Reflections on Community-based Rehabilitation

Community-based rehabilitation (CBR) has grown and evolved over the last three decades, from being a service delivery approach for persons with disabilities living in rural areas in developing countries, to a world-wide accepted strategy and movement, based on inclusive community development principles. This article traces the origins and current understanding of CBR, goes on to discuss some of debates around the concept of CBR, and introduces the WHO CBR Guidelines. The Guidelines provide a structure for CBR planners and practitioners, based on a synthesis of CBR experiences from different regions of the world, and are an attempt to build on existing field level practice. The Guidelines demonstrate how CBR can be a useful strategy to achieve the goal of inclusive development for persons with disabilities. The Guidelines also provide a much needed framework for monitoring and evaluating CBR projects, with the increasing calls from around the world for strengthening the evidence base for CBR.