiative in the leadership group and ambitions to start activities for members. A lot has already been done with ad hoc project funding from different sources, but the initiatives have not been guided by a strategy for the organization as such. In November 2012, a number of international organizations working in the blindness field presented an Action Plan for 2013-2016 in cooperation with MNAB. The Action Plan has a specific focus on children with visual impairment. It builds on four specific strategic areas: prevention of blindness, education, employment and empowerment.

The World Blind Union, Asia- Pacific Region (WBU-AP) is the regional leg of WBU, the umbrella organization of the international blindness movement which works for the well-being of BPS persons, for the equalization of opportunities and full participation in society with dignity, to raise awareness on the capabilities of BPS persons, and to strengthen the self-help movements in furthering the interest of BPS persons. WBU is an internationally recognized global organization, representing app. 285 million BPS persons from 190 member countries.  WBU is the “Voice of the Blind”, speaking to governments and international bodies on issues pertaining to blindness in conjunction with its member organizations. WBU consists of six regions across the globe4. One of them being WBU-AP with 18 national member organizations

2When the word consolidation is used, it refers to the incorporation of systematic routines.3 A method to assess organizational capacity, developed by SIDA. See http://www.myright.se/webfm_send/13/54These regions cover the Asia/Pacific area, Africa, Latin America, North America and the Caribbean, Europe, as well as Asia including the Middle East.

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from Mongolia in the West to Fiji in the East; it includes some of the richest and poorest populations of the world5.As the Secretary General of WBU-AP is from Malaysia, the National Council for the Blind of Malaysia (NCBM) hosts the secretariat function of the organization. WBU-AP does not have funds for running a permanent office of its own. The membership fees are paid directly to WBU. Thus, WBU-AP relies on sponsors whenever they undertake projects. All members of the governing bodies of the organization are serving WBU-AP on a voluntary basis and are supported by their respective national organizations.The WBU-AP board has approved a quadrennial action plan (2013-2016) with five priority areas which closely mirror those of the WBU:

1. Human rights and representation - on the international, regional and national levels;2. Capacity Building - working with international and regional development organizations, and reaching

out to diversity groups;3. Accessibility - technology, mobility and transportation;4. International (regional) sharing and collaboration - low tech equipment, website resources on

fundraising, etc.;5. Enabling Priority - membership support, resource generation strategic plan.

WBU-AP has established a website (a result of phase II of the project in question) and publishes the newsletter East Wind three times annually. The WBU-AP aims at serving member countries by sharing information on best practices, advice on organizational development, by identifying common priorities and linking to the international political agenda. It is within this framework that the two previous phases of the project have been aiming at strengthening WBU-AP’s role as “information hub” with focus on the website and the establishment of a financial resource database.In coordination with other disability organizations, WBU-AP participates in regional disability agendas, e.g. the monitoring of the implementation of the disability policy framework of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for the Asia-Pacific (UN-ESCAP), the Incheon Strategy, “Make the Right Real”, adopted by all UN-ESCAP member states. WBU-AP also functions as an integrated part of the democratic structures of WBU. The WBU-AP leadership interacts with and receives inputs from the global blindness movement.Despite the fragility of the organizational set-up of WBU-AP, the importance of the organization is recognized by the national organizations as the super-structure where the sharing of experiences and mutual discussions can take place. WBU-AP is often consulted by member organizations looking for qualified instructors and resource persons, advocacy ideas, and inspiration regarding effective interaction with duty bearers (a function of WBU-AP also made use of in the two previous phases of the project).

A.4 The cooperative relationship and its prospectsIs the cooperation between the Danish organization(s) and the local partner(s) known by the Disability Fund and described in another/other application(s) within the past 12 months?

Yes: X

Please, insert the 6-digit no./HP no:

HP 325-029 Involving Myanmar in the International Blindness CommunityHP 325-033 Building partnership between Myanmar National Association of the Blind (MNAB) and Danish Association of the Blind (DAB)

Please refer to section F for further explanations regarding the partnership model which has evolved between the partners during the two previous project phases funded by DANIDA, and in particular the prospects thereof.

B. PROJECT ANALYSIS 5The members are Australia, Brunei, Cambodia, China, Fiji, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Mongolia, Burma, New Zealand, Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam.

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B.1 PreparationThe present application is the result of a participatory process and has been jointly developed by MNFB, LAB, MNAB, the leadership of WBU-AP and DAB. The learned lessons from the two previous phases of the project, and in particular the findings from the external evaluation of the second phase, finalized in October 2013 (Annex L), have provided valuable insights and have informed the design of the upcoming third phase. At a general level, the third phase of the project will aim at consolidating and building on the results achieved in the previous phases with a particular focus on three main areas of Intervention: organizational development, strategic advocacy and empowerment training of BPS persons in the target countries. On top of the activities in the target countries, a systematized approach to learning and information sharing at regional level will be applied, primarily through a revision and upgrade of the monitoring system of the project and new communication mechanisms within WBU-AP. Furthermore, MNAB will be included in the project as a fourth local project partner in the third phase, and a phase-out of the partnership with MNFB will be prepared, as the organization has matured with the capability to take advantage of some of the opportunities provided by the political system and the policy framework now in place in Mongolia. This implies that possible cooperation between DAB and MNFB beyond this third project phase might need to take a new form (please refer to section F for further elaboration).With regards to the three main areas of intervention of phase III, the external evaluation of the second phase identified the following main lessons learned from phase I and II:

Organizational Development In MNFB, emphasis was put on financial sustainability already from the establishment of the

organization, and means and skills for resource mobilization were introduced upfront through income generating activities and application for government funds. This has created a healthy perspective on sustainability and a realistic level of activities.

When establishing a local branch, a lot depends on a good working relationship with local authorities. Identification of change agents and positive contact persons within the government institutions has proven effective at national and local level.

Especially MNFB has experience with, and has tried out, various initiatives and services, which have yielded income to the organization. One lesson learned is that proper market research prior to launching new initiatives is important to ensure success, e.g. with sales of audio books.

The small-scale fund (SSF) scheme of the project is an important feature, as it helps to ensure member involvement and capacity to formulate and implement relevant activities, based on local demands and felt needs in relation to either organizational development or advocacy.

The experience was that a lot of hand-holding was necessary in the beginning to support the local branches in applying for SSF, and may still be necessary in weaker branches. It is important that the national organizations provide the necessary support, while gradually transferring responsibility to those branches and committees with sufficient capacity to identify and formulate SSF projects themselves.

Advocacy The application of various approaches to advocacy by MNFB and LAB has proven effective: claiming

space and creating public events; use of media; lobbying; raising debate; using culture as a vehicle for advocacy; and not refraining from activism have all led to important lessons learned. Inspiration has often been drawn from international contacts and applied skilfully in the national context.

Both LAB and MNFB have collaborated closely with other OPWDs in their respective countries and gained various advocacy victories. The strength and value of joint action is an important lesson learned in advocacy work.

The WBU-AP website, or websites of MNFB and LAB, are not used frequently by the individual members of national organizations of BPS persons as a source of information or as a channel for advocacy and awareness raising.

It may be necessary to systematize the exchange of information and strengthen the quality of the information by transforming good practice examples into replicable lessons learned.

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Empowerment Mobilization of members of the national partner organizations is best done through training, as the

individual benefit, in terms of enhanced empowerment, self-confidence and skills, is a strong motivational factor.

Local branches (and sub-committees) have successfully attracted and maintained members through social activities (outings, trainings, lectures, sports events etc.). These activities are important for the organizations to increase the membership basis and mobilize the social capital necessary to become strong advocacy organizations.

Regional Aspects Despite the fragility of the regional structure, it has been important in tying the project together, and

has provided a platform for organizational learning. It is the experience that national organizations benefit from tapping into the information accumulated by WBU-AP, albeit the potential for organizational learning has not been fully exploited.

Human resources are scarce within the regional organization, and a lot depends on a handful of people. It is important to secure involvement of a broader group of people within the organization to minimize the vulnerability.

The Development of the Present ApplicationRepresentatives from MNFB, LAB, MNAB, WBU-AP and DAB met in August 2013 in Mongolia to discuss the preliminary findings of the external evaluation of the second project phase as well as to identify future strategies and plans for the continuation of the cooperation. These were further developed through focused correspondence and discussions on objectives and activities up until the participating organizations met again in February 2013 in Bangkok, Thailand, at a project workshop. The purpose of this workshop was to design the project components and revise the project strategy. As recommended in the evaluation report from phase II, the strategic plans of the national partner organizations were taken as point of departure for the identification of activities for the third phase of the project. The editorial board of WBU-AP’s newsletter East Wind, also functioning as a reference group for the communication initiatives of the organization, met in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, in March 2014 to further develop ideas for the communication activities of WBU-AP. On the basis of the preparation done in common by the project partners, the local partners have developed detailed proposals for activities, including budgets, which have been integrated into the general project framework.

On this basis, and collective lessons learned since 2006, the key themes and activities prioritized by the project partners in the third phase are:

- financial sustainability;- the establishment of local branches of MNAB;- the continuation of the SSF scheme;- advocacy with particular focus on inclusive education in Mongolia and Lao PDR;- a special focus on families of BPS persons and their local communities in Myanmar;- training in orientation & mobility (O&M), daily living skills (DLS)6 and Braille literacy, leading to

empowerment;- testing and applying a small scale community-based rehabilitation model in Lao PDR;- Trying out new solutions on the WBU-AP websites;- Participation in regional meetings, such as general assemblies, conferences and seminars where

experience-sharing can take place.

6Orientation is the process of acquiring the mental picture of one’s environment. That is, knowing the relationship of objects in the environment, and the relationship of one’s body position to the objects. Simply, it is the ability to locate oneself in one’s environment. Mobility is movement, or the ability to move in the environment from one place to another. It describes all situations ranging from moving around within a single room in a house, through to traveling from one town to another, or even between countries. To be mobile, the BPS person must be able to gather and use sufficient environmental information in order to avoid hazards and to maintain efficient progress towards the desired destination. Daily Living Skills include all those activities that people do every day. Examples are: getting dressed, bathing, using the toilet, washing clothes, shopping, cooking, eating, cleaning the house. The nature of the training in DLS depends on the age of the individual, sex and the timing of the onset of visual impairment, the level of previous training and potential of the individual.

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Including MNAB in the ProjectWBU-AP has been exploring the options for support to MNAB in cooperation with DAB since October 2012. The prospect of applying for a third phase of the project in question opened a perspective in this regard. At its meeting in Yangon, Myanmar, in April 2013, the Board and Policy Council of WBU-AP officially decided to recommend MNAB as a new partner to the project steering group (PSG). They based their decision on the fact that Myanmar has been isolated, and left without official foreign support to BPS persons, for several decades. As pointed out in the beginning of this section, MNAB participated in the evaluation and project seminar, organized under the framework of the second phase of the project, in August 2013 and in the project workshop in February 2014. The DAB fact finding mission to Myanmar in November 2013 (see also section A.3) paved the way further for the inclusion of MNAB in the project by providing an in-depth investigation of the challenges of BPS persons in Myanmar and the capabilities of MNAB (see Annex M for the report from the fact finding mission). During the mission, DAB and MNAB clarified the priorities for the further cooperation, and a Memorandum of Understanding was signed by the president of MNAB and the vice-president of DAB.

B.2 Context analysis The description in this section focuses on key socio-economic factors which influence the life conditions of BPS persons in the three target countries and relevant legal and political frameworks, including common regional aspects.

Mongolia – National ContextMongolia, a democratic multi-party state since 1991, has a population of app. 2.9 million inhabitants spread over a vast territory with limited infrastructure. According to the World Bank, the proportion of the population living below the poverty line had decreased from 38.7 percent in 2010 to 27.4 percent in 2012. Following the estimates of the World Health Organization (WHO), at least 26,000 Mongolians live with a visual impairment. However, no accurate official statistics on the number of BPS persons in Mongolia exist.In 1992, a new constitution was adopted, and in 1996 democratic forces won government power for the first time. In 2012, a new government coalition took over the political power in the country and restructured the ministerial system. The Ministry of Labour and Social Welfare, to which MNFB had built up good relations, was split into two ministries: the Ministry of Population Development and Social Protection and the Ministry of Labour. At national level, MNFB has a relatively fruitful cooperation with the authorities who are open to dialogue with civil society. Mongolia ratified the CRPD, and its optional protocol, in May 2009. MNFB was represented on the national committee set up to define the framework for the implementation of the convention in Mongolia. Reference is made to PWD in the Mongolian constitution, and fundamental rights of the group, such as the right to education, vocational rehabilitation and employment, as well as a provision on anti-discrimination, are included.A number of legislative acts aim at reflecting that PWD have the right to a decent life in dignity, and social schemes managed by the Ministry of Population Development and Social Welfare provide for a basic pension to PWD and reimbursement for a few selected expenses to low-cost assistive devices for BPS persons. The basic disability benefits covered from the Social Welfare Fund are e.g. provision of fuel and coal for families with a member with a disability and reimbursement of transportation costs to hospital (once a year). Specific rehabilitation services for BPS persons are not provided by the Mongolian authorities.At primary and secondary level, only one special school for BPS children exist in Mongolia. In the academic year 2013 -14, 86 BPS children are enrolled in the school. Every year, BPS persons graduate from university, but only few are employed. MNFB estimates that app. 250 BPS persons are in regular and permanent employment (January 2014), while the majority of BPS persons depend on the monthly disability pension (USD 60). The pension is far from sufficient, so BPS persons depend to a large extent on support from their families.

Lao PDR – National ContextLao PDR is number 133 out of 177 countries on the human development index of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). The infrastructure is poor, and access to services, such as healthcare and education, remains severely limited for a large part of the population, particularly for people living in rural areas. Lao PDR has a population of about 6.8 million citizens. Following the estimates of WHO, at least 60,000 Loo citizens live with a visual impairment. However, no official statistical data exist.

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Lao PDR is a socialist one-party state with limited room of manoeuvre for the civil society. LAB is officially recognized by the authorities as a social organization representing the interests of BPS persons. However, further geographic expansion of the organization, as well as many other activities, has to take place in close dialogue with, and with permission from, the Ministry of Labour and Social Welfare.The Government of Lao PDR ratified the CRPD in September 2009, but has not yet signed its optional protocol. When approached directly, Lao authorities recognize the CRPD and claim to work accordingly. The general legal framework of relevance for PWD is the country’s constitution (amended in 2003) providing for equal rights for all citizens in Lao PDR. This can be legally interpreted to imply that PWD have the same rights as other citizens. However, Lao law does not define disability legally, and PWD are not recognized as a separate or distinct group under the constitution. A specific policy, providing for assistance to persons who have acquired injuries at work, exists. A draft Decree on PWD was prepared prior to the ratification of the CRPD; approval of the decree by the Prime Minister is still pending. The draft decree underpins the rights of PWD to equal access and opportunities in training and employment, and in other sectors of relevance for PWD.The first clear example of the impact of the CRPD was the adoption of the National Policy on Inclusive Education and the National Strategy and Action Plan on Inclusive Education, 2011-15 (the so-called “Red Book”) by the Ministry of Education and Sports (MOES). The adoption was to a large extent the result of efforts by international organizations, Handicap International in particular. LAB is involved in a dialogue with MOES on the implementation of the “Red Book” which will guide all relevant stakeholders in their work on inclusive education for BPS students at all administrative levels in the country in the near future.At the time of writing, only two institutions in the capital Vientiane provide special needs education for a limited number of BPS children and other children with disabilities. Outside Vientiane, the National Institute for Rehabilitation provides services to persons with physical disabilities only, not to BPS persons and persons with other types of disabilities.

Myanmar – National ContextMyanmar is a federal union of seven regions and seven states. The country has an estimated population of app. 60 million inhabitants7 representing 135 officially recognized ethnic groups divided into eight categories8; the majority is Burman (app. 68 percent of the union population). Myanmar ranks 149 on the UNDP Human Development Index and is characterized by enormous differences between urban and rural areas, weak infrastructure, armed conflicts, poverty and a high number of internally displaced people. An impressive drive for catching up and reclaiming the previous leading position in South East Asia which Myanmar held prior to the military iron grip in which the country, and its population, was held for five decades.According to a disability survey9 carried out by The Leprosy Mission and the Department of Social Welfare (DSW) in 2010, an estimated 2.32 percent of the population are PWD, corresponding to one PWD in every 10 households, with some regional differences. This is in stark contrast to the WHO estimate of 15percent10, although the Disability Survey in general demonstrates findings consistent with the wider global situation: that PWD are economically, socially and educationally disadvantaged. Data show that disability results in significant inequity in terms of poverty, as poverty rates for households with one or more PWD are 1.5 times higher than for households with no PWD11. Several surveys in Myanmar have documented that PWD are significantly more vulnerable and underprivileged in terms of access to education, decent livelihood, housing, land, health services, food security, information and rights than persons with no disabilities12. According to the survey data, there is a relatively high prevalence of BPS persons in the central dry zone (the Magwe and Sagaing regions) probably due to infectious and inflammatory eye diseases (further research is needed to confirm these findings).Based on the disability survey, the DSW published a National Plan of Action for PWD for the period of 2010-12 which followed the Emergency Plan of Action for 2008-2011. Issues of relevance for PWD are mainly dealt with by the DSW, but the Action Plan foresees cooperation with a wide range of other actors of the government, the private sector, national and international organizations. The plan pursues a dual-track 7 Burma demographic Index: www.indexmundi.com The information on number of inhabitants varies between 55 and 66 million in different publications. The planned 2014 census may bring more updated and exact data.8 Burma, Myanmar, by Mette Holm and Mogens Lykketoft, People’s Press, 2012, p.21.9 First Myanmar National Disability Survey 2010, pp.6, 15-16, and 22.10 MILI presentation, 201311 Poverty and Disability in Myanmar: why empowering persons with disabilities will reduce national poverty, Social Policy and Poverty Research Bulletin, Volume 1, Number 1, February 2012.12 Social Policy and Poverty Research Bulletin, Volume 1, Number 5, June 2012.

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approach of advocacy for the needs and rights of PWD on the one hand and action for the development of community rehabilitation programs on the other. The Action Plan has no specific focus on BPS persons. No specific rehabilitation services are provided by the authorities for BPS persons.Despite the National Action Plan mentioned above, the Government support schemes for PWD are very limited; pension schemes are e.g. only benefiting retired civil servants and military personnel, not ordinary citizens with disabilities. There are no general government support schemes for BPS persons, and no support to acquire assistive devices. The DSW has no dedicated section for BPS. However, it runs two schools for BPS children which provide very limited funding for food and clothes for the students. The schools for BPS children find themselves in a grey administrative area; they are treated as shelters, and though the curriculum is supposed to follow national standards, the Ministry of Education does not want to take the responsibility for the education provided by these institutions. A few additional schools run by private foundations and religious communities do exist in Myanmar.

Context – Similarities and DifferencesThe similarities and differences in context can be summarized as follows:

- All three target countries are characterized by high nominal economic growth, related to the extraction of natural resources, and by significant social inequality, in particular between urban and rural areas.

- LAB navigates in a political context where the room for civil society activities is limited; MNAB navigates in a very “new” fragile political environment with some similarities to the Lao context; MNFB has a relatively high success rate when it comes to political results and cooperation with authorities.

- All three target countries have ratified the CRPD, but the concrete impact thereof is still not obvious.- Though implementation lacks behind, policies on disability affairs are adopted in all three target

countries and can be used as point of departure for advocacy.- Inclusive education is a new concept in all three target countries, and the provision of special needs

education of BPS children is insufficient.- Specialized rehabilitation services for BPS persons, such as O&M training, are not provided by the

authorities in any of the target countries.- The lack of awareness among government staff hampers the access of BPS persons to the social

services which do exist, primarily in Mongolia. An example from Mongolia is that staff of provincial social welfare administrations sometimes are hesitant to listen and work with BPS persons. The staff do not necessarily know the legal rights of BPS persons, and this can result in the reluctance to pay out disability benefits defined by law.

As mentioned in section A.3 above, the member states of the UN-ESCAP adopted (end of 2012) the so-called Incheon Strategy, “Make the Right Real”, which forms the policy instrument of the Third Asia-Pacific Decade on Disability and follows up on strategies of the previous two decades. This framework can be used in parallel with the CRPD to monitor progress regarding disability policy at large in the Asia-Pacific region. Along with other OPWDs, WBU-AP is part of the Civil Society Forum for the Incheon Strategy and will be able to draw on the experiences from the proposed project in this work.

B.3 Problem analysisThe fundamental problem addressed by this third project phase remains unchanged from the two previous project phases: that BPS persons, living in the Asia-Pacific region, do not enjoy their human rights on an equal basis with others in accordance with the CRPD and relevant national legislation. They are to a large extent marginalised and excluded from key sectors of society, such as education and the labour market.In line with the global picture, PWD of the Asia-pacific region are highly represented among the poor. The World Bank estimates that 20 percent of the world's poorest people have some kind of disability13, and this is recognized in the Preamble of the CRPD14; “highlighting the fact that the majority of persons with disabilities live in conditions of poverty, and in this regard recognizing the critical need to address the negative impact of poverty on persons with disabilities”.

13http://whqlibdoc.who.int/publications/2011/9789240685215_eng.pdf 14http://www.un.org/disabilities/countries.asp?navid=12&pid=166 .

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Poverty is both a cause and a consequence of disability. It is a cause when poor people lack resources to prevent or treat impairments medically; and poverty causes disability through malnutrition, poor health care and dangerous living conditions. It is a consequence when PWD often lack access to education, health services and income generating activities. Disability can cause poverty by preventing full participation of PWD in the economic and social life of their communities, especially if appropriate support and awareness is not present.15 As documented in the World Report on Disability (2011)16, the majority of studies find that PWD have lower employment rates and lower educational attainment than persons without disability. A cross-country study of 13 developing countries found that disability is associated with a higher probability of being poor.In addition to poverty, most BPS persons, and their families, experience prejudice and direct or indirect discrimination. In some cases, the discrimination is rooted in socio-cultural beliefs, such as the belief that persons are cursed by Gods, or that the disability originates from wrong-doings in previous lives. As Buddhism is the predominant religion in all three target countries of this project, this pattern of thoughts influences the attitude to BPS persons to some extent, in particular in Lao PDR and Myanmar.The project aims at addressing the poverty and marginalization experienced by BPS persons by equipping BPS persons themselves and their representative organizations to advocate for their equal right to access key social services and be part of their local communities. As outlined in the evaluation report from the second project phase (Annex L), some progress has been made in Mongolia and Lao PDR. However, as also described in section B.2 above, huge challenges still remain. The third project phase aims to contribute to an improvement of the situation by addressing a number of challenges which can be categorized under three headings corresponding to the three main areas of intervention falling under the three immediate objectives of the project.

The Challenges at Organizational Level (Immediate Objective 1)

MNFBThe financial aspects of the organizational sustainability of MNFB is on the right track in terms of sound approaches to income generation through massage centers and FM-radio stations, the latter securing salary of 11 of the local branch managers throughout the country. MNFB has already taken over the payment of two resource persons, initially financed by the project budget, and provisions have been made in the 2014 budget to take over the responsibility for the payment of the salary of a part time accountant and other administrative costs, previously also covered by the project budget. However, in order to become fully independent of financial support from foreign donors, MNFB still needs additional sources of income and to invest in existing services generating income to the organization, such as traditional massage centers.Whereas MNFB now covers the whole country with local branches, a majority of these branches still face significant challenges in terms of human resources and access to funding from provincial government level. The general economic growth in Mongolia is not necessarily distributed to rural areas, and this keeps BPS persons living there in a precarious situation with lack of access to social services. This underlines the need for strong local branches of MNFB.

LABThe financial sustainability of LAB is still limited with high dependence on DAB and other donor funds for salaries and equipment. The political and economic climate in Lao PDR makes local fundraising very challenging; so far, the establishment of traditional massage centres has proven to be the most feasible fundraising activity.The three recently established provincial branches of LAB remain weak with very few services to offer to the membership. Moreover, the experiences of phase II with the SSF scheme have demonstrated that the branch leaders, who are BPS persons like all leaders in the five partner organizations, need to be supported in planning and implementing activities.

MNABMNAB bears the characteristics of an organization transitioning from the Pioneer Phase to the Development Phase.17 The Pioneer Phase is characterized by a high level of creativity, a strong leader and/or founder,

15http://web.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/TOPICS/EXTSOCIALPROTECTION/EXTDISABILITY/ 0,,contentMDK:21249181~menuPK:282717~pagePK:148956~piPK:216618~theSitePK:282699,00.html16WHO (2011) http://www.who.int/disabilities/world_report/2011/en/index.html).17 INTRAC three-circle model in CISU/DH ”Guide til organisationsudvikling i civilsamfundsorganisationer”, p.11.

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loose and informal collaboration, many new activities, strong motivation and a high degree of information-sharing. Due to a relatively flat structure with little division of labour, mainly as a consequence of the lack of human resources and sufficient capacity in general, a lot of responsibility is concentrated in the hands of the executive leadership.However, to a certain extent, MNAB is moving towards the development phase: with a mission and core strategic priorities defined, more structured coordination (coming revision of constitution, the existence of a job description for the Executive Director), formalized structures (operational democratic governing bodies), and innovation (extensive networking on rights issues and new political leadership since May 2013).As such, MNAB has made significant progress towards professionalization of their work over the past few years, but the organization still has a wide range of needs in terms of organizational sustainability, including strengthening of the physical and administrative capacity of the MNAB office. In particular, the recruitment of staff with accounting qualifications is needed, and audit procedures need to be put in place.

In summary, a common challenge in all three project countries is geographic outreach to BPS persons, and the fact that it is difficult for the capital-based national offices to reach all (potential) members of the organizations. Hence, a common concern is to establish or strengthen local branches and to ensure their access to know-how generated in the national organization or the blindness movement internationally. New or stronger local branches can also serve as the organizational backbone for the further recruitment of members. Though the three national partners are at different economic stages, an additional common challenge is financial sustainability which is covered in further detail in section C.5 below.

Challenges Regarding Public Awareness, Policies and Legislation (Immediate Objective 2)

Sufficient legislative and policy frameworks for the implementation of the CRPD and the Incheon Strategy do not exist in the target countries. Existing policies and laws are not implemented to the extent where they actually work to fully realize the rights of PWD. As described above, PWD form a marginalized group and represent only a minority of voters. Consequently, decision-makers tend to focus on mainstream politics, and a general lack of political will and awareness prevails, especially where decision´-makers are constrained by limited budgets. Moreover, the lack of data on the prevalence of blindness and the life situation of BPS persons, combined with stigma and ignorance, contributes to the lack of official interventions addressing the needs of BPS persons in the target countries. The third phase of the project mainly focuses on the right to education (Article 24 of the CRPD) when it comes to advocacy for the improvement of the policy framework to the benefit of BPS persons.

The Challenge regarding the Right to EducationAs described in section B.2, the provision of primary and secondary education to BPS children in the target countries is severely limited. Part of the explanation is, of course, budget constraints at local and national level. However, another important factor is that inclusive education is not considered to be an option for BPS children. Teachers are not aware of the pedagogical and technological means available for the inclusion of BPS persons in the class room of the local school in the community, such as Braille and assistive devices. Parents have a tendency to underestimate the academic potential of their BPS children, or are afraid to send them to school out of safety concerns in cases where the children do not have O&M skills.It is a well-known risk, in particular in Lao PDR and Myanmar, that BPS children who are sent to special schools for BPS children, where these exist, are gradually abandoned by their families, first and foremost in cases where the special schools are situated far away from the home of the family. This can in some cases be an additional argument for the inclusion of BPS children in the school of their local community.Consequently, there is a need for political pressure to promote inclusive education for BPS children, while keeping some special schools in the transition period. However, in all three target countries, there is a long way to full inclusion of BPS students in mainstream schools. There is a need to demonstrate concretely to teachers, parents and decision-makers how BPS children can be taught in a mainstream class room through the use of alternative pedagogical methods and the use of assistive devices. In the first place, there is a need to demonstrate how Braille reading skills, as well as the provision of Braille text books, allow BPS children to learn in school, but also to demonstrate that BPS children will be able to move around independently at school and in the surroundings if instructed properly in O&M. Thus, changes at policy-level need to be accompanied by concrete efforts to introduce blindness pedagogy and assistive devices for BPS persons in the mainstream school systems.

The Awareness Challenge in Myanmar

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The assessment of the project partners is that MNAB is not yet ready to work strategically with inclusive education for BPS children in the rapidly changing and diverse political environment in Myanmar. However, decision-makers are, as in the two other target countries, characterized by a lack of knowledge about the capabilities and needs of BPS persons. As a disability act, and other pieces of legislation of relevance for PWD, is currently under adoption in Myanmar, there is a need to raise the level of awareness with regards to issues of relevance for BPS persons.

Documentation and Learning from Advocacy and Awareness RaisingA key finding of the external evaluation of phase II was that MNFB and LAB have applied a range of different advocacy tools, and have in many cases succeeded in their efforts. However, the results have not been adequately documented and learning has not been compiled to a sufficient extent. Consequently, there is a need to systematically gather experiences and findings related to advocacy and systematic collection of local branch level evidence to feed into national advocacy. National strategic advocacy agendas should ideally also support and inspire local branches to take up local advocacy initiatives, awareness raising and member mobilization. Finally, the evaluation report also concluded that WBU-AP’s regional experience has not been exploited to the full potential in the project, and that systematic exchange and dissemination of information related to advocacy approaches and strategies has not been adequately practiced. The comparative advantage of WBU-AP’s expertise on the CRPD and the Incheon Strategy, as well as a potentially important role in the transformation of good practice examples from the member organizations into replicable lessons learned, has not been realized (the challenges regarding documentation and learning are to a large extent addressed in section d and Annex J thereto). In addition, a key observation of DAB has been that there is a need for project partners to be more strategic and systematic when planning advocacy interventions and to root interventions in the adopted action plans of each respective organization.

The Challenges at Individual Level (Immediate Objective 3)

The Empowerment ChallengeAs an average, BPS persons in the target countries face a low level of education, vocational experience and O&M skills. In many cases, this comes on top of a lack of working experience, motivation, self-confidence and self-esteem. As described above, most BPS persons in Mongolia, Lao PDR and Myanmar continue to live in a marginalized position. Prejudices towards BPS persons, parents’ reluctance to send their BPS children to school and lack of information on legal rights and possibilities for BPS persons all contribute to the social isolation and disillusionment of many BPS persons. In other words, many BPS persons are disempowered, and when individuals are disempowered, the possibility of participating in family life, local society, not to say participating in activities of the local branch of the organization of BPS persons, is reduced.18 Individual empowerment obtained through training is part of the recipe which can give impetus to active engagement in society, participation in social life and organizational work to the benefit of other BPS. Experience from the previous two project phases show that the impact of the training activities, in terms of social and economic empowerment, is undisputable. During the evaluation, many interviewees stated that they benefitted from accumulated training, gradually building up their skills, typically beginning with O&M, DLS and management training, moving on to Braille, English and computer skills.

Improving the Quality of Training and Ensuring ContinuityDuring phase II, LAB implemented 17 training courses, 2011-13, reaching a total number of 557 registered participants, and MNFB undertook 27 training courses with a total number of 513 registered participants. As such, the two organizations hold valuable experience with the provision of training. However, as pointed out by the external evaluation of phase II, the training activities lack an overall systematic framework which could allow for exploring new training needs at general and individual level. This would also provide an opportunity for establishing systematic training sequences, based on modules to be combined by the individual trainee, depending on her/his needs and wishes.

18 A community based rehabilitation model contained in Annex N (background report to the model is available upon request).

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In Mongolia, there is a need to further expand the instructor base. In both Mongolia and Lao PDR, there is still a need to organize training activities for more members, since the number of trainees of the second phase was very small, compared to the (potential) member base of the organizations. In Myanmar, being a new project country, the need for training is severe, including training of instructors in O&M and DLS, as these are practically non-existent in the country.The main medium to long term challenge, when it comes to the provision of rehabilitation of BPS persons in the target countries, including O&M and DLS, is related to sustainability. Without gradual take up of the legal and financial responsibility by authorities of the target countries, the rehabilitation services cannot be sustained on a long term basis. Hence, the immediate need is that MNFB, LAB and MNAB aim at establishing cooperation with national and local authorities by contributing know-how and good practice.

C. PROJECT DESCRIPTION

C.1 Target group and participantsThe project operates with three different primary target groups to be identified and targeted under the three areas of intervention, i.e. organizational development (objective 1), claiming and realizing rights (objective 2) and basic skills and empowerment(objective 3). In parallel with primary target groups, the project embraces both secondary and tertiary target groups.

- Under Objective 1, the primary target group consists of selected existing members of MNFB, LAB and MNAB, a total of 1,187 persons.

- The secondary target group consists of all members of MNFB, LAB and MNAB, as well as potential new members to be recruited during this project phase, a total of at least 10,597 persons.

- The tertiary target group consists of the membership base of all the other member organizations under WBU-AP which will benefit from the sharing of best practices and lessons learned from the project.

- Under Objective 2, the primary target group consists of the present membership base of MNFB, LAB and MNAB, representatives from the local and national authorities, teachers, parents of BPS persons, and private and public employees, a total of 1,376 persons.

- The secondary target group consists of all BPS persons in Mongolia, Lao PDR and Mongolia who are potential new members, as well as the relatives around the individual BPS person.

- The tertiary target group consists of the authorities in the three target countries, the general public, and international fora and knowledge sharing platforms within WBU-AP.

- Under Objective 3, the primary target group consists of the present membership base of MNFB, LAB and MNFB, and resource persons affiliated to the organizations who will be trained as instructors, a total of 1,109 persons.

- The secondary target group consists of the relatives of the individual BPS persons- The tertiary target group is the membership base of the other organizations under WBU-AP.

For further details and break-down of figures, please refer to Annex G.

C.2. Objectives and indicatorsPlease refer to the logical framework matrix for phase III, Annex F.

C.3 Outputs and activitiesPlease refer to the logical framework matrix for phase III, Annex F.

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C.4 Strategy

General Approach and Causal LinksAs the previous two project phases, phase III builds on the causal logic that OPWDs, in this case organizations of BPS persons, are key drivers in the efforts to realize equal rights of persons with disabilities. Moreover, in line with the internationally recognised principle “nothing about us without us”, PWD should be involved whenever decisions concerning them are being taken, as also provided for in Articles 4 and 33 of the CRPD. Thus, both practical and normative causes lead to the strong focus on the strengthening of organizations of BPS persons as representatives of their community.At the same time, the project clearly recognizes that the realization of the rights of BPS persons is dependent on political will and capacity at international, national and local government level. Equal opportunities of PWD will not be realized without close cooperation between duty bearers and rights holders, i.e. national and local governments on the one hand and representative organizations of BPS persons on the other. This is to an even larger extent the case in societies with tight state control of social movements and/or large public sectors, such as e.g. Lao PDR. These two causal links, and their inter-linkage, relate to the two first immediate objectives of the project regarding organizational development and advocacy respectively.The third causal link, relating to the third immediate objective, is that strong organizations of BPS persons and effective advocacy presuppose strong BPS individuals. Moreover, it is the experience of all project partners, including DAB, that strong role models among BPS persons, as well as peer-counselling, are the most effective means to ensure that other BPS persons are empowered. It can be summarised as follows “she is blind and can move around independently in her community; then I can do it as well, despite my visual impairment”.Based on experiences from the domestic advocacy work of DAB as well as its international partners, the effect of BPS role models as agents for change of the perceptions of the community at large cannot be underestimated. They can function as strong leaders of their respective organizations and as spokespersons for their constituency towards authorities at all levels. Strong BPS individuals are living proof to authorities that this group of people have capabilities which can be developed further.

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 organizations 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, DLS and Braille literacy contributes to the realization of the project objectives by equipping members of the target group with skills which enable them to take part in the life of the community and the activities as well as the management of organizations of BPS persons. Being able to move around independently in one’s community, to carry out daily chores in the family and to read Braille demonstrate to the BPS individual, and his or her surroundings, that he or she is a capable person, and not only a person in need of help. Thus, rehabilitation is also a strategic tool which is meant to bring about change at individual, community and organization level, and not only an indispensable service offered by organizations of BPS persons to the membership. The importance of training in compensatory skills as a means to personal and organizational empowerment was confirmed by a review from 2013 of DAB’s activities, carried out over the last 15 years, in the area of rehabilitation of BPS persons in developing countries in Asia and Africa. The findings of the review have been summarised in a model adapted to the context of Lao PDR (see Annex N), and many of the lessons learned will be applied in this third project phase.According to Article 26 of the CRPD, national and local authorities are obliged to take responsibility, in legal and financial terms, for the rehabilitation of BPS persons. Where such services are not provided by public authorities, which is the reality in all three target countries, organizations of BPS persons are left with little choice but to try to provide this type of training to their membership themselves, while working to involve public authorities and gradually handing over responsibility to them, not least financially. Organizations of BPS persons have experiences with the rehabilitation of people living with visual impairment (as exemplified by the experiences accumulated by MNFB and LAB during the two previous project phases), or are in a position to build up expertise in this field; thus, they are at a comparative advantage. However, in the long term, it is not viable for organizations of BPS persons to have the legal and financial responsibility for the rehabilitation of BPS persons in a whole country. Consequently, the objective is to get governments to take over this responsibility in line with Article 26 of the CRPD, and in partnership with representative organizations of BPS persons. The objective is that authorities take their responsibility in terms of

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administrative and financial capacity, and that organizations of BPS persons provide the necessary know-how and access to the target group. This line of thought runs through the project and describes the relation between the third immediate objective of the project to objectives 1 and 2.

Regional Cooperation as a Strength of the ProjectAn important aspect of the overall project strategy, and the monitoring system in particular, is that learning is possible and beneficial across national borders, across organizations, across project phases, across different organizational stages, across political contexts, between different BPS individuals with different abilities, and across economic status of the organizations. Due to a strong movement of BPS persons internationally, MNFB, LAB and MNFB are not isolated islands disconnected from resources and experiences gained in other parts of the world. As described in the problem analysis, organizations of BPS face similar challenges in their respective countries, have similar organizational structures, and work according to many of the same methods. This allows for peer to peer learning among organizations of BPS persons. In the second phase of the project, MNFB and LAB inspired each other with concrete methods for fundraising, besides advocacy and awareness raising. These factors, as well as the mutual commitment to the international blindness movement, bind the project and the five partners together.Despite the progress made in the two first project phases by MNFB and LAB, the three national partner organizations from Mongolia, Laos and Myanmar respectively are at different stages in their organizational development. However, the project partners see this difference as a lever which can contribute to learning. MNAB, in particular, will be able to draw on the experiences gathered by MNFB and LAB in the two first project phases, as well as the proposed third phase. An important example is the experiences with the establishment of local branches of LAB, a task which is ahead of MNAB under comparable political and bureaucratic circumstances. A further example is the experiences obtained by MNFB with the difficulties in selling talking books on the open market as a means to income generation for the organization, something, which at a first glance, would appear to be an obvious possibility, given the expertise in many organizations of BPS with this matter. On the other hand, MNFB and LAB can benefit from the new input provided by a new project partner. MNAB has already introduced ideas for activities, which have not been tried out before within the project framework, such as awareness raising sessions with MPs carried out by trained self-advocates and the testing of the sales of Braille materials as a way of generating income to the organization.The mutual learning, as envisioned in the project, is particularly meaningful because it takes place within a specific geographic region, the Asia-Pacific, and through the facilitation of the regional network of BPS persons, the regional arm of the World Blind Union. WBU-AP plays a facilitating role by backing up the efforts of MNFB, LAB and MNAB with knowledge from sister organizations and contacts in the regional network – and similarly will ensure that the learning becomes available to organizations beyond the project circle, organizations in the AP region which also face a severe lack of resources.A general observation from the two first project phases, also confirmed by the external evaluation of the second phase, is that by exchanging ideas and know-how through WBU-AP, the member organizations, especially the less resourceful ones, get access to resources which they would not otherwise be able to access. Furthermore, by rooting the project in the AP region at large, the sustainability of the results of the project is enhanced, as the project partners will be more likely to identify future donors and collaborators through the inclusion in the international blindness community.On the basis of the logic behind this regional aspect of the project, the learning, which the project aims at facilitating, is meant to enhance and improve the outcomes for the primary target group, BPS persons in marginalized positions, as compared to a situation where the partners would work alone, i.e. without the possibilities for cooperation provided by this project.As pointed out by the external evaluation of the second phase, mutual learning among project partners also involves a number of challenges. In order to address the situation, the monitoring system of the project has been revised, new opportunities for mutual exchange between project partners have been introduced, and new communication tools will be applied by WBU-AP. The intended mutual learning will be based on the concrete experiences with the implementation of project activities in the target countries. Hence, the learning should not be considered as a stand-alone component of the project, rather it is a tool which qualifies the planned activities (See also section C.5 on sustainability and section D.2 on Monitoring and Evaluation, as well as Annex J thereto. Section F further details the regional cooperation, and the long term perspective thereof.The following part of this section of the application aims at illustrating how the causal links and strategic considerations sketched above will be transformed into concrete interventions under the three immediate objectives of the project.

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Immediate Objective 1: Organizational DevelopmentOne of the key aspects of the organizational development component is sustainability; especially financial sustainability is a common priority of all project partners. Following the growth in the Mongolian economy in general, the country is approaching the DANIDA gross national income (GNI) threshold for support to civil society organizations. Consequently, it might be more complicated for MNFB to obtain funding through development cooperation partners in the future. Hence, it is of paramount importance for the organization to identify new sources of income as an alternative to financial support through foreign donors. LAB will work to identify new sources of income, including additional donors, in order to reduce its dependence on financial support through DAB and the Norwegian Association of the Blind and Partially Sighted. MNAB will take the first steps in the establishment of fundraising capacity and explore opportunities for the generation of income domestically through the establishment of traditional massage centres and the production and sales of Braille materials.As stated under the previous heading, the project will aim at formalizing knowledge and making it available to less resourceful member organizations within WBU-AP through the increased use of its website and connected mechanisms for the exchange of information, such as the new voluntary communication and information liaison officers (CILO) in the member organizations. One aspect of the know-how that MNFB, LAB and MNAB will have access to through the WBU-AP network is exactly funding opportunities and relevant contacts in the area of fundraising. In line with this approach, the envisaged fundraising strategies of the three national associations will include the AP dimension. This intensified focus on fundraising in the Asia-Pacific region of the third phase comes out of the realization that MNFB, LAB and MNAB already have cooperative relations with other blindness organizations in the region, and that this cooperation could be expanded to also include fundraising (see also section C.5 below for further details regarding financial sustainability).The project partners will have opportunities to exchange experiences concerning fundraising, and other is -sues of relevance for the sustainability of the organizations, through PSG meetings, the support to the partic-ipation of MNFB, LAB and MNAB in regional and international meetings, including the general assemblies of WBU-AP and WBU, and reporting carried out as part of the monitoring system of the project (see also sec-tion D below). Exchange of experiences and cross learning will also take place during two workshops; a part-ner consolidation and learning workshop to be organized as soon as possible after project start, and a learn -ing workshop half way through the project period. The aim of the workshops is to discuss the overall project partnership, to qualify the fundraising and advocacy strategies, the use and design of member databases, and the understanding and use of the M & E system with a focus on linkages between evidence based ad-vocacy and M & E.To support the interventions in organizational development (and advocacy, ref. below), a Small Scale Fund Scheme will continue into the third phase (see Annex J for guidelines). As confirmed by the external evaluation of the second phase, this has proven a success as it has allowed local branches of the participating organizations to both develop their fundraising skills and to carry out small projects addressing local organizational needs.Another core activity of the second phase of the project was the establishment of new local branches under MNFB and LAB respectively. This turned out to be successful, as also confirmed by the external evaluation. However, the evaluation also demonstrates that it is essential for the local branches to have activities which can mobilise the membership and help to recruit new members, and simply to have activities as contents of the formal structure. Thus, a range of interventions will be implemented to consolidate the existing branches in MNFB and LAB, and to gradually establish new branches of MNAB where the available human resources allow for this.

Consolidation and Organizational Sustainability in Mongolia and Lao PDRWith regards to geographic coverage, MNFB and LAB are in different situations. MNFB is present in the whole country with its headquarters in Ulaan Baator and 21 provincial branches. LAB is present in Vientiane Capital and four provinces (out of 16 outside Vientiane) in different parts of the country.For MNFB, the concern is to ensure that its provincial branches are sufficiently consolidated to be able to function and develop beyond the project phase. In phase III, this is done by training the leaders, giving representatives from branches access to the general assembly of the association and organizing regional fora where provincial branches can learn from each other. Branch leaders will then bring acquired knowledge and skills back to their respective branches and practice them by organizing member meetings, organizing social activities with and for the membership and reaching out to potential collaborators in the province. All activities related to the organizational development, except for fundraising activities, will be focused on and rooted in the provincial branches.

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For LAB, a significant result of the phase II of the project was the establishment of three new provincial branches with legal permission from provincial authorities. However, the evaluation also clearly demonstrated that the branches remain weak with few activities to offer to the membership. LAB has, therefore, chosen to give full priority to this concern by planning to systematically identify new members in selected districts of the new provincial branches and offer training and vocational opportunities to these new members (see immediate objective 3 below).

Strengthening Organizational Capacity and Geographic Expansion in MyanmarAn important element of the fact finding mission to Myanmar, carried out by DAB in November 2013, was the organizational assessment of MNAB done according to the OCTAGON methodology. This assessment identified a number of immediate gabs which will be addressed in this project by training in organizational leadership, democratic processes, including meeting facilitation, and ICT skills.An essential lesson learned from the two first phases of the project, as well as from DAB’s work in Africa and Asia in general, is that outreach to members of organizations of BPS outside national capitals presupposes the establishment of local branches of the association. This logic will also be applied in Myanmar by identifying potential members of MNAB in three selected regions and establishing branches in these three regions. The administrative subdivisions tentatively identified by MNAB as places where branches should be established are Mon State, Shan State and Sagain Region. The two states have been identified due to existing schools for blind people there, and Sagain Region has been identified due to the estimated high prevalence of visual impairment there (as mentioned in section B.2).Since the project will boost the financial means available to MNAB over the years, the implementation of activities will take place gradually to ensure proper monitoring and evaluation of the financial management and the progress made, done half yearly on the basis of progress reports. Furthermore an accountant will be hired by MNAB and an external audit will take place in Myanmar annually during the project phase. This has been the standard procedure of phase II of the project as well. Additional instalments to MNAB from DAB will only take place upon receipt of complete implementation reports half-yearly, and DAB monitoring visits will have particular focus on accounts and the flow of money inside the organization. Activities, e.g. the establishment of local branches and Small Scale Project Fund activities, will be scaled up gradually over the three project years.

Immediate Objective 2: Claiming and Realizing RightsIn line with the stated goals of the action plans of the three national partner organizations, the project will give priority to the right to education and employment. While the main focus of the advocacy initiatives planned at this pre-project stage is on the right to education, it is expected that a large proportion of the small scale projects implemented by the local branches of MNFB, LAB and MNAB will centre on the creation of employment or self-employment of BPS persons. This expectation builds on the experience from the second phase where this type of small scale fund projects implemented by local branches were very frequent. In the third phase, local branches of the three national associations will have the opportunity to apply for funding for small scale projects in the area of advocacy (see Annex J for the guidelines for the small scale funds) in order for them to be able to respond to local advocacy needs and to practice the planning of advocacy efforts.In all three target countries, significant efforts are necessary in order to promote consistency between the legal and political framework on the one hand and the CRPD on the other. It is foreseen that the activities of the project will lead to a number of amendments of national legislation and/or national policies in the area of education, and possibly in the areas of employment as well as disability affairs in general.MNFB, LAB and MNAB will be able to draw on resources from the WBU-AP network with a view to identifying good practice in the area of policy dialogue and advocacy. At the same time, WBU-AP will use the experiences generated within the framework of the project in their advocacy for the proper implementation of the Incheon Strategy: Make the Right Real. Since there is no common political body on a regional level in Asia-Pacific, the leadership of WBU-AP focus their efforts with regards to advocacy on the support of the work of the national member organisations. According to their understanding, the strength of the regional body in terms of advocacy depends on the strengths of the national member organizations. In order to strengthen the capacity to do national advocacy in the future, young leaders from 15 countries in the region will be trained in advocacy and project management.Based on MNFB’s successful use of TV-programmes as a tool to raise awareness about the life situation of BPS persons in the second phase of the project, MNFB will again use TV as an advocacy tool. In the third phase, MNFB will aim at being more strategic by engaging local and national politicians in debates about

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issues of concern for BPS persons on TV. LAB has been inspired by the experiences from Mongolia and will seek to get short programmes on visual impairment broadcast on state TV in Lao PDR. Due to the political climate in Lao PDR, these TV programmes will be of a more informative nature aiming at raising the level of general knowledge about BPS persons and appropriate ways of assisting this disability group.A further awareness raising method applied by LAB will be the training of traffic police officers regarding the needs of BPS persons. The training is meant to equip the police officers to assist BPS persons moving around independently in Vientiane Capital, thereby acting as role models for other citizens.

Realizing the Right to Education in Mongolia and Lao PDRThe clear focus on inclusive education of this third phase of the project is new, as compared to the previous project phases, and reflects a general international trend (significant lack of progress for children with disabilities with regards to MDG 1 on universal primary education) and the geographic and demographic reality in the target countries. As pointed out in section B.2, one special school for the blind in an extremely scarcely populated country like Mongolia is e.g. far from sufficient if the right of disabled children to receive primary and secondary education in their own communities, as provided for in Article 24 of the CRPD, is to be realized. As most other groups of PWD, the community of BPS persons, including children of school age, is by nature living spread evenly across the target countries, though the prevalence in some geographic regions can be somewhat higher in areas due to epidemiological factors and/or sanitary conditions (see also section B.2 under Myanmar).The policy environment in Lao PDR is conducive to the promotion of inclusive education, including education of BPS persons, with the national policy, informally known as the “Red Book”, in place up to the end of 2015. A review of the policy with the aim of ensuring compliance with the CRPD is relevant in view of the fact that the implementation period of the policy is coming to an end in 2015. LAB will promote such a review with a view to ensuring that the needs of BPS persons mentioned in Article 24 of the CRPD, pertaining to O&M and Braille, will be reflected in a future national policy on inclusive education.Following the admission of children as members of MNFB, the organization will be working to ensure that the country has a policy on inclusive education which is compliant with the CRPD and in particular its provisions of Article 24 relevant for BPS persons. MNFB will continue the efforts of the no cost extension period of phase II of the project and engage national authorities in a policy dialogue on inclusive education.

In addition to the improvement of the policy environment for inclusive education, both MNFB and LAB will be working to ensure the actual realization of the right of BPS children to education. MNFB will be demonstrating equipment which can facilitate learning by BPS children included in a class room with children without disabilities. The intended outcome is that selected schools will start procuring such equipment in consultation with MNFB, thereby breaking down some of the physical barriers for the inclusion of BPS children in mainstream schools.LAB will be working closely with the MOES to sensitize teachers at selected mainstream schools to the needs of blind students, such as the need for O&M training on location and training in Braille literacy. Furthermore, LAB will provide BPS students at selected mainstream schools with text books in Braille in order to allow direct access for BPS children to the contents of their curricula. Finally, LAB will give teachers at selected teacher training colleges, and similar institutions, an intensive course in Lao Braille literacy in order for them to be able to pass on basic knowledge on Braille to their students.The close cooperation between LAB and MNFB on one side and authorities on the other, and the provision of expertise and resources by the two associations, is planned in order to avoid that policies on inclusive education of the two countries become empty words. Current developments in Denmark clearly demonstrate that inclusive education needs to be backed up with sufficient resources in order to be successful. This holds true for children with disabilities in general, and BPS children in particular.The contribution of resources by MNFB and LAB to the process of including BPS children in mainstream schools is also a strategic instrument to get educational authorities at both local and national levels interested in the issue. In parallel, MNFB and LAB will, as described above, work for the revision of the relevant policies. This is meant to establish the legal and political foundation for a gradual take-up of responsibility for inclusive education of BPS persons by the authorities in Mongolia and Lao PDR respectively, also financially. The full take-up of responsibility cannot be expected to be completed by the end of 2017, first and foremost due to the fact that the initiatives are geographically limited and focus on selected mainstream schools. However, the third project phase aims at giving impetus to the process.In the two previous project phases, the advocacy initiatives of MNFB and LAB have not had the same type of thematic focus, and the initiatives have not been strategically planned from the beginning of the implementation period. Thus, the approach applied in the area of inclusive education in the third phase

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marks a strategic step forward, building on the experiences with the application of different advocacy tools accumulated during the two previous project phases.

Raising Awareness in the Community and among Policy-makers in MyanmarMNAB will be part of the mobilization of OPWDs in Myanmar in order to form an independent coalition which can represent common interests of the disability organizations towards the national government and other authorities. MNAB will work to ensure that the coalition is appropriately separated from government structures and takes the form of an umbrella which respects the characteristics of each disability group and allows e.g. MNAB to represent its constituency in matters of specific concern for BPS persons. This is a general and fundamental principle applied by the member organizations of WBU, including DAB. In fact, both LAB and MNFB were formed as an attempt to create independent and representative voices for BPS persons in Mongolia and Lao PDR respectively.MNAB will train self-advocates who can raise awareness on the rights of BPS persons among families with BPS members and their communities. This is a new approach in the project. Rather than employing professional staff to carry out advocacy activities in a pioneering organization like MNAB, this approach aims at equipping BPS persons themselves to be their own spokespersons, in particular in their local communities. In line with the approach applied during the two first project phases, experts from abroad, preferably BPS persons, will be identified to provide parts of the training in self-advocacy at the early stage. MNAB will produce information materials which can assist the self-advocates in engaging their local communities in discussions about the rights of PWD, including informative leaflets and video clips.Furthermore, selected self-advocates will carry out direct advocacy towards members of the union parliament and ministerial officials, thereby capitalizing on the pioneering spirit and high speed of the current political processes in Myanmar. A further strategic consideration is that a large number of legislative acts are being drafted in Myanmar over the coming months and years. Hence, it is important to raise awareness among MP’s already now.

Immediate Objective 3: Basic Skills and EmpowermentAn essential component in the consolidation of the local branches is the provision of training in basic skills which can help to compensate for a visual impairment, including Braille literacy and O&M. As described in detail in section B.3 above, these skills are inextricably linked to the empowerment of BPS individuals. Without these skills, BPS persons are severely constrained in their participation in the local community, in their contribution to their families and in their participation in the activities of the blindness organization. When equipped with the necessary compensatory skills, BPS are also able to stand up as role models to other persons with visual impairments, and not least to prove to local authorities that it can be worthwhile for local and national authorities to invest in BPS persons by providing relevant rehabilitation training.Consequently, the clear focus on training in the project, also in financial terms, contributes both to the strengthening of the partner organizations, by mobilizing and empowering the membership, and to advocacy by providing a good example of the results which can be achieved by meeting the needs of BPS persons.A total of at least app. 950 individual training programmes will be provided by MNFB, LAB and MNAB to members in O&M, DLS and Braille (some trainees will go through more than one training programme) in the third phase, apart from the other types of training provided during the phase.Effective rehabilitation of BPS persons is by nature costly. In order for the trainee to acquire the relevant skills in reality, the training needs to simulate reality, in particular when it comes to O&M and DLS. Hence, the training must take place on location, i.e. in the local everyday environment of the trainee. Furthermore, the training needs to take place one-to-one (one trainee and one instructor). In the third phase, the training will continuously be adapted to local needs and local financial opportunities with a view to long term financial sustainability of the provision of this type of training in the target countries. Through systematic registration of the gender of trainees and strategic selection of informants for most significant change (MSC) stories and tracer studies (see section D.2 and Annex J), the impact of the training on women and men respectively will be captured.Furthermore, in line with one of the main recommendations of the evaluation of the second phase, training modules will be developed, and training curricula will be systematized, validated as part of the regional cooperation and further tested in the local environments of the three respective target countries.

Geographic Coverage and the Involvement of Province Authorities in MongoliaIn the area of basic skills, the priority of MNFB will be to cover the whole country with instructors in O&M and Braille. The opportunities for provincial authorities to fund the training from decentralized budgets will also be explored. MNFB is already in touch with local authorities in order for them to take some responsibility for the

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training of BPS. This development will be further encouraged with this third project phase by ensuring that instructors are available in more provinces to actually provide the needed training in Braille and O&M. Hence, there is a strong link across objectives 1, 2 and 3 with local branches of MNFB who will be advocating for access to budgets of provincial authorities in order to get funding for e.g. training in O&M.

Applying the CBR logic in Lao PDRIn Lao PDR, the described approach, where organizational development, training and advocacy strengthen each other mutually, will be based on the model generated by a comprehensive review from 2013 out of a learning project with LAB funded from the Danish Disability Grant (see Annex N). The model recommends a very systematic approach where potential members of LAB will go through an eye screening in order to identify the nature of their visual impairment. Based on the eye screening, the needs for training of the individual will be clarified, O&M and DLS. Following the training in basic skills, selected trainees will be offered additional vocational training and opportunities for applying these skills. Together, these activities form a down-scaled community-based rehabilitation approach. The perspective is that the model will be cost-efficient enough to be interesting for Lao authorities.The background for the choice of rehabilitation as such a clear priority for LAB is that new life needs to be blown into the provincial branches. The branches need to have something to offer to potential new members. In parallel, new vocational perspectives need to be introduced to BPS persons and their families in order to also have a livelihood focus. This is the background for the choice of the rehabilitation model as such a clear priority. By also recruiting potential new members of LAB, the rehabilitation model forms an important part of the organizational development of LAB, otherwise covered under immediate objective 1 of the third phase.As the application of the small scale rehabilitation model requires the employment of field workers, provisions have been made in the budget for this. The field workers will be affiliated to the relevant local branches of LAB, but they will report on an on-going basis to the LAB headquarters in order to ensure proper follow-up and recording of relevant information.The model will not be realized in its full potential in this third project phase. However, the approach will be used, where relevant, and adjusted accordingly. Thus, LAB will be the pilot organization in this area. The model from the learning project will be adjusted and shared with the other project partners in phase III in order to promote learning. The prospect is that models for the strategic provision of rehabilitation of BPS persons could also be developed for Mongolia and Myanmar in the future.

Establishing Training Capacity in MyanmarProper instructors in O&M and DLS are currently not available in Myanmar. MNAB will work to remedy the situation and provide training to potential members, thereby also potentially expanding the membership basis, in particular in the new local branches. In line with the method applied in Mongolia and Lao PDR, the new instructors in Myanmar will be trained by professionals in the areas of O&M and DLS to be identified in other countries in the Asia-Pacific region. Instructors in O&M are typically seeing people who can take advantage of their sight to assist BPS persons to map their local environments mentally and thereby give the trainee the information needed for real independent mobility. Thus, the training of trainers (instructors) in O&M does not strictly follow the classic understanding of training of trainers (ToT) as it is often applied in development cooperation projects. The training of the MNAB self-advocates will follow the classic understanding of ToT. For MNAB, it is a completely new approach to try to make organizational development, advocacy and training strengthen each other within one strategy. Hence, the process will be gradual, and the elements will be integrated along the way, e.g. the establishment of local branches will be followed up with training in O & M when qualified instructors are available. Moreover, it is a priority to ensure that the experiences from Lao PDR are drawn upon by working towards the provision of very systematic training from the very beginning, and to document the experiences with the aim of adjusting the training methods, where it is relevant.

A tentative implementation plan for the project activities has been prepared, please refer to Annex K.

C.5 SustainabilityThis subsection aims instead at describing how results achieved by the partner organizations during the two first phases will be sustained into the third phase, and at describing how the sustainability of results achieved in the third phase will be increased through adjustment to the situation of each project partner respectively.19

19 Please also refer to Section F.

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Sustainability of Organizational StructuresDuring the two first phases of the project, MNFB and LAB have gained organizational strength. Significant results have been that MNFB is now covering the total territory of Mongolia, that LAB has established three additional branches outside Vientiane Capital, and that LAB has organized its first ever general assembly with authorization from the national government. These achievements form an important part of the foundation for the activities of the third phase. However, they are also maintained as part of the activities of this phase, in particular the strengthening of local branches which form the direct link to the membership, also outside the capital cities.As described in section A.3, MNFB’s national organizational structures are relatively strong compared to other project partners. Consequently, priority is given to the consolidation of local branches in rural areas, where the life conditions of BPS persons are harsh, despite the growth in the national economy of the country. By offering the leaders of branches of MNFB further training and giving them opportunities to exchange experiences and ideas with leaders from other branches at regional forums, and committing them to apply these skills, e.g. through the organization of member meetings, the capacity to continue the activities of the branches beyond the project phase will be increased. Moreover, by aiming at intensifying cooperation with provincial authorities and other stakeholders, the position of the MNFB branches as part of the local civil society will be consolidated. Regular member meetings of the branches will be the mechanism to involve the membership and thereby to promote their continued interest in and ownership of the branch and MNFB as such.In LAB, the local branches, established during the second phase, are still fragile organizational structures. In this third project phase, the choice has been made to back up these structures with concrete activities, on top of the existing traditional massage centers, in order to attract and maintain interest from the membership. By identifying new potential members of the branches and offering these persons training and vocational opportunities, LAB will be able to reach out to individual BPS persons and to offer them support in their local community. Moreover, it is the priority of LAB to consolidate existing branches, rather than expanding geographic coverage; and this priority was clearly confirmed by the recommendations of the external evaluation.The establishment of new branches of MNAB will be carried out according to a step by step approach. Based on the planned collection of data about potential members and their needs in the three target regions of Myanmar, one region will be selected in order to have a pilot branch where MNAB can learn from the relevant experiences of MNFB and LAB. Only when the pilot branch has found its feet and relevant lessons learned have been captured, MNAB will move on to establish the envisaged two additional branches.

Financial SustainabilityIn order to address the medium and long term funding perspective for the three national partners, they will produce fundraising strategies which also cover the opportunities for resource mobilization in the Asia-Pacific region, including donor agencies, private foundations and NGO’s from countries such as New Zealand, Australia, Japan and South Korea. Given the economic situation in Mongolia, MNFB will be focusing their efforts on income generation domestically.In the second phase, MNFB gained valuable insights on the importance of careful market research as the basis for the selling of products and services with the aim of generating income for the organization. These experiences will be applied when the idea of selling calendars portraying “star” horses will be launched. The idea is inspired by DAB’s sales of calendars with photos of guide dogs to the general public in Denmark as a successful fund raising tool. MNFB is already generating part of its revenue by running traditional massage centers, thereby also providing employment opportunities for BPS persons. The establishment of three additional MNFB massage centers is, hence, considered as a safe investment which can provide additional income to the organization, if donor support cannot be ensured after this third phase. The sales of calendars is a new initiative with fundraising potential. However, this idea needs to mature and be developed during the third phase.In the third phase, MNFB will take over the financial responsibility for the salary of a half-time accountant who will continue to keep the books related to the project activities. In addition, MNFB will partly fund the foreseen general assembly from their own budget. Consequently, the project budget will only to a very limited extent cover core costs for MNFB. Of course, the project coordinator will still be a key person in the organization, but the person will be employed to oversee the project activities related to training, advocacy and strengthening of local branches, not to run the daily affairs of MNFB at national level.

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LAB has limited experiences with the generation of income outside the traditional massage field and small local charitable donations, though some methods, such as the weaving and sales of mats, have been tried out through small scale fund projects during the second phase. Based on the experiences from the second phase, LAB is not yet in a position to ensure sufficient funding of core costs through the generation of own income. A realistic strategy, applied in this project phase, to ensure sufficient funding in the medium term is considered to be a diversification of LAB’s donor base in order to limit their financial dependency on DAB and the Norwegian Association of the Blind and Partially Sighted.Based on experiences from the Asia-Pacific region in general, and MNFB and LAB in particular, MNAB will open traditional massage centers as an integrated component of the establishment of their three new branches. Apart from providing vocational training and employment opportunities for BPS persons, and giving the branches a visible external face in the local communities, the centers are planned to generate income for the MNAB branches. This model, where the centers serve multiple purposes, works in MNFB and LAB and was pointed out as good practice by the external evaluation of phase II.MNAB will furthermore test the sales of Braille materials to schools and other relevant institutions as a means to generate income for the organization at national level, though it is expected to raise limited amounts. In light of increased interest from donors in Myanmar, including NGOs from the disability sector, an important role for DAB will be to assist MNAB in the navigation between different foreign donors and to coordinate with these donors in order to ensure that overlaps are avoided; and to promote complying donor demands on e.g. accounting and reporting.

Formalizing Experiences and Maintaining Training CapacityAn important concern in the sustainability considerations related to the project as such has been to ensure that gained experiences and know-how remain available to project partners in readily accessible form. It comes out of one of the main recommendations from the external evaluation of phase II, namely that generated knowledge from the project should be systematized and given a form which is usable for organizations of BPS persons in the Asia-Pacific region. In the third phase, the production of training manuals has been selected as a concrete tool to try to meet this concern. Based on common experiences of the project partners, training manuals on O&M, DLS and Braille will be produced in the main official language of each target country respectively for the benefit of both the organizations of BPS persons and local authorities. This will ensure that the national organizations of BPS persons can provide training according to validated curricula beyond the third project phase; and in the medium to long term will be able to contribute with their professional expertise to the cooperation with authorities in the area of rehabilitation of BPS persons.In phase II of the project, instructors in primarily O&M were educated as part of the efforts to build the capacity of MNFB and LAB to provide relevant and qualified training to their membership. On the basis of this important result of phase II, the know-how of these instructors will be put to further use by training additional members of the associations, i.e. BPS persons. The skills of the instructors will thereby be maintained and further developed. In addition, new instructors will be trained in both countries in order to meet the targets for the number of trained members. However, these efforts are also planned to ensure that MNFB and LAB remain to have capacity in the area of training in basic compensatory skills for BPS persons, not least with a view to be able to have something to offer in the cooperation with national and local authorities on rehabilitation of BPS persons. This latter point is, in particular, relevant for MNFB which is planning to have instructors in O&M, DLS and Braille available in all provinces of Mongolia by the end of 2017.MNAB will in the third phase work to establish capacity regarding training in O&M, DLS and Braille in order to be able to offer something concrete to their membership in the future; and to be able to demonstrate the potential of training of BPS persons to national authorities.A specific training plan for re-using the instructors from an updated roster will be developed by each of the three partner organizations.

Political SustainabilityThe achieved results within advocacy and awareness raising will generally be sustained by the intended adoption of national policies, in particular a policy on inclusive education in Mongolia, and revisions of existing policies and legislation. Moreover, attitudes among stakeholders, especially of civil servants, teachers and MP’s in Myanmar, are expected to change. Awareness of the needs of BPS persons of the general public is expected to be increased.

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After the third project phase, MNFB and LAB will have accumulated experiences with the planning and implementation of strategic advocacy through their work on inclusive education, and MNAB will be able to draw on a core group of self-advocates in their campaigning.

C.6 Assumptions and risksThe main assumptions and risks are listed below. These will, where relevant, be integrated into the monitor-ing system.

Assumption Estimated risk Measures takenThe national governments respect the CRPD and the Incheon Strategy and are willing to integrate it in na-tional legislation

Medium A PWD friendly legal framework, in particular in Mongolia and Laos, is in place which can help convince lower level officials. WBU-AP will in various ways support national advocacy activities drawing e.g. on their participation in the Civil Society for the Incheon Strategy. Advocacy and training activities (incl. on CRPD) will further be suppor-ted by media campaigns/activities based on previous positive experience of MNFB.

Political stability allows for MNFB, LAB and MNAB to operate

Low as regards MNFB; medium as regards LAB and medium-high as regards LAB and MNAB

The political situation will be monitored closely in all three countries, not least Myanmar where the next general election is due to take place late 2015. Project strategies will be adapted on an on-going basis to account for any changes in the political environments. Restructuring of the ministerial systems is a risk in all three countries.

Authorities, at national and local level, recognize MNFB, LAB and MNAB as legitimate stakeholders and partners.

Low as regards MNFB; medium-high as regards LAB and MNAB

Relevant experiences and mutual support will be ex-changed between the partner organisations (e.g. suc-cess of MNFB in engaging duty bearers; comparable political context between Laos and Myanmar etc). WBU-AP will provide support and share good practices on policy dialogue and advocacy from other parts of the re-gion. Members at local level will be trained in advocacy and dialogue on the rights of BPS persons. Experience also shows that use of BPS persons as role models can be a powerful advocacy tool. Potential young leaders from the region will be trained by WBU-AP to strengthen local advocacy.

MNFB, LAB and MNAB have access to decision-makers at local, national and regional levels.

As above As above

Barriers, in the form of pre-judices, can be overcome with regard to relatives and the close environment around the individual BPS person

Low-medium Stigmatisation is a real barrier but experience shows that training and empowerment of BPS persons coupled with awareness raising of the external environment can change perceptions and prejudices. The project caters for a number of these measures.

A sufficient number of qual-ified resource persons can be identified in the three project countries

Low Resources identified in phase I and II will be used to the extent possible in Mongolia and Laos. Where needed, in-ternational resource persons, will be used to build up ca-pacities in Myanmar. A roster will be developed for re-using instructors.

Fieldworkers conducting the data collection in Myan-mar and Lao PDR possess

Low Careful selection and training drawing on previous exper-ience will equip field workers with adequate knowledge and understanding about BPS persons,

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cultural sensitivity, as BPS persons and their families might be reluctant to be-come members or to be re-gistered.

The national leaderships of MNFB, LAB and MNAB re-main dynamic and accep-ted by members.

Low A range of organisational supportive measures will be provided, especially to LAB and MNAB.

MNAB can manage the gradual up-scaling in terms of funds and activities.

Medium Support and know-how will be provided by other project partners and a careful monitored gradual up-scaling will take place throughout the project period. Strategies and plans will be adjusted as necessary. A half-time qualified accountant has been employed to support financial man-agement.

The information flow between the project part-ners will continue to im-prove and ensure effective communication.

Low-medium Two partnership and learning workshops will be organ-ized, at project start and midterm. M&E officers will be employed in the three project countries to support data collection and sharing. New tools such as tracer studies and MSC stories will be piloted. PSG meetings will be strengthened by standard agendas and increased focus on cross-learning on identified relevant themes.

WBU-AP is capable of be-ing a learning platform and to share experiences and best practices.

Low-medium A half-time communication officer/web editor will be em-ployed to ensure continued strengthening of WBU-AP’s role as an “information hub” in the region. Increased fo-cus on provision of support in regard to financial re-sources. Production of the newsletter East Wind will con-tinue.

WBU-AP continues to have office facilities at the headquarters of NCBM

Low WBU-AP has been based with NCBM for the past 10 years. There is no indication that this practice will be dis-continued.

D. PROJECT ORGANIZATION AND FOLLOW UP (indicative length 1½ pages)

D.1 Division of roles in project implementationAt a general level, the organizational set-up of the project will be similar to the one of the two previous phases, i.e. with the Project Steering Group (PSG) as the main coordinating and responsible body. See Terms of Reference of the PSG, Annex O. In line with the recommendations of the evaluation of phase II, a two-way flow of information will be strengthened, in order to secure systematic reflection and the capturing of lessons learned. Thus, the PSG meetings will focus on learning aiming to identify good practices and eventually transformation of these into generic tools. Some PSG meetings may also be used for specific thematic discussions. PSG meetings will be systematized by circulation of standard agendas prior to meetings; the principle of rotating chairmanship will be adhered to, and efforts will be made to strengthen the PSG involvement in overall budget monitoring. The PSG will continue to consist of two representatives of each organization and will have the overall managerial and political responsibility for the project. The project partners will aim to strike an equal gender representation among the members of the PSG. For matters regarding daily implementation, the local project coordinators in the target countries (ref. below) will answer to the project coordinators from DAB and will as such represent the views of the leaderships of their respective national partner organizations. Regarding strategic matters and matters of common concern for all project partners, all project coordinators will answer to the PSG, where the leaders of the project partners are represented. DAB will hold the overall responsibility for the quality of the information necessary for appropriate and timely decisions of the PSG.

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The composition of the PSG makes it a forum for exchange of experiences and cross-learning, and secures that the project partners can coordinate and communicate sufficiently and effectively. The members of the PSG from WBU-AP will report on a regular basis to the Board and Policy Council of WBU-AP on the progress of the project to facilitate that experiences and lessons learnt are shared with the leadership of the regional organization. The PSG will also provide the WBU Development Committee, where the DAB vice-president is the chair, with written updates on the progress of the project. This will facilitate coordination with other development cooperation initiatives within the global blindness movement, especially in countries as Lao PDR and Myanmar where different blindness organizations from the global North are supporting projects pertaining to BPS persons. The PSG meetings will take place on a regular basis and at least half-yearly through Skype or other electronic means. Face to face meetings will be organized at least once a year in connection with other regional meetings in order to save travel costs.A regional communication officer/web editor will be employed by WBU-AP (the funding of the position will be split equally between the project budget and WBU-AP) and detailed ToR for the position will be developed. The position will include responsibility for the WBU-AP website and the new voluntary communication and liaison officers (CILO) in selected member organizations of WBU-AP. The communication officer/web editor will answer to the PSG and can participate as observer in PSG meetings. LAB, MNAB and MNFB hold responsibility for day-to-day planning, implementation and financial management of the respective project components. All project partners will have responsibility for compliance with the logical framework matrix of the project phase and for suggesting relevant revisions thereof. All local partners will prepare activity plans on a half-yearly basis, progress reports and accounts (audited locally annually) and will submit these to DAB. To assist MNFB, LAB and MNAB in their implementation of project activities, national project coordinators will be employed as project staff in the three organizations respectively. These coordinators will be responsible for the implementation of activities according to the project documents. The project coordinators are also responsible for the systematic monitoring and data collection and proper exploitation of data gathered; however half-time M & E coordinators will be employed in each of the three organisations to carry out the actual data collection and validate the data gathered. As the project budget covers staff of MNFB to a limited extent, apart from the national project coordinator, it has been assessed that additional staff is needed in order to capture and communicate relevant project information, including data for monitoring purposes. Consequently, the budget provides for the employment of an information officer in MNFB during the third project phase.DAB will be ensuring compliance with DANIDA guidelines in general and the guidelines for the Danish Disability Grant in particular. As an average, DAB will carry out monitoring visits to each target country annually, when possible in connection with PSG meetings or other project-related activities with a view to saving costs. The visits will involve follow-up upon national monitoring, local budget management, implementation of activities etc. Priority will be given to monitoring visits to Myanmar in the beginning of the implementation period. DAB will also function as peer reviewer of the quality of policy work and training activities on the basis of professional expertise on blindness and accumulated experience from partner countries in other parts of the world and Denmark. In relation to the screening and granting of projects on the basis of the Small Scale Fund Scheme, Project Assessment Comities (PACs) will be established in MNFB, LAB and MNAB, respectively. See Annex J for further details. A draft Performance Measurement Framework outlines the specific responsibilities regarding the monitoring of each indicator of the logical framework matrix. See Annex O.

D.2 Monitoring and evaluationThe basis of the M&E system is the logical framework matrix. See annex F.The monitoring system of phase II has been redesigned for the third phase to provide more information about the impact of activities, and in order to provide additional opportunities for reflection and learning loops during the project phase. A comprehensive step-by-step monitoring and evaluation (M&E) plan has been developed, following the distinct phases of the project life cycle - planning and project design; reporting and data handling; and learning and knowledge management – as outlined further below. This redesign has taken place in order to mitigate the shortcomings and internalize learning pointed out by the external evaluation of phase II of the project (discussed e.g. at the evaluation seminar in August 2013), and also integrate best practice examples from other DAB projects. The learning includes:

Adequate and consistent project monitoring and documentation is crucial in order to ensure learning, knowledge generation and necessary project adjustments. There is, however, an important trade-off

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to be considered to balance resources for monitoring to resources available for implementation. E.g. the frequency of activity plans and reports will be kept at half-yearly intervals, rather than the quarterly intervals used in phase II, in order to strike the right balance between the work load of reporting and the value of the information generated.

A two-way flow of information with primary focus on qualitative change rather than factual clarification and budget information is required for the monitoring system to yield lessons learned and to serve as a basis for organizational learning. This two-way flow will take place both between branches and partner organizations centrally, and between partner organizations and DAB.

Systematic reflection and capturing of lessons learned will take place to provide the basis for identification of good practices and eventually transformation of these into generic advocacy tools.

Greater focus will be kept on outcome, i.e. the effect and change that the project has caused or contributed to. To this end, a consistent use of MSC stories will be applied throughout the reporting, from branches to partner organizations, and from these to DAB.

Personal encounters provide necessary and strong platforms for knowledge generation. This can e.g. take place in the form of peer reviews of project activities which will be carried out in connection with PSG meetings.

Since the project involves partnership collaboration with three national partner organizations and a regional umbrella organization, the learning and knowledge generation will be facilitated through a number of systematic “learning loops”, i.e. stops made in the forward-moving implementation where reflection and exchange of information take place, e.g. at PSG meetings and monitoring visits. Whereas progress reports and gathered data will serve as indispensable working tools, the personal encounter, where project stakeholders can exchange experience face-to-face, is where information is digested and gradually transformed into knowledge. These “learning loops” will focus on concrete factors, methods and tools which can contribute to the work carried out by the partner organizations on an everyday basis, e.g. methods for training of blind people in O&M, concrete advocacy tools to influence decision-makers and fundraising methodologies. The involvement of WBU-AP will ensure that the learning is not confined within the narrow circle of the project partners, but is shared in a wider group of member organizations through the WBU-AP (for further details on learning across the region, see section C4 – regional cooperation).

In order to strengthen capacity of MNFB, LAB and MNAB to collect and validate data related to the M & E system, M & E-coordinators will be employed in each organisation, on a half time basis. Further, these will assist in monitoring project progress and quality of implementation. A draft Performance Measurement Framework has further been developed in order to gather an overview of the required data (see Annex O). The current document is a draft which is subject to changes after mutual discussions between the project partners. In the Performance Measurement Framework, the responsibility for the collection and validation of data, related to each indicator in the logical framework matrix, is divided between the different project coordinators and project partners.

In relation to the implementation of projects on the basis of the Small Scale Fund Scheme, experiences and best practices will be shared in connection with the midterm learning workshop and final project evaluation.

The table below provides an overview of the different monitoring and evaluation activities, the involved actors, timing / frequency, products, and tools to be applied. Annex I contains details on each of these respective components. The outlined activities and methodologies were introduced and discussed among partners at the project workshop in Bangkok, February 2014 (see section B.1). In order to anchor and link monitoring activities to planned project interventions, and to ensure full ownership by all relevant project staff, thorough discussion and detailed planning will take place at a partnership consolidation and learning workshop to be organized within the first quarter of the third project phase, in conjunction with the WBU-AP mid-term assembly in November 2014.

Monitoring activity Who is involved? Timing / frequency

Products Tool (method)

1. Planning project implementationHalf-yearly activity plans

Partner organizations (project coordinators)

Half-yearly Half-yearly plans -

End-of-project DAB with external Last quarter Evaluation report Revisiting evaluation

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evaluation assistance including best practices for Small Scale Fund Schemes

report from phase II and LFM for phase III

2. Reporting and data handlingActivity reporting Local branches

(branch managers/chairmen/ local coordinators)

To be determined

To be determined To be determined

Progress reporting Partner organizations (project coordinators)

Half-yearly Progress report MSC case stories

Monitoring visits DAB and possibly WBU-AP (e.g. SG or president)

Annually Monitoring visit report

Monitoring checklist

Registration of information

Partner organizations (M & E coordinators)

On-going Membership data base

Tracer study

3. Learning and knowledge managementFeedback to reports Partner organization

to branchDAB to partner organizations

Within one month after submission of report

Written feedback (e-mail), possible follow-up on skype

-

PSG meetings All partners Half-yearly MinutesDocumentation of collective learning

Standard agendasMSC case stories

Peer reviews Partner organizations (project coordinators and M & E coordinators)

Annually PSG minutes MSC case stories

Partner consolidation and learning workshops

Partner organizations (project coordinators and M & E coordinators), DAB and WBU-AP

First quarter and mid-term

MinutesDocumentation of collective learning

To be determined (M & E tools will be a key element)

Aggregation and analysis

DAB and partner organizations (project coordinators and M & E coordinators)

On-going Aggregated information

Monitoring record card

Dissemination and sharing of information

DAB and WBU-AP (communication officer/web editor)

On-going EastwindWBU-AP websiteInfo-e-mailsAudio clips

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E. INFORMATION WORK

E.1 Project related information work in DenmarkThe overall objective of the projected information work in Denmark is to enhance the public awareness on the living conditions of BPS persons outside Denmark, and to inform about DAB's engagement in development cooperation work in the global South in order to raise general understanding and inspire more mainstream NGOs to include PWD in their development efforts. Under this overall objective, the purpose is to further anchor the international activities within the membership of DAB through active and direct involvement of members.Specifically, one-three members of DAB will be engaged on a voluntary basis, through a screening and selection procedure, to become project ambassadors of the activities in Myanmar. The ambassadors will receive training from DAB staff and the communication agency “Ove og Vendelbo” http://oveogvendelbo.dk/) in journalistic skills: how to carry out interviews; how to use different sources; how to use news criteria; how

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to do reportages for either articles or radio programs; how to disseminate experiences through different media platforms etc. They will visit Myanmar and participate in a program developed in cooperation with MNAB, where they will also be supporting MNAB in their advocacy at local level. Back in Denmark, the ambassadors will visit the local branches of DAB throughout Denmark, and share their experiences from Myanmar. In parallel, they will aim at getting articles, or other media contents, published in Danish media, in particular their local newspapers. DAB has previously worked with groups of volunteering members in the area of development cooperation, especially in relation to projects with Ghana Blind Union. Stories about activities in Mongolia and Lao PDR of the two previous project phases were published a couple of times on national Danish radio and in a number of local newspapers. The proposed information activity is in line with on-going efforts at DAB to strengthen information work in Denmark about blindness and development cooperation, and is as such a reflection of a recently developed information strategy from 2013.

F. PROJECTS DIVIDED IN PHASES

F.1 The combined intervention divided into phasesThis application for funding of a third phase of the project follows two project phases where DAB has been working closely with partners in the Asia-Pacific in order to identify the most effective means to strengthen the work of less resourceful organizations of BPS in the region. The first phase ran from January 2006 to June 2010 and had a budget of 3.6 million DKK. The local partners of the first phase were WBU-AP, MNFB, LAB and the Association of the Blind of Cambodia (ABC). ABC took the decision to withdraw from the project during the implementation period due to a change of strategic focus of the association as well as alternative funding opportunities. The first phase was followed up with DAB participation in the mid-term assembly of WBU-AP in October 2010, thereby maintaining the partnership up to the beginning of the second phase granted by DANIDA with a budget of 8.9 million DKK. The implementation of the second phase was initiated in December 2011, and at the time of writing the project is running under a no cost extension granted by DANIDA until the end of May 2014. The activities of the no cost extension in Mongolia and Lao PDR are focused on inclusive education.Upon initiation of the cooperation with partners in the Asia-Pacific, the project was not foreseen to become divided into several phases. Rather, DAB was requested by the WBU to extend its support and contribute to the cooperation in the Asia-Pacific with its experiences from regional cooperation with the African Union of the Blind and the Asian Blind Union (in particular central Asia and the Middle East). However, following some of the successes of the first phase, a continuation and intensification of the project partnership was recommended by an external evaluation.A gradual up scaling of the project from a clear focus on the capacity building of structures and skills at national level in the organizations of BPS, including international networking, in the first phase to ambitious outreach to the local level in the target countries, also involving training in compensatory skills, in the second phase has taken place. Moreover, advocacy and awareness raising has been gradually professionalized and systematized during the two project phases. A successful common component throughout the project cooperation has been the small scale project funds which have provided a mechanism for local branches in the target countries to respond to local needs, and in addition to practice fund raising skills. Furthermore, the common administration of the small scale fund, including the collective granting of projects, has proven to be a mechanism for the mutual exchange of concrete ideas and working methods across project countries and organizations.

The Regional PerspectiveWBU-AP has been a trusted partner of DAB throughout the project and has provided very valuable advice on the navigation in the political and organizational landscape of the Asia-Pacific. A significant example of WBU-AP’s role has been the recommendation of MNAB as a partner to DAB and as a relevant project partner for the third phase of the project in question. Thereby, DAB has been able to assess the needs and strengths of MNAB as a potential partner, as compared to other potential partners in the region, with guidance from persons who are familiar with blindness issues as well as the regional context.This recommendation has also clearly underlined that the project cooperation in the Asia-Pacific region, carried out by DAB and its partners, has something to offer to other organizations of BPS persons. Thus, it has step by step been demonstrated that an organizational framework for the mutual strengthening of

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organizations of BPS persons has been established with the two project phases already implemented. The project partners are now in a situation where MNFB has matured as an organization, with the capability to take advantage of some of the opportunities provided by the political system and the policy framework in place in Mongolia. LAB needs to develop its organization and its services to members further in parallel with intensified cooperation with local authorities. MNAB is in a position where national structures need to be backed up by the development of skills and where geographic outreach is necessary in order to develop the organization further.This implies that possible future cooperation between DAB and MNFB might need to take a new form, most likely with a particular focus on rural areas of Mongolia and the reduction of inequalities existing between urban and rural areas, also when it comes to the conditions for BPS persons. Representatives from MNFB might also be able to take up the role as resource persons whom DAB, and in particular WBU-AP, can take advantage of in the future in their cooperation with less resourceful organizations of BPS persons in the Asia-Pacific.This development, in turn, would open the possibility for the potential identification of a new partner, among organizations of BPS persons of the Asia-Pacific, to take part in a fourth project phase after 2017. Again, the identification of partners would have to take place in close cooperation with WBU-AP in order to facilitate learning and ensure legitimacy and fairness, and by the nature of WBU-AP the consideration of insight from the Asia-Pacific region itself. With this description of the future prospects of the project, the five project partners wish to illustrate that the organizational framework created as a result of the two first project phases carries a significant potential by being flexible enough to introduce new project partners, as exemplified by the involvement of MNAB. Also, the organizational framework ensures that expertise, good practices, lessons learned and hidden knowledge is carried from one project phase to the next and from experienced project partners to new ones. The cooperation does not have to begin from scratch every time DAB establishes a partnership with a partner in the region; rather, the generation and transfer of experiences can take place as a rolling process which is based on the needs on the project partners involved at a given moment. The cooperation with WBU-AP is the thread which runs through the project phases, currently and in the future, by ensuring the legitimate choice of partners and the dissemination of experiences to organizations of BPS persons which are not direct partners of the project.

Refining the RecipeDuring the two first phases, a number of core elements in the support to organizations of BPS persons, in need of capacity-building, have been identified. These elements are included in this proposed third phase and can be carried into potential additional phases of the project cooperation in the Asia-Pacific.“New” organizations need training in managerial, administrative and leadership skills in order to be able to run the daily affairs of the association. Based on a consolidated national organizational and democratic structure, the associations need support to geographic outreach through the establishment of local branches. Training in basic compensatory skills need to be provided to the membership in order to back up organizational developments with empowerment of BPS individuals who are able to advocate for the rights of BPS persons and be the future role models and leaders of the association. Small scale project funds are an effective tool to develop local capacity and to provide necessary flexibility in project implementation. ON the basis of these parallel organizational and individual processes, the organization of BPS persons will be able to plan and carry out effective advocacy and awareness raising activities which, through the cooperation with local duty bearers, can lead to the realization of the human rights of BPs persons.This recipe will be further developed and refined in phase III of the project with a view to be able to offer an even more qualified support to less resourceful blindness organizations in the Asia-pacific region in the future. Hence, the project does not only provide direct support to the primary target group by meeting concrete needs of BPS persons living under harsh conditions, it also provides a conceptual and organizational platform for the improvement of this support through mutual learning.

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3. Budget summary

Please provide a summary of the main budget items. A detailed budget with notes must be submitted in the annex ‘Budget format’. See also “DPODs guide on how to budget for the Danish Disability Fund”.

NOTICE: Remember to click on all the tabs in order to fill in all the spread sheets.

Budget summary CurrencyIndicate the total cost (i.e. including contributions from the Disability Fund as well as others)

12.892.840 DKK

Of this, the Disability Fund is to contribute12.892.840

DKKOf this, indicate the amount to be contributed by other sources, including self-funding by the Danish organisations or its local partner(s), if any

-

Indicate total cost in local currency2.402.825 USD

Indicate exchange rate applied1 USD = 5,3657 DKK

Main budget items:Financing plan

Full amount Of this, from the Disability Fund

Of this, from other sources

1. Activities 7.223.003 7.223.0072. Investments 468.404 468.4043. Expatriate staff - -4. Local staff 1.305.129 1.305.1295. Local administration 641.915 641.9156. Project monitoring (by the Danish organ-

isation)417.880 417.880

7. Evaluation 294.600 294.6008. Information in Denmark (a maximum of

2% of budget line 1 - 7)188.523 188.523

9. Disability compensation 535.520 535.52010. Budget margin (a minimum of 6% and a

maximum of 10% of budget line 1 - 9)885.998 885.998

11. Project expenses in total (budget line 1 - 10)

11.960.972 11.960.972

12. Auditing in Denmark 30.000 30.00013. Subtotal (budget line 11 - 12) 11.990.972 11.990.97214. Administration in Denmark (a maximum

7% of the subtotal)839.368 839.368

15. Total 12.830.340 12.830.340

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4. Annexes

OBLIGATORY ANNEXES

The following annexes must be submitted by post as well as electronically:

A. Organisational factsheet (for the local partner organisation(s))B. Budget format

Please note that annex A should be filled in and signed by the local partner(s). The signed factsheet can be submitted in a copied/scanned version.

The following annexes regarding the Danish organisation(s) must be submitted electronically, if not already submitted to DPOD:

A. The organisation’s statutesB. The latest annual reportC. The latest audited annual accounts

SUPPLEMENTARY ANNEXES: for example reports and analysis that directly support the project's objectives and rationale (max 30 pages)

Annex no. Annex titleA1-A4 Organizational fact sheetsB BudgetF Log.frameG Target groupsH StakeholdersI M & E systemJ Guidelines SSFK Tentative project implementation planL Evaluation report, Phase IIM Report, fact finding mission MyanmarN Community based rehabilitation model Lao PDRO Terms of Reference for the Project Steering GroupP Performance Measurement Framework

Notice:

The application form inclusive of annex A – B must be submitted electronically and in print in one copy. If annex A is completed in Spanish or French, please enclose a Danish or English translation.

All annexes should be submitted in a format allowing easy photocopying (i.e. no magazines, books, newspaper cuttings - but A4 copies of relevant excerpts thereof).

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