MIW Philosophy

The MIW methodology supports a shift in perspective regarding
enforcement of international law...
focusing on practical SOLUTIONS instead of violations of rights.

MIW is about making the link between quality information and constructive advocacy -- and capitalizing on lessons learned.

Typical approaches to treaty implementation include the following:

• Report violations of disabled people’s rights and campaign to hold the Government to account – or
• Take a top-down approach – focus on national level policy with the view that this will eventually ‘trickle down’ to impact on people’s lives.

The Making it Work approach adopts a different, more “bottom up” philosophy. By collecting examples of local, innovative practices that have impacted positively on disabled people’s lives, it is possible to make positive, concrete recommendations to Government about how to develop inclusive policies. The aim then, is to develop MIW projects that can make a direct connection between the CRPD and disabled people’s lives. This means to find out what has worked on the ground – then to replicate and scale up:  from Good Practice to Good Policy.

MIW will assist disability organizations in developing their capacities to advocate for policy change.  MIW fills two important gaps:

1. Lack of quality information on specific disability issues
2. Lack of constructive engagement between civil society and governments.

Research coming from MIW projects on good practices, can be used to develop effective advocacy campaigns.  MIW reports will provide: useful recommendations to governments about how to either scale up and encourage good practices where they exist or to develop inclusive policies that foster more good practices.