IFES is leading an effort to improve access to political and electoral opportunities for people with disabilities in Indonesia and throughout Southeast Asia. To achieve this goal, the USAID-sponsored program will assist disabled people’s organizations (DPOs) develop new tools and regional partnerships to monitor and raise awareness about access issues in elections, and to ensure that disability rights are squarely on ASEAN’s developing human rights agenda. 

The two-year program, “ASEAN General Election Network for Disability Access (AGENDA),” will be based in Indonesia and will work with organizations in the Philippines, Malaysia, Cambodia and Thailand. Indonesian organizations are in a logical position to advance regional action on disability access as the Chair of ASEAN for 2011. Indonesian DPOs, with USAID support, were active in pushing for improved access during Indonesia’s 2009 General Elections, formulating innovative strategies and advocacy tools which address all phases of the election process.

A main component of AGENDA is to develop new regional partnerships for better data collection and further-reaching advocacy efforts targeting ASEAN’s developing human rights discourse and action. Project activities will catalyze new partnerships between local DPOs and election civil society organizations to monitor and advocate for the electoral rights of persons with disabilities. Disability access monitoring tools will contribute data to a regional index which will help DPOs and election administrators identify priorities for reform and set targets for improved accessibility. Through additional research initiatives, regional events and publications AGENDA will also facilitate a new regional dialogue for collecting and sharing best practices in disability access.

AGENDA was signed on April 26, 2011. It is part of the U.S. - Indonesia Comprehensive Partnership, an initiative recognizing the global significance of cooperation between the world’s second and third largest democracies.