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The fourth issue of this journal focuses on “Preparedness for Disability Inclusive Disaster Risk Reduction” and encourages writers to share initiatives undertaken by the humanitarian community in the Pakistan or suggest future interventions.
 

Articles included are:

• Towards disability inclusive DRR programming in Pakistan
• Age and disability inclusive DRR
• Enhancing disaster preparedness for effective response and to “Build Back Better” 
• Preparedness for disability inclusive Disaster Risk Reduction policies focusing women with disabilities in crisis situation
• Disability inclusion without proper knowledge can cause further disability- A personal experience 

The Sunderbans are a group of delta islands that straddle the border between India and Bangladesh. For people living on the Indian side, health services are scarce and the terrain makes access to what is available difficult. In 2018, the international non-governmental organisation Sightsavers and their partners conducted a population-based survey of visual impairment and coverage of cataract and spectacle services, supplemented with tools to measure equity in eye health by wealth, disability, and geographical location. Two-stage cluster sampling was undertaken to randomly select 3868 individuals aged 40+ years, of whom 3410 were examined

Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2019 Dec; 16(23): 4869

doi: 10.3390/ijerph16234869

United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) adopts a twin-track approach to ensure the full inclusion of Palestine refugees with disabilities. This entails ‘disability mainstreaming’, whereby all UNRWA programmes and services are universally designed to ensure that they are usable by and/or reach beneficiaries with disabilities, coupled with the provision of ‘targeted/tailored interventions’. During 2019, UNRWA implemented the following activities to address the specific needs of Palestine refugees with disabilities:

• Direct Specialized Services for Persons with Disabilities
• Disability Inclusion through Programmes
• International Cooperation

This is a first exercise to connect different areas of debate, looking at the key trends of the future of work from a disability perspective and seeking to identify specific action needed in order to shape the future of work in a more disability-inclusive way.

Chapters include: Work and disability - overview of current situation; megatrends of future work and persons with disability (technological revolution, skills revolution, cultutral change, demographic change and climate change); and Roadmap for an inclusive future of work.

The following five key objectives for the inclusion of persons with disabilities in the future of work have been identified:

1. New forms of employment and employment relations integrate disability inclusion

2. Skills development and life-long learning made inclusive of persons with disabilities

3. Universal Design embedded in development of all new infrastructure, products and services

4. Assistive technologies, existing and newly developed, to be made affordable and available

5. Measures to include persons with disabilities in growing and developing areas of the economy

Governments, companies, disability NGOs, trade unions and academia must be encouraged to commit and contribute towards achieving these objectives through different actions. An inclusive future of work can be reached through coordination and alliances among the different stakeholders

The guidelines set out essential actions that humanitarian actors must take in order to effectively identify and respond to the needs and rights of persons with disabilities who are most at risk of being left behind in humanitarian settings.

The recommended actions in each chapter place persons with disabilities at the centre of humanitarian action, both as actors and as members of affected populations. They are specific to persons with disabilities and to the context of humanitarian action and build on existing and more general standards and guidelines.

These are the first humanitarian guidelines to be developed with and by persons with disabilities and their representative organizations in association with traditional humanitarian stakeholders. Based on the outcomes of a comprehensive global and regional multi-stakeholder consultation process, they are designed to promote the implementation of quality humanitarian programmes in all contexts and across all regions, and to establish and increase both the inclusion of persons with disabilities and their meaningful participation in all decisions that concern them.

A short brief giving urgent general livelihood related concerns and also urgent disability related livelihood concerns in Syria is presented. 

Recommendations for donors and humanitarian actors are listed.

This first accountability report, one year on from the Global Disability Summit 2018, presents independent analysis of the 171 sets of commitments made by governments and organisations at the Summit. It also sets out the results of a self-reporting survey completed by Summit participants, updating on progress made against their commitments so far.

The wider impact of the summit is discussed.

The results of the first GDS18 self-reporting survey demonstrate that significant progress has been made on implementation of the 968 Summit commitments. Work is reported to be underway on 74% of the commitments and 10% are reported as already completed, contributing towards an improved and increased visibility of disability inclusion within development and humanitarian action.

Appendix 2 gives country level case studies: Case study developed by Users and Survivors of Psychiatry Kenya; Case Study developed by the National Federation of the Disabled Nepal (NFDN); and Case Study developed by I Am a Human, Jordan

The 2015-2017 Advocating for Change Project (AfC), a project funded by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), aimed at promoting and advocating for rights of people with disabilities through the push for the ratification of the UNCRPD at the national level, improving quality decentralization process at the local level and promoting quality livelihood action for people with disabilities through improved and inclusive vocational training center (CNEFP) in Tibar.

One particular activity in this project is the collection and dissemination of best practices with the "Making it Work" methodology. This methodology aims to document and promote already existing best practices that adhere to the principles of UNCRPD. Making it Work utilizes a multi stakeholder approach and encourages members of DPOs and other organizations to identify best practices and effective action in and surrounding their localities. These best practices are then collected with the ultimate goal to serve as examples of embodiment of the UNCRPD for replication by organizations or institutions elsewhere.

Over the past three years, Cameroon’s Anglophone regions have been embroiled in a cycle of violence that has claimed an estimated 2,000 lives and uprooted almost half a million people from their homes. People with disabilities caught in the violence struggle to flee to safety when their communities come under attack. They also face difficulties in getting necessary assistance.

Between January and May 2019, Human Rights Watch interviewed 48 people with disabilities living in the Anglophone regions, their family members, representatives of UN agencies, and national and international humanitarian organizations to investigate how the crisis in the North-West and South-West regions has disproportionately affected people with disabilities. Some of their stories are presented.