Persons with disabilities constitute close to ten percent of the developing world's population. They have little access to livelihood, education, medical services, and opportunities for a more productive life. Among the most disadvantaged groups in society, they are also the most vulnerable, particularly in the world?s poorest countries. This is painfully true of Bangladesh, where there are an estimated thirteen million people with disabilities. Bangladesh has progressive policies on disability and a huge civil society. However, resources are meager; effective coordination is lacking; and groups focused on disability issues are few in number. Moreover, disability is still isolated as an area of special advocacy, rather than a cross-cutting issue of development. A.H.M. NOMAN KHAN and his organization have addressed this challenge.
Like his father, KHAN was in government service but opted to join a rural development organization because, he said, he wanted "to do something for the poor." It was not, however, until 1995 -- after attending a training program on community-based rehabilitation in Indonesia -- that he decided to focus on the issues of disability. Prior to this, KHAN says, he was not even aware that people with disabilities constituted such a sizeable sector of the Bangladesh population.
In 1996, with seven colleagues in the development field, he organized the Center for Disability in Development (CDD), and became its executive director. Under his leadership, CDD tackled disability with a unique twin-strategy they called Community Approaches to Handicap in Development (CAHD). This strategy involved, on one hand, strengthening the capacities of communities to serve the needs of their disabled members. And on the other hand, it sought to "mainstream" disability as an integral part of the development work of government and non-government organizations, so that disability issues would no longer be addressed in a piecemeal, small-scale and isolated way.
In Bangladesh, this approach was both ambitious and revolutionary. Implementing their strategy, KHAN and his group had to deal with the myriad problems that come with pioneering a radically different approach, and having to network with a large number of people and organizations. A strategic thinker with a passion for work, Khan proved equal to the task. Since its establishment, CDD has trained over ten thousand development workers from 350 organizations in Bangladesh, who can now provide services and create inclusion opportunities for persons with disabilities.
With seven service-and-training centers, and in partnership with other organizations, CDD has reached out to fifty-two of the country's sixty-four districts. It has carried out innovative, disability-inclusive projects in such areas as education, food security, and disaster risk reduction. It operates centers and mobile units that provide information, counseling, and therapeutic services. It has established a National Resource Center in Assistive Technology that manufactures and distributes orthosis and prosthesis devices, and trains craftsmen to produce these devices. And KHAN has been equally energetic in policy advocacy.
As long-time secretary-general of the National Forum of Organizations Working with the Disabled, KHAN has led in strengthening inter-organization collaboration and in working at national and international levels to push initiatives for a disabled-friendly society. Without great fanfare, Khan and his group have transformed the ways a society can address the issue of disability. Their work has gone beyond national boundaries. CDD has trained organizations from numerous countries, and its CAHD strategy has been replicated in countries like Nepal, India, and the Philippines.
A leader who speaks through his work and does not draw attention to himself, KHAN explains what drives him simply: "Persons with disabilities have dreams which they want to fulfill like everyone else -- to work, to sustain a future, to exist side by side with others. All they need is the proper environment to work in and lead life as equal to everyone else."
In electing A.H.M. NOMAN KHAN to receive the 2010 Ramon Magsaysay Award, the board of trustees recognizes his pioneering leadership in mainstreaming persons with disabilities in the development process of Bangladesh, and in working vigorously with all sectors to build a society that is truly inclusive and barrier-free.
