CBM’s policy on disability and development represents the back bone of CBM’s work as it addresses disability in the wider context of development, highlighting important aspects that are crucial to be dealt with, if CBM wants to make an impact on the lives of people with disabilites.

It is the main reference document for future CBM policy papers, which discuss specific approaches to disability. The Disability and Development Policy is also the main reference for CBM’s regional strategies, which are developed to put global strategies into action. CBM’s policy papers are subject to regular updating and revision.

The CBM Disability and Development Policy Paper aims to:

• Explain the links between disability and development in the areas of poverty, human rights, HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria and malnutrition, gender, children, environment, conflict and emergency situations;
• Promote the importance of the inclusion of disability issues in mainstream development practice;
• Endorse both the "twin-track approach" to disability and a "human rights approach" to development within CBM as an organisation, its partners and beyond;
• Outline the role that CBM and its partners need to assume when addressing disability and development in a comprehensive way.

The policy paper was written by a CBM working group, consisting of Geert Vanneste (former Chief Executive Officer of CCBRT in Tanzania), Monika Brenes (Policy & Consultancy Department, Germany), David Lewis (International Programs Director, CBM Australia), Barbara Oosters (EU Liaison Officer, Belgium), and Martin Ruppenthal (Regional Representative for Latin America, Ecuador). Feedback from the whole organisation, including partner organisations in developing countries, have been factored into the new Disability and Development Policy.