Disability Rights Fund Launches Website

BOSTON (May 28, 2008) —

The Disability Rights Fund, a groundbreaking collaborative supporting the human rights of people with disabilities, has launched its Web site at www.disabilityrightsfund.org 

With a clear and easy to use design, the Web site provides information on the Fund’s history and strategy, governance, as well as its advisors and donors. In mid-June, the site will also publish information about the Fund’s first request for proposals.  A unique partnership between donors and the worldwide disability community, the broad objective of the Disability Rights Fund is to empower disabled persons organizations around the world to effectively implement and monitor the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. The Fund’s structure reflects the international disability community’s slogan, “Nothing About Us Without Us.” A global advisory panel, made up of 12 individuals, most of whom are persons with disabilities, provides recommendations on grantmaking strategies for the Fund; four of the Panel members also serve on the Fund’s grantmaking decision body—the Steering Committee. The members of the panel come from five continents and reflect a broad cross-section of the disability community. The majority were nominated by international and regional disabled persons’ organizations. Detailed biographies of advisors are available on the website.  In 2008, the Disability Rights Fund will be seeking grant proposals from disabled persons’ organizations in seven countries. Grants will support the human rights work of disabled persons’ organizations in Bangladesh, Ecuador, Ghana, Namibia, Nicaragua, Peru, and Uganda.   “2008 is the Disability Rights Fund’s pilot grantmaking year,” stated DRF director Diana Samarasan, “as the Fund develops, the website will become a dynamic source of information on human rights grantmaking within the global disability community.”   For more information on the Disability Rights Fund, see http://www.disabilityrightsfund.org/ or write to info@disabilityrightsfund.org