In 2011, 14% of Trickle Up's participants were people affected by disabilities. These participants are either people with disabilities themselves or are supporting family members with a disability. Trickle Up is committed to actively including people with disabilities, a chronically under-served population, in our programs. One out of every five people has a disability, and 82% of people with a disability live below the poverty line. People with disabilities, particularly women, consistently rank among the poorest of the poor; yet continue to be overlooked. The exclusion of people with disabilities in development hinders the process of achieving not only poverty alleviation efforts but also addressing basic human rights. Poverty can be a direct cause of disability since the extreme poor lack the resources they need to prevent malnutrition and health care to prevent disease. Also, poverty can come as a consequence of disability, as access to services, education and support can lead a family into a downward spiral of poverty.  

Disability inclusion has become core to Trickle Up’s model because of our long-term commitment to serving marginalized populations. Including people with disabilities in Trickle Up programming has enabled us to better serve our mission by involving people with disabilities in a small enterprise and engagement with the broader community through savings group membership, enabling those most isolated to find a role in their community and gain acceptance.

In 2009, we launched Stronger Voices, Sustainable Livelihoods, a USAID-funded project to strengthen the autonomy of Trickle Up-supported savings groups formed by people with disabilities in Mali. We began the project to enable Malian people with disabilities to have a more active voice and role in their communities. We helped start 32 savings groups for a total of 800 participants who are affected by disabilities, and worked to gain legal status for the groups as People with Disability Associations. This legal status enables the members to increase their visibility through advocacy work. 

In 2009, Trickle Up also received the first-ever Disability Inclusion Award from InterAction, a network of US-based poverty organizations. The award acknowledges Trickle Up’s strong commitment to greater inclusion in programs and management. InterAction is the largest alliance of US-based international nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) focused on the world's poor and most vulnerable people.

Building on our success in Mali, Trickle Up is launching a new project in Guatemala to reach people with disabilities in that region. Working with an organization founded by people with disabilities, which will provide practical, hands-on support, we will work with our existing and new partner organizations to identify the best strategies for making our program even more inclusive.