Even the Most Marginalised Can and Do Exercise Collective Agency!: Case Study Empowerment Programme for Caregivers of Children with Disabilities in a South African Township

This case study examines the medium-term outcomes on collective agency contributed to by a Community-based Rehabilitation (CBR) empowerment programme for caregivers of children with multiple disabilities in a peri-urban South African township. CBR is the World Health Organisation-endorsed approach to promoting human rights and improving quality of life for people with disabilities in developing settings. The newest conceptualisation of CBR includes an empowerment component that encourages interventions to mobilise communities of people with disabilities; promote self-advocacy and effective communication; and develop peer-led self-help groups. This paper adds to a small but growing evidence-base for CBR using empowering, participatory qualitative methods to allow members of a CBR self-help group to participate as co-researchers in analyzing the outcomes of their participation in the programme. Concrete examples of their burgeoning civil engagement and collective agency illustrates how even the most marginalised in society can and do exercise  agency.