Development cooperation

Development cooperation

This video gives you a glimpse of the development cooperation that Kynnys is carrying out in the Western Balkans and Africa. We work to ensure that persons with disabilities can live, work, and participate in society independently and on an equal basis with others.

Kynnys has been engaged in development cooperation since the late 1980s. Kynnys aims at improving the status of persons with disabilities in developing countries and to ensure the realization of their human rights. Both Kynnys and its partners in developing countries are organizations run by persons with disabilities, where individuals with various disabilities act as experts and leaders in their own work.

The key principles of Kynnys’ development cooperation are:

  • Our work is based on the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD).
  • Persons with disabilities themselves work to realize their rights.
  • Partnerships between persons with disabilities in the Global South and the Global North are strengthened through experience sharing and peer support.
  • The principle “Nothing about us without us” strongly guides our work.
  • The central themes of development cooperation projects are independent living and the empowerment of women with disabilities.

Kynnys is involved in six development cooperation projects across three continents:

  • Empowerment of women with disabilities in Ethiopia.
  • Support for human rights and independent living for persons with disabilities in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and North Macedonia.
  • Promoting SRHR for women and girls with disabilities and combating gender-based violence in Malawi.
  • Increasing advocacy skills and the employment of persons with disabilities in Moldova.

Kynnys’ development cooperation is part of the Disability Partnership, a development cooperation programme of six Finnish disability organizations funded by the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland. In addition, Kynnys participates as an expert partner in the Family Federation of Finland’s Asia project, which promotes the sexual rights of persons with disabilities in Afghanistan, Tajikistan, and Nepal. Kynnys is also involved in the National Union of University Students in Finland (SYL) project in Ethiopia, which promotes inclusive education among university students with disabilities.