Shifting mindsets, breaking barriers

2025-03-21

Breaking the barriers that hinder the participation of persons with disabilities is essential for building more resilient, equitable, and just agrifood systems. In rural areas, limited services, skills development opportunities, and decent employment—combined with persistent discrimination—significantly undermine the potential of farmers with disabilities, with implications not only on their livelihoods, but on the sustainability of agrifood value chains. Guided by the principle of “nothing about us, without us,” IFAD’s disability-inclusive programming puts farmers with diverse impairments at the centre, prioritizing three key dimensions of empowerment: agency, access, and voice.

By Valentina Franchi

Valentina Franchi is a Senior Technical Specialist on Gender and Social Inclusion at the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), based in the Cairo Multi-Country Office. Since 2024, she has served as IFAD’s focal point for Disability Inclusion, leading efforts to integrate inclusive approaches across the organization’s programs.

With over a decade of experience at the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), Valentina has worked extensively on gender equality in food systems, both at headquarters and in the Regional Office for the Near East and North Africa.

She holds a Master’s degree in Gender and Social Policy from the London School of Economics and a Master’s degree in International Cooperation and Development from the University of Pavia.

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By Valentina Del Monti

Valentina Del Monti is an intern with the Gender and Social Inclusion Team at IFAD, where she supports IFAD’s work on Disability Inclusion. Previously, she interned with IFAD’s Talent Acquisition Team and at the Presidency of the Council of Ministers in Italy, focusing on human trafficking.

Valentina holds a Master’s in Global Security Studies: Environment, Energy and Conflicts and a bachelor’s in political science and international relations from Roma Tre University. Passionate about gender empowerment and women’s rights in the Middle East, she culminated her interest by writing her master’s thesis on feminism in Islam and the situation in Iran and Afghanistan.

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Disability inclusion as a key pillar of agrifood systems transformation

Persons with disabilities are a key target group for the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD). According to the World Health Organization, 16% of the global population has one or more disabilities, with nearly 80% of all these people residing in low- and middle-income countries. IFAD’s mission to invest in the rural poor and transform rural economies cannot be achieved if persons with disabilities in rural areas and in smallholder farming households are left behind. Achieving inclusive agrifood systems requires ensuring their equal access to resources, services and opportunities, enabling everybody to thrive as innovators and leaders in their communities.

“We can do anything if the barriers are removed”

Across all regions, women and men farmers with disabilities are disempowered by a combination of environmental, systemic and attitudinal barriers. Inadequate infrastructure, lack of accessible education and training opportunities, as well as exclusion from rural organizations significantly hamper their access to economic opportunities, increasing their vulnerability to poverty and food insecurity.

Overcoming all these barriers requires an integrated approach that addresses multiple levels and fosters cooperation among different stakeholders. While enhancing the accessibility of physical spaces, technologies, and essential services are important, long-lasting change is equally crucial and can only be achieved by tackling the root causes of discrimination, which are often linked to stigma and prejudice within communities and organizations. Shifting from a charity-based to a social model of disability is critical.

As Mayenda Saudi, a rural man with a physical impairment participating in an IFAD project in Malawi, expressed:

“We can do anything if the barriers are removed. We can lead and inspire others in our community.”

Piloting disability-inclusive approaches to empower farmers with diverse types of impairments

Recognizing that societal barriers, not impairments, disable individuals, IFAD collaborates with governments, producer and farmer organizations, training centres and enterprises to create new opportunities along agrifood value chains.

Since endorsing its Strategy on Disability Inclusion in 2022, IFAD has designed seven projects prioritizing persons with disabilities and completed the initiative Sparking Disability Inclusive Rural Transformation (SPARK), dedicated to piloting tailored approaches to target and empower farmers with different impairments. Implemented from 2020 to 2024 in collaboration with Light for the World, the International Labour Organization, and Procasur, 38,000 people with disabilities, men and women from India, Malawi, Mozambique, and Burkina Faso, have participated in SPARK to improve their access to good agricultural practices, rural finance, and employment opportunities.

Three key dimensions of change: agency, access, and voice

IFAD’s work on disability inclusion prioritizes three key dimensions of empowerment: agency, access, and voice. Among the new approaches introduced by SPARK, we can highlight the Disability Inclusion Facilitator (DIF), which are persons with disabilities (from the rural communities participating in IFAD projects) who prepare themselves to serve as champions for disability inclusion. This model exemplifies an integrated approach to advancing these three key dimensions. DIFs play a vital role in advocating for disability rights, building capacities of other persons with disabilities, and facilitating access to services and income-generating opportunities offered by IFAD projects and government programs. Becoming a DIF has been an empowering experience for many, particularly for female and young persons with disabilities, who often face multiple layers of discrimination. By the project’s end, 107 certified DIFs had gained not only financial independence, but also increased self-esteem and confidence. Some had even secured leadership seats in district-level committees and became vocal advocates for disability rights.

On the innovation side, and guided by the principle ‘Nothing about us, without us’, the AgriLab approach has brought together dozens of farmers with disabilities in Malawi, Mozambique, and Burkina Faso to co-develop accessible agricultural technologies and equipment tailored to their needs. Through participatory co-design processes involving farmers, organizations of persons with disabilities, and agricultural engineers, IFAD-supported projects have been able to develop 14 prototypes of adapted tools and equipment (adapted wheelbarrows, hand-operated maize shellers, etc.), making farming and livestock more accessible to all by leveraging local resources and expertise. AgriLabs not only improved farmers’ access to livelihoods opportunities but also provided a platform for them to voice their needs and showcase their potential as innovators in agriculture.

A different but equally successful empowerment pathway has been explored in Rwanda through the Agribusiness Hub (ABH) Programme, which connects rural youth with wage and self-employment opportunities. In less than four years, 89 young persons with disabilities - primarily with hearing impairments - secured employment, as a result of the multilayered disability-inclusive strategy implemented by the programme and its local partner, the not-for-profit organization Kilimo Trust. The approach combined targeted outreach measures, tailored training opportunities, sensitisation of employers, and partnerships with businesses already employing youth with disabilities, opening new on- and off-farm job opportunities.

Scaling Up Disability-Inclusive Programming

Ensuring disability inclusion in agrifood systems goes beyond removing barriers – it requires a mindset shift to start by recognizing and fostering the potential of every farmer, entrepreneur, and worker.

IFAD’s experience demonstrates that when farmers with disabilities have access to the right tools, opportunities, and support, they become agents of change who contribute to the well-being of their households and the development of rural communities. Scaling up these approaches and integrating the concerns of persons of disabilities–across all rural development initiatives–are necessary for achieving truly equitable and sustainable agrifood systems transformation.

Back to overview

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