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Disability inclusion in the United Nations system - Report of the Secretary General

SECRETARY-GENERAL OF THE UNITED NATIONS
October 2020

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When launching the Strategy in June 2019, the Secretary-General stated that the United Nations would lead by example and raise its standards and performance on disability inclusion across all pillars of its work, from Headquarters to the field. The present report outlines the first steps on the path to achieving transformative and lasting change for persons with disabilities across the United Nations system

 

The report is organized into seven sections. Following the introduction, an overview of the advances made in the United Nations on disability inclusion, including the adoption of the Strategy, is provided in section II; the first year of implementation of the Strategy at the entity and country levels is reported on in section III; coronavirus disease (COVID-19) response and recovery efforts are the focus of section IV; the overarching actions for implementation of the Strategy are considered in section V; challenges and opportunities are highlighted in section VI; and the conclusion and recommendations for consideration by the General Assembly are contained in section VII. The report provides an analysis of information from 57 United Nations entities1 that reported under the Strategy ’s entity accountability framework and seven United Nations country teams that completed the accountability scorecard on disability inclusion as part of a targeted roll-out.

Part 2: The feasibility of utilising photovoice method and the World Health Organization Quality of Life instrument in evaluating the Community-Based Rehabilitation programme in Namibia: A pilot study

SHUMBA, Tonderai W.
MOODLEY, Indres
2018

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Background: Evaluation of Community-Based Rehabilitation (CBR) programmes in Namibia has been primarily quantitative, focusing mainly on outputs, including numbers of persons with disabilities served, referrals made and activities implemented. Little or no evidence is available on experiences and quality of life of persons with disabilities, despite the CBR programme being operational for more than 20 years. The 2011 World Report on Disability recommended the use of appropriate tools to fill the research gap by integrating the experiences of persons with disabilities and their quality of life.

 

Objectives: The overall objective of the larger cohort study is to develop a monitoring and evaluation tool that can measure and integrate the experiences of persons with disabilities and their quality of life within the context of the CBR Programme in Namibia.

 

Method: An adapted photovoice process was conducted with six purposively selected participants over a period of 1 month. The World Health Organization Community-Based Rehabilitation (WHO CBR) Matrix was used to identify the themes and subthemes. Participants were requested to complete the World Health Organization Quality of Life (abbreviated version) (WHOQOL-BREF) instrument at the end of the photovoice process to determine their quality of life.

 

Results: Administering the WHOQOL-BREF instrument at the end of the photovoice process measured both the quality of life of persons with disabilities and at the same time indicated the convergence and divergence in the two data collection methods. The study demonstrated a stronger convergence than divergence of the two methods. A feasibility criterion was mapped for future studies.

 

Conclusion: This study demonstrated that photovoice is a flexible method that can be used with a variety of disabilities and has the potential of being combined with the WHOQOL-BREF assessment form. A larger cohort study may consider implementing photovoice and WHOQOL-BREF on multiple study sites and be able to compare results, considering geographical and demographic variables. The feasibility of utilising each method alone and in combination offered valuable insights on future conceptual framing of CBR programme evaluation. This conceptual framing will allow CBR practitioners to appreciate how these two methods contribute to a rigorous process of CBR programme evaluation.

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