The 2020 Humanitarian Needs Overview (HNO) showed efforts to integrate disability inclusion. However, a lack of data on persons with disabilities, their needs, and the barriers they face impacts the ability of humanitarian responders to plan, deliver and evaluate inclusive activities. In 2020, data collected by Humanity & Inclusion showed that 87% of persons with disabilities reported difficulties accessing NFI distributions, food, and cash.
The December 2020 Enquête Nationale sur l’agriculture at la Sécurité Alimentaire (ENSA) was disaggregated by disability, to improve WFP’s understanding of food security needs for this group. Data were collected through integration of the Washington Group Short Set of Questions (WGQ-SS)1 . The WGQ-SS were asked directly to the respondent and recorded a maximum of one other, positively identified household member.
Of 6,410 households surveyed, 10.1% of households reported at least one member with a disability
Humanitarian actors recognize the lack of standard practice on the inclusion of older people and people with disabilities in humanitarian response as a current and critical gap in the sector. In recent years, the humanitarian sector has begun to more intentionally address these challenges. In response, the IRC has developed this Inclusive Client Responsiveness Guidance, which aims to address gaps in the IRC’s Client Responsive Programming specifically to strengthen inclusion of people with disabilities and older people. The Guidance consists of three sections to support staff in strengthening inclusion of people with disabilities and older people using the IRC’s Client Responsiveness approach:
Key concepts for designing inclusive feedback mechanisms such as accessibility and reasonable accommodation, to ensure that barriers are addressed, and feedback mechanisms are designed to be accessible to all.
Selection and design of inclusive feedback mechanisms that foster diversity and inclusion.
Monitoring access to feedback mechanisms of people with disabilities and older people through appropriate data collection and analysis.
The guidance also includes a set of resources for practical implementation, which are referenced throughout the document
This advocacy brief from the UN Girls’ Education Initiative (UNGEI) and Leonard Cheshire draws attention to the main barriers to education for girls with disabilities, in the context of major opportunities for advocacy and tangible change in 2021. The recommendations outlined are targeted at world leaders, governments, ministries, UN agencies and NGOs. They offer a framework for rights-based action and principles towards gender-responsive and inclusive education, to ensure that no girls with disabilities are left behind.
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.