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HI Pakistan has recently completed a UN Women funded project ”Empowering women with disabilities (EWwD)” focusing on the social and economic empowerment of the women with disabilities. The project was implemented at Islamabad capital territory (ICT), Peshawar, Nowshera and Karachi. This project has directly benefited more than 600 women with disabilities , whereas about 30 DPOs and a number of public private departments / institutions have also been engaged and benefitted.

HI Pakistan collected the stories of project beneficiaries and published to highlight the impact of the project and to integrate the lesson learnt in program cycle management.

This collection and review of evidence aims to illustrate how the COVID-19 crisis triggers disproportionate risks and barriers for men, women, boys and girls with disabilities living in humanitarian settings. It highlights recommendations for humanitarian actors, to enhance inclusive action, aligned with existing guidance and learnings on disability inclusion. It is based on evidence, including testimonies, collected by HI programs in 19 countries of intervention. Special efforts were made to reflect the voices of persons with different types of disabilities, genders and ages, residing in different geographical areas and living circumstances, including refugee and internally displaced persons’ settlements and host communities.

Evidence has been collected through primary data collection among HI teams and partners, working in countries impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic in April/May 2020. Data was extracted from assessments conducted by HI and partners in Bangladesh, Egypt, Haïti, Indonesia, Philippines, Jordan, Lebanon, Somaliland and Togo. Testimonies from affected communities, staff and partners were collected in Kenya, Myanmar, Pakistan, Palestine, Philippines, Somaliland, South Sudan, Rwanda, Thailand, Uganda and Yemen.

Humanity & Inclusion inclusive governance approach fits in with the governments (national, regional and local) context, governments are in charge of the response to the crisis. In these types of contexts, humanitarian actors do not have the leadership and mandate to make decisions. Governments are creating policies in response to Covid-19 and must include persons with disabilities as equal citizens within their response frameworks. 

Key messages :

• DO NO HARM: Protect yourself and your family, staff, partners and of course the beneficiaries.
• Work closely with other stakeholders and ensure coordination in the response is happening at all levels
• Follow HI’s guidelines and the guidance from the national and local authorities regarding COVID 19 at all times. 

English pages 1-7 and français ci-dessous pages 7-13.

Children with disabilities in Bangladesh have equal access to play, recreation and leisure, and sporting activities, including in the school system (contributing to enjoyment of article 30 5.d of UNCRPD).

Published at the same time as the Inter-Agency Standing Committee (IASC) Guidelines on Inclusion of Persons with Disabilities in Humanitarian Action, this report aims to support their uptake and promote learning by example. This report presents 39 short case studies on inclusive practices for persons with disabilities in humanitarian action and disaster risk reduction (DRR). It is designed for humanitarian stakeholders with limited experience of working with and for persons with disabilities, as well as for organizations of persons with disabilities (OPDs) planning to engage in humanitarian action and DRR. The report draws lessons from field practices, but does not provide technical guidance. The IASC Guidelines are the reference document to seek in-depth theoretical and technical information

The case studies focus on:

• Inclusive disaster risk reduction and preparedness
• Collecting and using disability disaggregated data for assessments and programming.
• Participation of persons with disabilities and their representative organizations in humanitarian response and recovery
• Removing barriers to access humanitarian assistance and protection.
• Influencing coordination mechanisms and resource mobilization to be inclusive

The evidence presented in this report was identified in 2017-2018 through a desk review of publicly available reports and internal documents on projects implemented by CBM, HI and IDA members, as well as their partners and affiliate members. Field visits to Lebanon, Jordan, Kenya, Nepal, and the Philippines conducted in 2018 also informed the case-study collection and documentation

This brief presents and addresses some of the challenges that prevent internally displaced persons with disabilities and other vulnerable population groups (elderly, injured persons, pregnant women, etc.) in camp settings from accessing humanitarian services in Iraq and impede on the development of an inclusive humanitarian response. Examples drawn from Handicap International’s experience working in Iraq with persons with disabilities and vulnerable population groups further illustrate those challenges. The recommendations to the humanitarian community provided in this brief aim at improving the protection of persons with disabilities and their inclusion in the humanitarian response

This new Making It Work report presents 9 good practices successfully addressing the prevention and response to violence and discrimination against women and girls with disabilities in Africa. It also contains key advocacy recommendations that can be used for disability and/or gender advocates in order to further promote the rights of women and girls with disabilities.

The practices were:

• Gender-Based Violence prevention through a grassroots initiative led by women with disabilities (Rwanda)
• Protecting urban refugee women and girls with disabilities from abuse and discrimination in Kenya
• Advancing the access of deafblind women and girls to Sexual and Reproductive Health (Malawi)
• Enhancing access to justice for GenderBased Violence survivors with intellectual challenges through integrated legal and psychosocial support service provision (Kenya)
• Developing knowledge and empowerment through the Gender and Disability Inclusive Development Community of Practice (Cameroon)
• Promoting a safer, Gender-Based Violence free environment for women and girls with disabilities in Lilongwe, Malawi
• Restoring the dignity of women and girls with disabilities in the Plateau State of Nigeria
• Forging a district community where women and girls with disabilities live dignified and empowered lives (Uganda)
• Emerging Practice: Fostering peace and respect by bringing women and girls with disabilities concerns into a women’s organization (Kenya)

In 2015, Humanity & Inclusion HI began the project: “Empowering persons with disabilities to contribute to equal access to basic social services and local policymaking processes in under-resourced areas of Ayeyarwady and Mandalay”. The project supported Disabled Peoples Organizations and other civil society groups to participate in the development of inclusive regional policies and programmes, and to promote good practices contributing to greater access to services for persons with disabilities. An aim was also to document, publish and disseminate these good practices throughout Myanmar, increasing awareness and understanding in order to sensitise people to disability inclusion and influence policy change. Rather than focusing on what is not working, this report seeks to shift attention to what has worked locally and how it could be replicated in other parts of the country, providing constructive, practical recommendations to decision-makers, service providers and other community groups in Myanmar. The report is related to two projects. The second is “Advocacy for Change: Fostering protection and rights of men and women with disabilities in Myanmar”. 

There are global recommendations. There are seven good practices:

• Related to education:  Case Study I: Promoting Inclusion of children with disabilities in Middle Schools of Ayartaw. Case Study II: How the development of the teacher training promotes inclusion of all children in education
• Related to economic life: Case Study III: How partnerships between private companies and organizations of people with disabilities can improve access to employment and vocational training
• Related to social/community life: Case Study IV: Giving the Myanmar Deaf Community access to information.  Case Study V: How parental advocacy can make a difference
• Related to political life: Case Study VI: Community advocacy in obtaining the National Registration Card. Case Study VII: Supporting people with disabilities to participate in Myanmar elections

Activities to promote the access of deafblind women and girls to sexual and reproductive health are reported via brief descriptions of what happened, what changed and what worked. Activites included: training the deafblind women in their rights;training relatives of deafblind women, giving advice on general care, as well as highlighting the importance of supporting their sexual and reproductive health choices and promoting family planning; tackling the issue of the forced sterilization; awareness raising via newspapers and radio and improving livelihoods.