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Humanity & Inclusion (HI) calls for an urgent review of funding for livelihoods activities in Syria and highlights urgent disability related concerns.

Action by humanitarian partners to strengthen inclusion of persons with disabilities in the humanitarian response in an evidencebased manner remains highly needed – this note aims to support that effort by providing background and explanation on the definition of disability as well as on how to interpret and use data related to disability.

The note also provides elaboration on the Syria Protection Cluster (Turkey) recommended disability-related data collection methodology for humanitarian organizations and entities in northwest Syria. Thereby the note aims to stimulate and assist the broader humanitarian community in northwest Syria in adopting the Washington Group Short Set of Questions on Functioning, especially in relation to disability focused data collection and in understanding and utilizing assessment findings, specifically prevalence-rates of disability in northwest Syria.

For more elaborated description of the situation of persons with disability in northwest Syria and practical suggestions for humanitarians on enhancing inclusion of persons with disabilities in programming, this note is to be read in conjunction with the ITWG “Self-reported barriers to activities of daily living of persons with disabilities living in IDP sites in northwest Syria” brief report and recommendations.

The number of Palestine refugees registered by UNRWA recently grew to 5.7 million (from 5.5 million in 2019) in all its five field of operations in Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, Gaza and the West Bank. Among them are Palestine refugees with disabilities, who have long-term impairments, which in interactions with attitudinal, institutional, and environmental barriers prevent their full and effective participation on an equal basis with others in society. Persons with disabilities constitute an estimated 15 per cent of the global population1, and may constitute a higher percentage in humanitarian contexts, such as Syria, the West Bank and Gaza, in particular, which are UNRWA fields of operations.

The main actions undertaken in 2020 discussed in the report are:

• targeted and disability-specific services for persons with disabilities
• disability inclusion through programmes
• inter-agency coordination
• international protection advocacy

Based on interviews with people that are displaced both in- and outside of Syria, 50 Syrian and International NGOs, including HI, published this report. 

The report was published on the occasion of the 4th Brussels Donor Conference on Syria from June 22 to 30, 2020

Recent evidence suggests that the individual prevalence rate of persons with disabilities living in Syria, aged 12 years and above is 27%. This brief guidance note covers: Risks faced by persons with disabilities in the COVID-19 outbreak; Protection risks for specific groups of persons with disabilities during the COVID-19 outbreak; Upholding the rights of persons with disabilities in relation to the COVID-19 response; and Recommendations: Inclusion in the COVID-19 response 

Summaries on the findings from the following queries:

This query is a short summary of information gathered from interviews with implementers working on education for children with disabilities in Syria.

This publication draws together research and learning from around the world, in papers which highlight the need for inclusive education and some of the steps being taken to implement it. 

The settings brought to life here reveal the work of teachers, leaders and policy makers in geographically and culturally diverse situations. In each of the chapters we see the challenges they face and the significant efforts they make to ensure access to, and engagement with, a quality education for all children. The collection includes 15 case studies:

Special educational needs and disability section:

• Teaching for All: mainstreaming inclusive education in South Africa
• Successful inclusive education starts with teachers: what have we learned? A multi-country case study
• Teaching English as a second language to the visually impaired in disadvantaged contexts: a case study from Chiapas, Mexico
• The Theatre of the Classroom

Displaced populations section

• Teaching on the run: safe learning spaces for internally displaced persons
• Developing resilience through English language teaching in youth centres across Iraq
• Capacity building for inclusive classrooms: the Living Together training
• Integrating Syrian refugee children and their parents into Lebanese early education systems

Gender and inclusion in the classroom section

• A gender equality and social inclusion approach to teaching and learning: lessons from the Girls’ Education Challenge
• Teacher development and gender equality in five Nigerian states
• Creating gender-inclusive schools in Turkey: the ETCEP project in action
• Education, English language, and girls’ development: exploring gender-responsive policies and practices in Nepal

Minority ethnic groups in the classroom

• Social inclusion and the role of English language education: making a transition from school to higher education in India
• Storytelling for diverse voices
• Inclusive education in marginalised contexts: the San and Ovahimba learners in Namibia

Purpose: Despite the importance of the evaluation process in lower limb prosthetic rehabilitation, prostheses are rarely evaluated properly in the Arab world. This is partly due to the absence of any suitable Arabic evaluative tool. The aim of this study is to translate TAPES-R (a standardised evaluative questionnaire) into Arabic and to investigate its psychometric properties on lower limb amputees. Such a tool would ultimately be of benefit for clinical follow-up and research purposes.

Method: International standards were followed for the forward- and back-translation of the TAPES-R questionnaire. A sample of 111 Arabic-speaking volunteers with lower limb amputation completed the translated version of the questionnaire. The responses were then statistically analysed using factor analysis and Cronbach’s α to assess the content and construct validity, and internal consistency (reliability) respectively.

Results: Factor analysis showed that the questionnaire’s items (included in the analysis) can be divided into three distinct dimensions as was originally suggested. The distribution of the items within the three dimensions is comparable with the original questionnaire. All three parts of TAPES-R showed high reliability; where Cronbach’s α were .892, .894, and .873 respectively.

Conclusion: This study found that the Arabic version of TAPES-R represents a valid and reliable tool.

Limitations: The questionnaire is designed to be emailed or posted, but the majority of the amputee population in Jordan did not have these services, so direct contact with each participant was necessary.

Disability, CBR and Inclusive Development, Vol 30, No 1 (2019)

Turkey hosts the largest number of Syrian refugees, almost half of whom are women and girls. This rapid review looks at available evidence on how Syrian refugee women, girls, and people with disabilities have been affected by the response to the refugee crisis by a variety of actors, including the host government, international actors, and host communities