The importance of disability-inclusive budgeting for children

Fredrick Qaphelani Mabikwa

DISABILITY inclusion is a process whereby persons with disabilities are fully accepted as individuals with capabilities and rights, regardless of their impairments, and are allowed to participate in socio-economic activities without discrimination and exclusion. Local Authorities, both rural and urban, need to develop budgets and policies that are responsive, friendly, and fair to children with disabilities. Disability-inclusive budgeting is all about Local Authorities’ revenue collection and expenditures deliberately benefiting all diverse citizens without discriminating against them on disability grounds.

Children with disabilities are unique and diverse in terms of needs, and Local Authorities should undertake needs assessments for this unique group of children. Disability Inclusive Budgeting is not about developing a separate budget for children with disabilities; it is about developing a budget that is user-friendly for persons with disabilities, deliberately focusing on children. The budgeting should close the poverty and empowerment gaps between children with disabilities and able-bodied children. A budget that does not respond to persons with disability issues perpetuates inequalities.

Children with disabilities miss out on education. Some school authorities think that children with severe multiple disabilities cannot attend classes on an equal footing with able-bodied children. Parents, on the other hand, believe that withdrawing their children from school is a means of protecting them and ensuring their safety. As a result, children with disabilities find themselves with limited access to health and rehabilitation facilities. Research has shown that families of children with disabilities are predominantly poor, lacking proper diets to complement medication. 

Malnutrition and food insecurity are also high among these families. The majority of children with disabilities lack birth registration. Stigma and discrimination further prevent them from accessing multi-stakeholder child protection services. Negative cultural beliefs, attitudes, and superstitions surrounding witchcraft lead to communities excluding children with disabilities from developmental programmes enjoyed by other children.

Budgets should be disability-specific. This means that spending must be deliberately made with the primary objective of addressing the needs and vulnerabilities of children and other persons with disabilities. Budgets should be disability- mainstreamed. Mainstreaming ensures that the needs of children with disabilities are considered by Local Authority departments in planning. Disability-inclusive budgeting for children should therefore consider the following key expenditure areas:

· Poverty reduction: Budgets should provide employment opportunities, skills development, and empowerment loans to children with disabilities and their immediate families.

· Housing: There should be deliberate allocation of houses and residential stands to children with disabilities and their immediate families.

· Transport availability and accessibility: Generally, transport for persons with disabilities is lacking. There is a need for efficient transport services closer to where they live.

· Social security: Budgets should deliberately increase access to disability grants, cash transfers, and psychosocial support services for children with disabilities.

· Schools: Budgets should fund the construction of special schools for children with disabilities and also for special learning equipment in public schools and assistive devices like wheelchairs, white canes, and Braille machines. The school system should be capacitated to consider the evolving capacities of children with disabilities, focusing on abilities, talent identification, and mentorship.

· Nutritional support: Because most families with children with disabilities are underprivileged, supplementary feeding, food handouts, and nutritional gardens are necessary.

· Health services: Funds should be set aside for medication, treatment, and coordination of free school and home-based rehabilitation services for children with disabilities. Reproductive health kits, cotton, pads, reproductive health information, and support are also critical.

· Water and sanitation: Budgets should bring water, disability-friendly toilets, and hygiene kits closer to families of children with disabilities.

· Recreational facilities and skills development centres: Budgets should focus on disability-friendly recreational spaces, sports, art and culture facilities, and equipment.

· Disability awareness: Information dissemination and knowledge on children with disabilities should also be budgeted for.

· Access to spaces and buildings: Local Authority budgets should result in improved accessibility of spaces and buildings for the benefit of children with disabilities.

· Access to meetings and related stakeholder consultations: Budgets should ensure representation of children with disabilities (self-representation or through their caregivers) at all relevant meetings and related stakeholder consultations. They are often left behind and less considered in policy and budget-making processes.

All children with disabilities belong to a given Local Authority, hence they deserve their equal share of locally available resources and opportunities. It is given that Local Authorities cannot spend more than what they generate, so disability programme fund allocations cannot be an afterthought. Achieving Disability Inclusive Budgeting processes demands collaboration among various stakeholders, relevant Government departments, persons with disabilities, organisations for persons with disabilities, and civil society organisations.