Norway's Telethon Supports Disability and Development Projects

By Lars Odegaard, President, Atlas Alliance, Norway (lars.odegaard@nhf.no)
Editor's Note: As far as we are aware, this example of a telethon directed by disabled people's organizations to raise funds for disability projects in developing countries is unique. Atlas Alliance is a group of Norwegian disability organizations that work together on development projects.

Background

As one of only a few countries in the world, Norway has committed itself to give priority to disability in its development cooperation. In its budget recommendation, a unanimous Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs stated the following: "The Committee has noted that development assistance for persons with disabilities is to be given priority. The Committee refers in this connection to the need for a coherent and coordinated effort, in which the rights of persons with disabilities are included in both bilateral and multilateral assistance. The Committee stresses the need for guidelines and an overall plan to ensure that development assistance for persons with disabilities is in accordance with sound principles and principles of human rights."

These statements represented an important change with regards to this issue, a change that was largely a result of the lobbying done by Norwegian Disabled People's Organisations. The DPOs had argued for several years that this issue could not be left to non-governmental organisations alone.

The preparation of the Norwegian Department for Development (NORAD) plan of operationalisation took more than two years, but in March of 2002 the document called "The inclusion of disability in Norwegian development co-operation" was published. It contains practical guidelines for how the work can be implemented. It is worth mentioning that the DPOs in the Atlas Alliance have been involved in the preparation of both the plan and guidelines.

Examples of Norway's support for disability & development

Norway has granted a three years disability fund to the World Bank. Norway also supports the UNESCO flagship on inclusive education, and part of the secretariat of this flagship is placed in Oslo. The Nordic Conference on Disability in Development, which took place in November 2000, was also supported by Norway.

With regards to the bilateral support the follow up is more difficult to identify. Several parties have been concerned about this, and NORAD has therefore decided to undertake an assessment on what is actually happening with regards to the disability issues within their sphere of responsibility.

DPO perspective

From the DPOs perspective, it must be admitted that any big changes within Norwegian bilateral cooperation are not very visible. We hope we are wrong, but so far the most encouraging factor has been the change of attitude shown by some of the important players within this field. The process has made one thing very clear, however, and that is the fact that the DPOs' role as watchdogs will be necessary for a long, long time. There is a tendency within development cooperation to think that there are so many good causes and worthwhile target groups, that "we can't reach them all." To us, this is to look at the issue of development from a distorted perspective: it is not a question of dividing the population into different groups and to target first the one, then the next and so on. Rather it is a question of what sort of development we would like to contribute to. If this development aims at a just society with equal rights for all, it will have to recognise the diversity of its population and to aim at an inclusive society without barriers.

The Unique Norwegian Telethon Campaign

Every year a rather unique event takes place in Norway. While the Norwegian Television devotes a whole Sunday afternoon and evening to information about a specific issue and the work of one or more organisations working with this issue, almost every house in the country is visited by people collecting money for the same cause. In this way, 4.5 million Norwegians raise approximately 20 million USD during a few hours. Even in advance of the specific Sunday, there is a lot of information about the current year's issue in newspapers and magazines, on radio and television.

To be the receiver of the funds raised through the telethon, the organisations have to apply. Their application will describe the projects that will benefit from the campaign. These projects can be both in Norway and abroad.

The Atlas Alliance was lucky enough to be given the campaign for 2002 and chose as its theme "the situation of disabled people in developing countries." Actually, it is the third time disabled people's organisations have had the campaign. The first was in 1981 and the second in 1991. In this way, the DPOs have been able to raise the funds necessary to meet NORAD's demands for co-funding. Having the campaign in 2002 gave the organisations the opportunity to continue their development support to disabled and people with tuberculosis for another ten years.

Public Education

It also gave the DPOs the opportunity to disseminate a lot of information about disability issues to the Norwegian public. The main messages were that disability is a human rights issue, that disabled belong to the poorest of the poor, and that a lot can be done through changing attitudes and through rather simple measures. Comments in the papers after the campaign showed that the message had got through.

Telethon results

An even more visible proof of this was the fact that never before have so many people volunteered to collect funds. And never before has so much money been collected by the volunteers knocking at people's doors.

The funds raised in 2002 will be used for three main purposes: to support DPOs in poor countries, community based rehabilitation programmes, and the fight against tuberculosis. None of the funds will be used in Norway, even though the organisations could have chosen to do that. But the DPOs of Norway are of the opinion that as long as they demand solidarity within their own country, they should also be able to show solidarity with disabled people living under far more difficult circumstances.