Leadership and Advocacy Training for Persons with Disabilities (PWDs)

The 4-day Leadership and Advocacy Training for Persons with Disabilities (PWDs) was organized from 25 to 28 June 2010 in Iloilo City with participation by 18 persons in total, consisting 9 persons respectively from 2 pioneering municipalities of the NHE Project (Opol and New Lucena). These 9 persons per site entailed 6-7 PWDs who are officers of their municipal PWD Association or who are taking or wish to take leadership in their localities. Besides, 1-2 parents (mothers) of children/youth with intellectual/psychiatric disabilities and a NHE Focal Person joined from each pioneering municipality.

Training objectives:

1. PWDs: To equip with basic knowledge and attitudinal foundation to be effective leaders and advocates of NHE and Rights of PWDs.
2. Family Members and Focal Persons:  To enhance understanding on PWD's leadership and advocacy to be effective supporters and collaborators.

Training Content and Methodology:

Day 1 - Opening Ceremony:  Orientation and Ice- breaking activities-   Objectives are to know the participants characteristics and the level of Leadership; to confirm and have final adjustments of the training contents; and to confirm handout documents, other required materials, the seating arrangement and necessary equipment inside the venue.

Day 2 - Sessions start with the promotion of their self-acceptance, self-esteem and self confidence before directly dealing with issues on leadership and advocacy.

Day 3 - Sessions start in discovering the meaning and importance of Advocacy.  The objective is for the participants to explore what is advocacy and why advocacy is necessary in relation to PWD issues.

Day 4 - Sessions start in learning from actual experiences of leaders of Disabled People's Organization (DPO) and facilitating insights into PWD Leadership and Advocacy. The objective is to immerse the participants on how a DPO has been developed how its key leaders/members are engaged in the DPO activities, and how they conduct advocacy activities.

Methodologies and strategies utilized during the training were group discussion, role playing, exercises, games and action planning.

The Training was composed of 11 sessions, including 2 sessions for a field visit and group-sharing on the field visit. In addition, there was a special homework for participants, called "My Leadership Diary", where the history of their personal development and leadership was written.

The Training was conducted with many group discussions and exercises in a participatory manner. In addition, practical knowledge and real experiences of leadership and advocacy were shared by Resource Persons with disabilities as well as through a visitation to a well-established Disabled People's Organization in the Philippines.

Family members of PWDs are important stakeholders of the NHE Project. In this connection, efforts were made to include parents of PWDs as the Training participants this time. Totally 3 mothers, whose children have intellectual disabilities, joined the course from 2 pioneering municipalities. Sometimes during the course, they became emotional and cried when they shared their experiences and situation related to their children with disabilities. The Training culminated with the sharing of individual/group commitments on the last day. All the 18 participants wrote and presented their individual vision and commitment for their PWD Associations and municipalities.

Through this exercise, they were reminded their responsibility to exert leadership in the promotion of NHE in their community. Also, respective 2 groups of Opol and New Lucena discussed and developed the pledge of commitment. Having gone through this process, the participants seem to become much closer and trust each other. It is hoped that the participants could sustain their unity and commitment to work together for other PWDs in their respective municipalities.