2005

Inclusion International, in collaboration with its national member organizations in Kenya (KAIH), India (PARIVAAR), Romania (Inclusion from Romania) and South Africa (DICAG and DSSA), are jointly undertaking a study of different processes and methods used to achieve social change and improved life conditions of adults and children with intellectual disabilities. We want to explore, until February 2006, understand and describe successful change processes and learn from them.

•  Which projects resulting in sustainable improvements of life conditions for adults and children with intellectual disabilities can be found in the four countries?

•  Which are the most strategic change agents, locally, nationally and internationally?

•  Which methods are most effective in order to initiate and maintain processes of change?

•  What other factors, deliberate project interventions as well as contextual factors , are important to achieve a positive change?

The coordinator of the Romanian team is Mircea Alexiu , Social Work Faculty, Timisoara; the members of the team are: Aurora Toea, executive director CRIPS, Radu Sergiu Ruba, vice-president National Disability Council, Laila Onu, vice-president Inclusion from Romania.

During 2004 several meetings of the team took place, in one of them the intenational coordinator of the project participated. Projects who want to be part of the study had to fill in a questionnaire and describe the project. In each country the research team will look at the project descriptions and select the three most interesting. These three projects (from Alba-Iulia, Bistrita si Timisoara) will be carefully investigated.

In each country the researcher will write a report to describe the three good projects and everything that helped them succeed. Twenty projects that seemed good but were not selected for the investigation will be presented in short in an appendix of each country report. The reports will be printed in a booklet format.

Financed by SHIA Suedia