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This Humanitarian Practice Network Paper (Number 83) explores the challenge of improving the collection, analysis and use of disability data to support more inclusive, impartial and accountable humanitarian action. It considers both the obstacles in this area and the potential opportunities for improving practice going forward. The paper draws directly on the experience and outcomes of a recent UK Aid-funded multi-partner action research project led by Humanity & Inclusion which explored how the use of the internationally validated Washington Group Questions on Disability can support the collection of more reliable and comparable quantitative data on persons with disabilities in humanitarian settings.

Based on a broader desk review of practice-based reports and case studies, this paper also draws on a further range of methods and approaches that have been taken to collect, analyse and use data and information to support inclusion of people with disabilities across different stages of the humanitarian programming cycle, focusing particularly on instances where qualitative information is used in combination with quantitative data. The paper looks at the collection and use of data on the accessibility and inclusiveness of humanitarian programmes, as well as data on the number, needs and capacities of persons with disabilities

Evidence is emerging that persons with disabilities are being disproportionately affected by the Coronavirus pandemic and emergency measures being taken by governments worldwide. As governments rush to respond to the virus, it is more critical than ever to guarantee that measures taken are fully inclusive of persons with disabilities and prevent human rights violations from taking place.

With the endorsements of the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Right to Health, Mr Dainius Pūras, and the UN Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, Ms Catalina Devandas Aguilar, a coalition of six disability rights organisations is today launching a major international monitoring initiative entitled “COVID-19 Disability Rights Monitor” to conduct rapid independent monitoring of state measures concerning persons with disabilities. The first element of this global initiative is the launch of two surveys requesting official information from governments and requesting the testimonies of persons with disabilities and their representative organisations. The surveys aim to collect information about what states are doing to protect core rights of persons with disabilities including the rights to life, access to health and essential services.

Over the course of a three-year project the Leonard Cheshire Research Centre worked with research teams in four countries: Kenya, Sierra Leone, Uganda and Zambia to better understand the relationship between disability and development in each country across four domains: education, health, labour markets and social protection. This mixed methods research used a range of interrelated components, including policy and secondary data analysis, a household survey of 4,839 households (13,597 adults and 10,756 children), 55 focus group discussions and 112 key informant interviews across the four countries. 

This report explores key findings in relation to education. Key findings discussed include school attendance, cost of education, inability to learn and gap in educational attainment.

The Pacific Disability Forum (PDF), in partnership with the Inter-Agency Standing Committee (IASC) Task Team on Inclusion of Persons with Disabilities in Humanitarian Action and the International Disability Alliance (co-chair of the Task Team), held a regional multi-stakeholder consultation for the Pacific in Nadi, Fiji from 24 – 25 January 2018.

The workshop was the first in a series of regional consultations which will support the development of the IASC Guidelines on Inclusion of Persons with Disabilities in Humanitarian Action (“the Guidelines”). 

The Guidelines will assist humanitarian actors, governments, affected communities and organizations of persons with disabilities to coordinate, plan, implement, monitor and evaluate essential actions that foster the effectiveness, appropriateness and efficiency of humanitarian action, resulting in the full and effective participation and inclusion of persons with disabilities and changing practice across all sectors and in all phases of humanitarian action. 

Within the Stakeholder Group of Persons with Disabilities, a working group was created on the Voluntary National Reviews (VNRs) aimed at raising awareness among Organisations of Persons with Disabilities (DPOs) to engage with their governments in the national consultation processes on SDG implementation, with particular focus on the 2017 44 volunteering countries. The VNR working group are compiling an outcome document reflecting the work that DPOs carried out at the national, regional and global levels. A comprehensive report – called the Global Report on DPO Participation in VNR Processes – will be issued in draft form prior to the HLPF and will be updated afterward with concrete findings. 

The report will showcase the national level DPO work carried out in different regions as well as best practices and challenges, and will serve as a case study for Member States. It will additionally be useful for DPOs as a model to engage with their government. The case study will feature the volunteering countries of Denmark, Italy, Sweden, Nigeria, Togo, Kenya, Ethiopia, Argentina, El Salvador, Peru, Guatemala, Indonesia, Bangladesh, India and Jordan.

Purpose: This paper describes a three-year research project leading to the development of the CBR Monitoring Manual and Menu (MM&M). The MM&M is a practical toolkit that meets the needs of CBR managers and stakeholders, and is consistent with the philosophy of CBR and community- based disability-inclusive development. It is designed to produce meaningful and locally useful information and data, based on international data standards where possible, to enable aggregation at regional, national and international levels.

Methods: Five complementary workstreams of research were carried out from 2011 to 2014: 1) literature review and analysis; 2) participatory action research with CBR stakeholders; 3) analysis and refinement of validity of concepts andstructures; 4) consultation and review; and 5) synthesis of results. This article documents the method and key results of each of the five workstreams, and the lessons learned along the way.

Results: The MM&M is now freely available on-line at thttp://sydney.edu. au/health-sciences/cdrp/projects/cbr-monitoring.shtml. Collaboration among members of the development team continues, chiefly via an on-line group to which new members have been welcomed.

Conclusion and Implications: At the time of writing, the MM&M is the only international monitoring product, known to the authors, that consciously sets out to reflect both a ‘bottom- up’ and ‘top-down’ perspective of monitoring information and data.To achieve this for a complex programme such as CBR, and to align with its principles, it was essential to use a multi-component and multi-stage strategy for tool development, involving a diverse multidisciplinary team including collaboration with CBR stakeholders.

The report presents an analysis that begins to systematically quantify the scale of the challenge that the world has set itself with the Sustainable Development Goals for the first time.  The authors selected one target per goal – a total of 17 – and projected forward to 2030, grading them from A-F according to how near they will be to completion in 2030. This was based on available projections of current trends sourced from leading institutions, alongside our own where there were gaps. The resulting scorecard shows that unless significant changes are made, none of the SDGs will be met

This UN system repository of resources and tools for capacity development on gender mainstreaming aims to enhance the capacities of UN staff in relation to gender-responsive planning, implementation, monitoring and improved accountability. 

There are three sections:

A. UN offices, funds, programmes and specialized agencies

B. Regional Commissions

C. UN secretariat departments and offices

The WHO global disability action plan 2014-2021 is a significant step towards achieving health and well-being and human rights for people with disabilities. The action plan was endorsed by WHO Member States in 2014 and calls for them to remove barriers and improve access to health services and programmes; strengthen and extend rehabilitation, assistive devices and support services, and community-based rehabilitation; and enhance collection of relevant and internationally comparable data on disability, and research on disability and related services. Achieving the objectives of the action plan better enables people with disabilities to fulfil their aspirations in all aspects of life.