Empowering Communities to Create Better Lives for Themselves

Beating the marginalisation due to leprosy

TLMTI, through its community-based empowerment projects aims to empower individuals and communities marginalised due to leprosy, disability and gender, and poverty, and build strong, equitable and sustainable communities.

The objective of the projects is to reduce poverty and support inclusive patterns of growth and development. This is done through raising awareness, building capacity, and encouraging participation in the decision making process, so that individuals and communities marginalised due to leprosy, disability, gender, and poverty are recognised and respected as equal and contributing members of the society.

The projects support them to form self-help groups (SHGs) or sustain the existing ones. They work in partnership with disabled people’s organisations (DPOs) where they exist, and where they do not exist, facilitate their formation. They also sensitise duty bearers to the rights of people affected by leprosy/disability.

The projects assist individuals and communities marginalised due to leprosy, disability and gender, and poverty to develop advocacy and communication skills. They also assist them to make sure that their environment provides the required opportunities and support to allow them to make decisions and express their needs and desires effectively. Simultaneously, they sensitise the society to the social aspects of leprosy and encourages them to shed their negative attitudes and behaviour towards people affected by leprosy and support their mainstreaming and development.

The projects equip them with the information, skills and knowledge to participate in the political process. They work towards bringing visibility to leprosy-related issues. This is done for integrating these issues into the political decision-making process and for making sure that they are at the centre of development policies and programmes.

The projects also work to strengthen civil society organisations (CSOs) for collective action in support of these marginalised groups. And at the same time they sensitise the duty bearers to their lawful needs. Thus, TLMTI’s community empowerment projects address the issues of power, inequality and social injustice, and aim to bring about change that is empowering, fair and inclusive.