Resources search

This booklet is the gateway for a training kit on personalised social support (PSS). The aim of this training course is to train social facilitators either in the personalised approach only, or in how to carry out a complete PSS process. The aim of this booklet is therefore to impart the methodological and educational components required to use the content of this training course to Handicap International’s (now Humanity and Inclusion) future PSS trainers. It therefore takes another look at the entire content of the PSS training course, explains the educational choices, presents the modules and other teaching tools created, and above all, provides advice/recommendations for future designers and trainers/facilitators on this theme. Throughout this booklet, internet links provide the reader with quick access to the content of training courses and other relevant resources

The reading pack highlights the importance of mainstreaming disability as a cross-cutting issue. Progress has been made since the post-2015 development framework especially in the legislation and in politics. However, in order to go further, “society itself needs to be radically reshaped (…) By mainstreaming disability into all areas of development assistance, general poverty and exclusion issues can be addressed in a way that does not leave out disabled people”

Disability and Development. GSDRC Professional Development Reading Pack no. 23

There is strong evidence that participatory approaches to health and participatory women’s groups hold great potential to improve the health of women and children in resource poor settings. Disabled women’s participation in women’s groups and other community groups in rural Nepal was investigated. A mixed methods approach to describe attendance in groups among disabled and non-disabled women, considering different types and severities of disability was used. No significant differences were found between non-disabled and disabled women in the percentage of women attending at least one of the women’s groups. This was true for women with all severities and types of disability, except physically disabled women who were slightly less likely to have attended. Barriers such as poverty, lack of family support, lack of self-confidence prevented women from attending groups. The findings are of particular significance because disabled people’s participation in broader community groups, not focused on disability, has been little studied.

This article presents results from six randomized control trials of an integrated approach to improve livelihoods among the very poor. The graduated approach combines the transfer of a productive asset with consumption support, training, and coaching plus savings encouragement and health education and/or services. Results from the implementation of the same basic program, adapted to a wide variety of geographic and institutional contexts and with multiple implementing partners, show statistically significant cost-effective impacts on consumption (fueled mostly by increases in self-employment income) and psychosocial status of the targeted households. The impact on the poor households lasted at least a year after all implementation ended. It is possible to make sustainable improvements in the economic status of the poor with a relatively short-term intervention

Science, Vol 348, Issue 6236

A growing number of young people in Sweden with intellectual disability have organized themselves during the last 15 years in self-advocacy groups for socializing, empowerment, and expressing opposition to the norms and attitudes in a society that labels them as disabled. At the same time, the Swedish welfare system has transformed dramatically with processes of far-reaching individualization, closure of the major institutions, decentralization of responsibility from the state to local governments, and an emerging welfare market where service users are turned into customers. The aim of this article is to analyse and discuss the significance of self-advocacy in the new welfare context. Data were collected over a period of more than 10 years using repeated interviews with members of two self-advocacy groups and participation observations. Findings suggest that participation in self-advocacy groups opens up members for increasing health and well-being through new roles and identities, and it strengthens their control over everyday life. Support is still needed, however, but in new ways; otherwise, the restrictions of the institutions will simply be reconstructed in the new welfare system.

This advocacy briefing paper presents key information about including people with disabilities in health systems. It highlights key health facts, related legal frameworks and explores issues such as lack of access to equitable healthcare and the benefits of equitable healthcare. It provides recommendations for stakeholders and suggests ways to measure progress

Advocacy briefing paper

This manual presents indicators that "capture the difference (Community-Based Rehabilitation) CBR makes in the lives of people with disabilities in the communities where it is implemented. This manual presents these (base and supplementary) indicators and provides simple guidance on collecting the data needed to inform them. The indicators have been developed to show the difference between people living with a disability and their families and those without disabilities in relation to the information reported in the indicators. This comparability provides valuable information to CBR managers, donors and government agencies alike, which can be used to guide decision-making, support advocacy and improve accountability. Further, the ability of the indicators to provide a comparison of the populations of persons with disability to persons without disability aligns with the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD), which states that persons with disability have equal rights to those without disabilities...this manual serves to standardize the monitoring of differences made by in the lives of people with disabilities and their families, making it possible to compare the difference CBR makes across areas and countries. This manual aligns with the WHO Global Disability Action Plan 2014–2021, and may also be used to monitor other development plans in an easy and efficient way”

Annie Patri, speaking in her capacity as Project Coordinator and Acting Domain Coordinator for Disaster Risk Management (DRM) at Handicap international at an ODI event, discusses the challenges faced by people with disabilities in the event of a disaster. Annie argues that not only is there too little data on the challenges facing people with disabilities in the event of a disaster, but there are also considerable access issues for people with disabilities. In this talk Annie outlines how people with disabilities can and must be embraced as active agents of change in the event of a disaster

ODI event “How to include and empower the vulnerable in disaster risk reduction”

London, UK

25 November 2015

Winterveldt was one of the 9 sites included in a national study to determine the livelihood strategies of youth with disabilities, undertaken by the Occupational Therapy Departments of 6 Universities in South Africa. Community-based rehabilitation (CBR) programmes were initiated in Winterveldt in the 1990s by non-governmental organisations and the Occupational Therapy Department at the University of Limpopo - Medical University of South Africa (MEDUNSA).

Purpose: This paper describes the use of a Transect Walk to identify aspects of context that contribute to the vulnerability of youth with disabilities with regard to their livelihood strategies.

Method: Transect Walk was employed as a participatory rapid-appraisal tool to gather data. Convenience sampling was used to identify 11 participants, including three youth with disabilities. Field notes and observations were analysed deductively for themes related to the 5 categories of livelihood assets.

Results: The findings describe the natural and built environment, the access to health, educational and financial services, and the social attitudes of people in this community towards youth with disabilities. The discussion uses the 5 CBR components as a framework to explore strategies for enhancing the assets of youth with disabilities, namely, empowerment, social, health, education, and livelihood.

Conclusions: There is significant development that could be maximised if youth with disabilities were aware of their rights and were able to access services and resources. The implication for local government is to create an inclusive environment in which youth with disabilities are able to participate in mainstream youth development opportunities.