Stigma guidance
Language Selector

Note: this is a third-party automated tool and may occasionally make mistakes.

← Stigma reduction approaches Download this page as a PDF

Peer-to-peer support

Peer-to-peer support can take different forms.

One approach is using support groups or self-help groups for people with disabilities and/or caregivers/parents, offering a safe environment to share experiences of stigma and access psycho-social support.

This is often through face-to-face meetings, but can increasingly be via digital formats, such as WhatsApp groups. The idea is that ‘We are stronger together’.

As support groups become well established, they may offer empowerment opportunities for people with disabilities and/or caregivers to engage in joint stigma reduction activities, using the power of collective agency and acting on their own ideas and priorities.

For example, caregivers can visit each other to provide support, talk collectively on the radio to share experiences, discuss disability rights and challenge social stigma.

Support groups are often set up for another purpose, such as for livelihoods support. They could be strengthened by building in an explicit component to address stigma: for example, by offering dedicated time to talk about personal experiences around stigma and addressing psycho-social support needs.

This approach can help to reduce:

Social stigma.   Internalised stigma.

Stigma by association

About the four types of stigma

What can peer-to-peer support offer?

Shared experiences

Caregivers can meet and talk collectively on the radio to share experiences, discuss disability rights and challenge social stigma.

Safe environments

Support groups can offer a safe environment for people to share experiences of stigma and access psycho-social support.

Collective strength

Well-established support groups can engage in joint stigma reduction activities, using collective agency and acting on their own ideas.

Case study 1
Inclusion champions’ peer-to-peer support in Nigeria

Inclusion champions in Nigeria reflect that they can ‘better relate’ to other people with disabilities. They run peer group sessions about family planning in which they address different layers of stigma, including the stigma of sexual and reproductive health, combined with disability.

A group of women in Nigeria wearing colourful headscarves. Some sit on the floor outdoors while others stand and talk.

The champions run family planning sessions in which they discuss stigma.

A female inclusion champion reports that she is able to draw on her own experience and her “understanding of the mindset” surrounding these issues, which has equipped her “to convey messages in a manner that resonates with her peers”. She also addresses these topics, which are often considered taboo, with family members.

We emphasise checking in on one another. By involving families, we aim to mitigate discrimination within family dynamics.
Female inclusion champion, Nigeria
Inclusive Futures learning review (PDF)

Case study 2
Ubuntu caregiver support groups, Uganda

The Ubuntu programmes are caregiver training and peer support programmes for children with developmental disabilities and their families.

A participatory approach is used, co-facilitated by professionals and expert parents (a mother of a child with a disability who has received some training) as equal partners. The programme aims to:

  1. Promote inclusion and participation of children with disabilities
  2. Maximise a child’s developmental potential, optimising health and quality of life
  3. Empower caregivers through information sharing and peer support
  4. Understand the child and family experience, particularly addressing stigma
A group of mothers and young babies in Uganda sit in a circle on the floor. One woman is speaking and they are listening.

The Ubuntu sessions enable mothers of children with disabilities to talk about their experiences.

A ‘togetherness and belonging’ session was developed to explore what drives stigma, such as myths and beliefs, and the stigma by association that caregivers experience. It looked at how to strengthen support for the psycho-social needs of caregivers.

Research with caregivers, often single mothers, showed that they often did not have power on their own to effect change in social stigma. They identified ‘allies’ (friends and people who may help them) to bring about change in the family and community, as well as how they could work collectively to effect change.

For example, one well-established group in Rwanda decided to run its own community awareness and advocacy sessions, applying for local funding to support its activities.

Research showed that caregivers often did not have power on their own to effect change in social stigma.
← All stigma reduction approaches