Mission "Manuela Espejo", paradigm of solidarity turned into a state policy in Ecuador

Abstract

Since the last international assessment forums on the effectiveness of Official Development Assistance (ODA), the debate on the modalities of South-South cooperation has become more intensive. In this debate, experiences promoted by ALBA countries, though partially present, are not being properly weighted in its full dimension.The purpose of this papaer is to analyze in detail the main features of the "Manuela Espejo" Mission, in order to identify the most important lessons learned from this experience and to contribute with this systematic knowledge its implementation in other countries. We made review of published bibliographic and institutional documents from ALBA, the vice-presidency of the Republic of Ecuador, the Ministry of Public Health of Ecuador, from public reports of results of the Mission, semi-structured interviews to the Mission staff and consultation to experts in the international South-South cooperation. Since 2009, "Manuela Espejo" Mission in Ecuador has been implemented through four main stages of intervention: diagnosis, response, prevention and inclusion. Through diagnosis it was managed to geo-reference the whole disabled population, and then the response phase implemented the distribution of technical aids and elements that substantially improved the living conditions of this population. Later campaigns were implemented as a preventive screening and awareness raising events and promotion of the rights of the disabled. Currently, this mission has become a model of integrated care for the disabled population, as well as a new paradigm of South-South international cooperation. It has made possible that the rights and the full exercise of citizenship of the disabled population be visualized and recognized.