REHABILITATION MEDICINE (COURSE WORK) ON

"ROLE OF N.G.O IN REHABILITATION OF THE PERSONS WITH

DISABILITIES"

Submitted to:
Md. Akhter Hossain
MSc PT (DU), BSc PT (DU)
Lecturer and Deputy Course Coordinator,
Department of Physiotherapy
Institute of Health Technology (IHT), Dhaka-1212

Submitted by:
Md. Mehedi Hasan
Class Roll: 19
DU registration No: 7294
Year: Final year (4th year)
Session: 2016-2017
Sub: Rehabilitation Medicine

Institute of Health Technology (IHT)

Faculty of Medicine, University of Dhaka
Date of submission: 1/03/2022
 INDEX
Acknowledgments: 3
1. Introduction: 3
2. Definition of NGO: 3
3. History of Non-Governmental Organization (NGO): 4
4. Who is a Disabled Person: 4
5. Types Of Local NGO: 5
6. Role Of Disability N.G.O In CBR Programmes: 6
7. Conclusion: 7
References: 8

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Acknowledgments:
I am grateful to Allah for the guidance and showing me the way in accomplishing this
course work. I would like to express my special thanks to Md. Akhter Hossain M.Sc PT
(DU), B.Sc PT (DU), Who has provided extraordinary comments, motivation, support and
insight to improve the writing of this paper, without his help this manuscript would not be
able to finish properly. Thanks to the Institute of Health Technology,Mohakhali, Dhaka.
for giving me an opportunity to present my course work.

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1. Introduction:
ABOUT 15% of the world’s population lives with some form of disability and 2-4%
among them experience severe difficulties in day-to-day functioning. According to the United
Nations, of the one billion population of persons with disabilities globally, 80% live in
developing countries.
The World Bank data indicates that the number of persons with disabilities in India
ranges between 40 and 80 million, making India a nation with the highest number of disabled
people. Disability is extremely challenging and a person living with it has to fight daily
battles for the most basic rights and to be included in the mainstream.
Those who have a disability and come from impoverished households are even worse
off and face greater difficulties in getting education, training and rehabilitation. The global
COVID-19 crisis has deepened existing inequalities and exclusion further, making persons
with disabilities among the hardest hit in this crisis.

2. Definition of NGO:
A non Governmental Organization (NGO) is any non-profit, voluntary citizens group
which is organized on a local, national or international level. It is a task oriented and driven
by people with a common interest. NGOS perform a variety of services and humanitarian
functions, bring citizen concerns to government, advocate and monitor policies and
encourage political participation through provision of information. It is a legally constructed
organization created by natural or legal persons that operates independently from any form of
government. (www.wikipedia.org).

3. History of Non-Governmental Organization (NGO):

The term NGO came into popular usage at the end of the Second World War. The
United Nation sought to differentiate between inter-governmental specialized agencies and
private organizations.

The first International NGO was the “Anti-slavery Society” (1839), other early NGO
that grew out of wars including the “Red Cross” in the 1850s, “Save the Children” after

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World War I and “Oxfam and Care” after World War II. Some well-known NGOs include
“Medicines Sans Frontiers” (Medicine without border), “Amnesty International” and “World
vision”. The Bill and Melinda Foundation is now the world's biggest NGO, with an
endowment of £28.8 billion. Bryant, (1993).

Today, some NGOs prefer the term “Private voluntary Organization” (PDO), Civil
Society Organization (CDO), Community Based Organization (CBO) or Environment and
Development Organization (EDO). According to P.J. Simmons (1995) the ultimate goals of
non-governmental organizations are to “improve understanding, influence agendas, influence
policies, implement policies, and to solve government inadequate actions. And they do so
through advocacy, information gathering and analysis, information dissemination, generation
of ideas and recommendations, monitoring and watchdog role, service delivery, mediation
and facilitation and financing and grant making. NGOs operate at the community level and
also at the National regional, sub-national and international levels, Simmon, (1995).

4. Who is a Disabled Person:

An individual may be qualified as disabled if he/she had an impairment in the past or
is seen as disabled based on a personal or group standard, or such impairment includes
physical, sensory and cognitive or developmental disabilities. Some advocates object to
describing certain conditions as disabilities arguing that it is more appropriate to consider
them “developmental differences that have been unfairly stigmatized by society”
www.wikipedia.org, (2012).

Hence, disabled person can be classified as any person who is unable to obtain for
him/her self, fully or partially, the normal requirements of an individual and/or is unable to
participate fully in the community due to shortcomings either physically or mentally and
whether it occurred since birth or later in life.

5. Types Of Local NGO:

The types of local NGOs can broadly be divided into three and categorized by the
nature of the initiators who established them. They are listed below, in the order of their

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historical development. These organizations, even the small and locally based ones, usually
get most of their financial support from international organizations. The international NGOs
range from multilateral, to bilateral funding agencies such as OXFAM and World Vision
(Lang, 2000), and usually have an international influence.

A. Organizations for persons with disabilities: Organizations for persons with

disabilities have been on the scene for the longest period of time, and were generally
set up by philanthropists. They tended to be focused on specific impairment groups
and were charity or medically based. Their membership often has a common
denominator such as:
a. Local community members living in the same geographical areas such as
traditional organizations.
b. Religious organizations/associations.
c. Professional membership.
B. Organizations of people with disabilities (PWDs): Organizations of people with
disabilities were also established on the premise of uni-disability, for example,
organizations dealing with the blind, the deaf. In the countries where the authors have
had experience, these different organizations of persons with disabilities, joined to
form a national umbrella organization such as National Union of Disabled Persons of
Uganda (NUDIPU), Ethiopian Federation of Persons with Disability (EFPD) and
National Council of Disabled People of Zimbabwe (NCDPS). The emergence of
organizations of persons with disabilities, is a relatively new development that is
timely and in line with a slogan of, “nothing about us without us”.
C. Associations of the parents of children with disabilities: The organizations of the
parents of children with disabilities have emerged largely as a consequence of CBR.
They are recognised as pivotal organizations looking into issues affecting children
with disabilities. These organizations were formed as a felt need, because parents of
children with disabilities organizations, neither fitted into organizations of PWDs, or
those for persons with disabilities. The wide range of interests and perceptions
reflected in the membership of these three types of disability related NGOs, is
apparent from the different activities in which they are engaged. These vary from
institutional care, to educational projects, to financial support.

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6. Role Of Disability N.G.O In CBR Programmes:
Many people argue and debate as to what is the best role for NGOs in providing
services and support for disabled people and their families. Has their role been effective so
far? Should it remain the same? Should it change now, is this the right time? Is their role one
of promoting participation, of assisting disabled people to be heard by planners and
politicians? Or, is it providing services that the Government cannot or does not provide?
Vulnerable groups such as women, children and people with disabilities, have always needed
support from the voluntary sector to articulate issues. Clark (1991) highlights the role that the
voluntary sector plays in mainstream development, as follows:
● Encouraging official aid and government ministries to adopt successful approaches to
development.
● Educating and sensitizing the public, as to their rights and entitlements.
● Attuning official programmes to public needs, through acting as a conduit for public
opinions and local experience.
● Influencing local development policies of national and international institutions.
● Provider of alternative services and development projects.

Local NGOs have endeavored to fill up gaps left by Governments in promoting

participation of the identified stakeholders; to redress issues of access to community based
rehabilitation services for people with disabilities, through various strategies that may
include:
● Resource mobilisation;
● Community mobilization and sensitisation;
● Community education and training;
● Attitude and behavior change;
● Capacity building.
● Mechanisms for social economic empowerment.
● Research and information dissemination.
● Networking, lobbying and advocacy.

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7. Conclusion:
A non governmental organization is non political that sets itself to provide services
for the society on a particular aim and mission which it seeks to carry out, it could decide to
solve an issue and will not mind whether the government looks into it or not based on the
passion and mission the organization set up. Donations to non governmental organizations
according to Bar. Mrs Oluranti Daudu is described as a trust confided in such an organization
by an individual, the government, international donors and the society to run.
Finally, physically challenged persons can be seen and relate with as a normal person
and not be seen as useless persons in the society because they did not create themselves that
way, it is either through accident or other circumstances that brings about this challenge.

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References:
1. BENNETT, J. (ed) (1997). NGOs and Governments: A review of current Practice for
Southern and Eastern NGOs. INTRAC Publications. OXFORD.

2. BOYCE, W. & JOHNSTON, C. (1998). Collaboration in community based

rehabilitation. International Journal of Rehabilitation. 21 1-12.

3. CARROLL, T. F. (1992). Intermediary NGOs. The supporting Link in Grassroots

Development. West Hartford: Kumarian Press.

4. CLARK, J. (1991). Democratizing Development: The role of Voluntary organizations,

West Hartford: Kumarian Press

5. JAIROS JIRI ASSOCIATION (1996). External Evaluation Report. HQ; Bulawayo.

6. KAPIRIRI, M. & WRIGHTSON, T. (2001). Community Based Rehabilitation

Programme, Output to Purpose Review Report, USDC, Uganda. 155

7. THE ROLE OF LOCAL NGOS IN PROMOTING PARTICIPATION LANG, R.

(1999). Empowerment and CBR? Issues raised by the south Indian experience. In
Stone, E. (Ed) Disability and Development. Leeds: Disability Press.

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