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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)

This report on the assessment of progress made in Niger in the implementation of the 2030 program on the case of disabled persons was prepared by The Niger Federation of Disabled People (FNPH). The FNPH was supported by the West African Federation of Disabled People's Associations (FOAPH) and its strategic partners such as: the International Disability Alliance (IDA), Humanity and Inclusion (HI) and CBM.

It is the result of participatory work drawing on consultations with relevant stakeholders (Human Rights Organizations, Organizations for Disabled People (DPOs) and development partners). It is based on the most recent data available on disability, from 2014 to 2017.

This report examines, in detail, the implementation of four (04) Sustainable Development Goals which include: SDGs 4, 8, 10 and 16  and focuses on the following topics:

• Education – Vocational training ;         
• Work and Employment;
• Equality and non-discrimination;
• Protection against all kinds of violence and abuse;
• Access to justice in equality conditions;
• Participation in decision-making;
• Public access to information and protection of basic freedoms.

Research summaries, case studies and process documentation from “Inclusive Protection and Empowerment Project for Children with Disabilities (IPEP)” are presented.  The aim of the project was to build resilience and capacity among children with disabilities and to create a violence-free community for them. The project ran in five districts of Bangladesh i.e. Sylhet, Dhaka, Barishal, Rangpur and Gaibandha from 2014- 2017. 

The research topics were:

• Understanding the Vulnerabilities of Children with Disabilities Living in both Government-run and Private Residential Institutions
• The Vulnerabilities of Children with Disabilities from Low-income Households
• Social Protection Schemes Relevant to Children with Disabilities and their Families 

This policy paper outlines the barriers and exclusion experienced by women and girls with disabilities, and recommends ways that development actors can better support women with disabilities to lead. There are case studies from Vanuatu, Cambodia, India.

This report highlights existing key evidence on the relationship between disability and HIV. It discusses the concrete steps needed for a person-centred, disability-inclusive HIV response that allows for increased participation of people with disabilities and integrates rehabilitation within the continuum of HIV care.

"The aim of the research was to investigate the social, cultural and institutional factors which contribute to the high incidence of sexual abuse of persons with disabilities in East Africa and to identify interventions which could change detrimental attitudes, beliefs and practices which perpetuate this high incidence. The study used a qualitative participatory action research approach and worked with local partner organisations and Ugandan and Kenyan field level researchers to collect data. Survivors of sexual abuse were not interviewed but instead the research investigated the understandings, beliefs and practices of a range of service providers and key responders who are involved in the prevention of and response to sexual abuse against persons with disabilities in their communities. Groups consulted included police, teachers, health-care workers, government administrators, faith and community organisations and traditional leaders, as well as persons with disabilities and their parents. Participatory workshops were run with a reference group of people with disabilities (with a range of impairments and experiences) and relevant specialists at the initial stage and during the participatory analysis process. After initial orientation and training the field researchers undertook a total of 52 individual interviews and 9 focus group discussions with a range of stakeholders". Powerpoint slides of the research findings and posters are also available.

The booklet is a simple guide written to support victims of sexual abuse and their families to know their rights and to understand what services are available to them. 

"International and national laws and policies on disability have historically neglected aspects related to women and girls with disabilities. In turn, laws and policies addressing women have traditionally ignored disability". "Article 6 serves as an interpretation tool to approach the responsibilities of States parties across the Convention, to promote, protect and fulfil the human rights of women and girls with disabilities, from a human rights-based approach and a development perspective". These general comments take the form of an introduction, normative content, states parties’ obligations, the interrelationship of article 6 with other articles of the Convention (perspectives of women with disabilities in CRPD provisions) and national implementation

Children with disabilities experience very high levels of violence, according to this research from Plan International and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. The new study carried out in Uganda and Malawi provides valuable insights into the lives of children with disabilities. Key findings include: 

- Girls and boys with disabilities experience extremely high levels of violence: 84% of children with disabilities surveyed reported having experienced some form of violence at school in the previous week.
- Girls with disabilities were more likely to report emotional and sexual violence than girls without disabilities.
- Children with disabilities find it difficult to access community-based child protection mechanisms, due to a range of barriers including environmental barriers, social barriers and institutional barriers.

This extremely important piece of research shows that if we don’t explicitly include, we exclude. In line with the aspiration of the Sustainable Development Goals to “leave no one behind” and with the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, we therefore call upon Plan International and all other development actors to work together to stop the widespread violence against boys and girls with disabilities, and take concrete steps to include them in child protection mechanisms.

Community based participatory research (CBPR) was used to provide evidence on the specific nature and experiences of persons with disabilities and older people from their own perspectives in Tanzania, through the lens of social, political, economic and cultural inclusion. The aim was to strengthen efforts to provide services for and improve the lives of people living in the rural and urban settings of Nachingwea and Kibaha Urban Municipal Council. Twenty-nine peer researchers (nine persons with disabilities, 10 older people and 10 Tanzanian Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO) members working in these communities) were involved in the study. A total of 106 stories were collected. Eight priority areas emerged and were chosen by peer researchers for further discussion in groups: access to education and quality learning; access to health services; issues fed back from NGOs; poverty relating to income and dependence; attitudes towards witchcraft and albinism; relationship difficulties and marriage breakdowns; sexual violence and gender issues; poor treatment from family