The Agreement aims to make a significant contribution to the creation of a favourable social and physical environment for people with disabilities, giving them the opportunity to play a direct and active role in their own development. The actions envisaged in the Agreement aim to improve the quality of life and the integration of disabled people in the four countries involved.

 

The guiding principles of the Agreement are: community work, action through reference centres and pilot projects, impact on public systems and social policies for the disabled, and transferring the “know-how” of Arcenciel, an organization with considerable experience of working with disabled people. Arcenciel, an FPSC partner since 1996, started the National Programme for the Disabled in Lebanon, which includes five centres and offers services to 56,000 disabled people.

 

Moreover, the Agreement intends to carry out four specific courses of action:

 

Ø      South-South Cooperation: The Agreement aims to improve cooperation between organizations established in developing countries, and to promote synergies and the exchange of experiences, thus increasing the impact of these organizations’ actions. In order to promote South-South cooperation, the Agreement will establish a regional network of NGOs that work in the disability sphere, creating a space for communication, cooperation and mutual support that will help improve the practices of the NGOs and the services offered to disabled people.

 

Ø      Institutional support: the Agreement seeks to institutionally strengthen various local organizations in all four countries, with the aim of improving the services offered to the disabled. To this end, the Lebanese organization Arcenciel (lead partner in the Agreement) has devised a Plan of Action to work in cooperation with the other organizations involved.

 

Ø      Care for the disabled. Assistance services programme that includes Technical Assistance and Training.

 

Ø      Social awareness-raising. Specific campaigns have been designed in the different countries: TV campaigns, leaflets, posters, radio programmes, etc.

 

Ø      Specific actions in southern Lebanon. Special attention will be paid to disabled people in the southern region, where the recent conflict (summer 2006) has had a terrible impact on the disabled population.

 

The Agreement is clearly compatible with Spanish cooperation policy and the priorities of the Lebanese Ministry of Social Affairs. It is also in keeping with the 2002-2006 Strategic Plan of Disabled Peoples’ International, which aims to promote the rights and protection of this social group, emphasising the special vulnerability of disabled people in situations of armed conflict.