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Children with disabilities in the Middle East and North Africa: A statistical overview of their well-being

UNITED NATIONS CHILDREN'S FUND (UNICEF)
October 2022

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An estimated 21 million children with disabilities live in the Middle East and North Africa. Each of them – like every child in the world – has the right to be nurtured and supported through responsive care and education, to receive adequate nutrition and social protection, and to enjoy play and leisure time. Too often, however, such rights are denied. The reasons vary. They include stigma, lack of accessible services, institutionalization and physical barriers, but the consequences are sadly consistent. When marginalized from society, the chances for these children to survive and thrive are diminished, along with their prospects for a bright future.

Monitoring the inclusion of children with disabilities in development efforts has long been held back by the lack of reliable and comprehensive data. Recent years, however, have seen renewed efforts to fill these data gaps. The development of new data collection tools has resulted in a substantial increase in the availability and quality of data on children with disabilities, fostering new analyses and contributing to increased knowledge generation.

This report is a testament to these efforts. It includes internationally comparable data from four countries in the Middle East and North Africa and covers 18 indicators of child well-being – from nutrition, health and education to protection from violence, exploitation and discrimination. It also presents global and regional estimates of children with disabilities drawn from more than 1,000 data sources, including 95 from countries in the Middle East and North Africa.

The report’s objective is to promote the use of these data to make children with disabilities in the region more visible, bringing about a fuller understanding of their life experiences. It offers evidence crucial to decision-making to fulfill obligations, both moral and legal, to give every child an equal chance in life.

Evaluating the use of a thermoplastic socket in Kenya: A pilot study

BARBARESCHI, Giulia
TEERLINK, Wesley
NJUGUNA, Josepg Gakunga
MUSUNGU, Purity
KIRINO, Mary Dama
HOLLOWAY, Catherine
October 2022

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Many people with amputations who live in low-resourced settings struggle to access the workshops where qualified prosthetists provide appropriate care. Novel technologies such as the thermoplastic Confidence Socket are emerging, which could help facilitate easier access to prosthetic services. The objective of this study was to evaluate the satisfaction and the performance of transtibial prosthesis featuring the Confidence Socket. This is a longitudinal repeated-measures design study.

 

Prosthet Orthot Int. 2022 Oct; 46(5): 532–537.

Published online 2022 Mar 25. doi: 10.1097/PXR.0000000000000130

Inclusive Design and Accessibility of the Built Environment in Nairobi, Kenya

PATRICK, M
MULDOWNEY, A
KILIMANJARO BLIND TRUST AFRICA
TANUI, G
BUKACHI, V
CAMPBELL CLAUSE, J
McKINNON, I
October 2022

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Prepared by the Global Disability Innovation Hub and partners for the UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office

This case study, funded through UK aid AT2030 programme, explores the current situation of inclusive and accessible environments for people with disabilities living in Nairobi. The research findings detailed in this report describe the current challenges and opportunities for embedding inclusive design in Nairobi’s future, providing priority recommendations and forward-thinking next steps.

The research took place in three phases between July 2021 and January 2022, combining both virtual and face to face approaches. Phase 1 focused on understanding the current state of accessibility through desk research and interviews, phase 2 captured the lived experience of people with disabilities utilising interviews, photo diaries and co-design activities. Phase 3 then synthesised findings, running multiple workshops to create actions towards inclusive environments. Thematic analysis was applied to understand the research data, identifying key themes across three different stakeholder groups of People, Policy, and Practice.

The themes identified span across daily life, poverty, transport, housing, sanitation, public spaces and recreational activities. Quotes from participants are interwoven into this report, and strengthen the concluding actions towards inclusion.

 

Inclusive Education Resources and Toolkit – Tools

CRESPI, Sylvia
LOSERT, Lynn
NEWMAN, Lorenzo
PELOSI, Alice
PONTOGOLIO, Silvia
September 2022

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Set of tools developed by Learn More consultancy firm within the Inclusive Education Resources and Toolkit. Available in 4 languages (Arabic, English, French, Spanish) the tools include:

 

Identifying children who are out of school or have dropped out
Making an Inclusive, Learner-friendly Classroom
Social and Emotional Learning in the Classroom
Accessible School WASH Checklist
Tip sheet: WASH for Children with Disabilities
Teachers Communities of Practice
Teacher Interview Guide: Personal Professional Development
A Lesson Plan Template
Universal Design for Learning
Organization and Management of School-community Liaison Committees
Elements of an Inclusive School Policy
Supporting Children’s Speech and Cognitive Development from Birth to Seven Years Old
Sparking grassroots coalition building
Disabled Peoples’ Organization (DPO) collaboration strategies
Stakeholder alignment workshop template

 

Published by Save the Children Italy, Save the Children Sweden

Equalizing access to the labor market for persons with disabilities

International Disability Alliance
August 2022

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A technical paper on implementing Article 27 of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. The paper draws on an extensive range of primary and secondary data, generated within the Inclusive Futures consortium. Data include focus group discussions with organizations of persons with disabilities (OPDs) in Bangladesh, Kenya, Uganda and Nigeria, as well as key informant interviews conducted with Inclusion Works partners and stakeholders from each of the countries. In addition, the report and the recommendations were enriched by the Learning and Exchange Workshop on Access to Employment and Inclusive Programming in May 2022 in Nairobi, Kenya, jointly organized by IDA, Inclusive Futures consortium, the African Disability Forum and United Disabled Persons of Kenya.

Journal for International Development: Dilemmas and Developments in Disability Inclusive Employment with a focus on low and middle income settings

Institute of Development Studies, Inclusion International and other various authors
August 2022

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This is a special edition of the Journal of International Development focusing on the dilemmas and developments in disability inclusive employment with a focus on low and middle income settings. This collection of papers provides a rich and diverse set of perspectives and insights regarding the current state of play for disability inclusive employment as a global aspiration.

Inclusive Futures: Using social behaviour change to promote disability inclusion in development programmes

Inclusive Futures
Sightsavers
August 2022

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This brief focuses on the use of social behaviour change (SBC) in the Inclusive Futures programme. It includes an introduction to social behaviour change, followed by three examples of how it is being used in our Inclusive Futures work. These examples reflect emerging findings and our approaches as we go forward. The brief is designed to:
•Explain what SBC is and what it can be useful for – particularly when addressing disability stigma and discrimination
•Present examples of how SBC can be used in different ways to support disability inclusion in development programmes

Mainstreaming disability inclusive employment in international development

Mary Wickenden
Philip Mader
Stephen Thompson
Jackie Shaw
July 2022

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People with disabilities are under-represented in the global workforce, and this problem is often particularly acute inthe‘global south’. This is an editorial to a special issue that seeks to provide new perspectives on why this is the case. We deliberately wanted to place this collection in the Journal of International Development as a core development publication, rather than in a disability specific one, because we think it is important to ‘mainstream’ disability within development so that the international community can develop an increased understanding and awareness of disability dilemmas. The challenges faced by disabled people need to be tackled as part of all development thinking and programming.

Capability-sensitive principles for assistive technology to support young graduates with disabilities in Bangladesh and Kenya into employment

MORRIS, Lisa-Dione
ALGHAIB, Ola Abu
NORTHRIDGE, James
July 2022

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Owing to increased inclusion of young people with disabilities into the private sector in Bangladesh and Kenya, there is an urgent need to find alternative ways to support young graduates with a disability in the workplace with assistive technology solutions. The aim of the paper is to identify barriers for private workplace sectors to use assistive technology to support young graduates seeking, maintaining and retaining employment. This qualitative study adopted the research onion design of Saunders et al. Data were collected usinginterviews and focus group discussions and analysed using thematic analysis. The findings reveal that barriers are linked to seven key person-centred capability themes: the dream, external factors, internal factors, assistive technology vision,strategic design priorities and gaps and assistive actions.

 

Journal of International Development, Volume 34, No. 5

Inclusive Workplaces Toolkit

Inclusion International
June 2022

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The Inclusive Workplaces toolkit shows employers how to make their workplaces inclusive of people with intellectual disabilities. It includes clear guidance on taking action for accessible recruitment, hiring, communication at work, organisational policies, and more, and includes templates and useful resources for employers to implement in their workplaces.

Through the Inclusion Works project, Inclusion International asked employers what help and information they needed to make their workplaces more inclusive. Employers told us that they needed tools and resources to ensure that they would have the knowledge and information to deliver good support to people with intellectual disabilities in their workplace.

People with intellectual disabilities told us what employers need to do differently to make their workplaces more inclusive. The Inclusive Workplaces guide builds on these recommendations and call for inclusion from self-advocates to create a practical tool for employers on how they can take action to create workplaces that are fully inclusive of people with intellectual disabilities.

Listen Include Respect: International Guidelines for Inclusive Participation

Inclusion International
June 2022

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The Listen Include Respect guidelines help organisations understand what they need to do to make sure people with intellectual disabilities are included in their work.

​They were written by Inclusion International and Down Syndrome International.

Over 1,500 people with intellectual disabilities and their families from almost 100 countries helped write them.

The Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) tells us that all people with disabilities have the right to “meaningful participation.”

“Meaningful participation” is what happens when people with intellectual disabilities get everything they need to be fully included, participate equally, and feel valued.

These guidelines will help organisations to make this happen.

Assistive Technology in two humanitarian contexts: Bangladesh and Jordan

KETT, Maria
June 2022

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Despite increased focus on the need for assistive technology (AT), along with estimates of need and gaps in provision in humanitarian contexts, very little is actually known about how people who need AT are managing in these contexts. To address this need, this study explored four main questions: 

What do we currently know about the need for AT in humanitarian contexts?
How is this need currently met?
What gaps are there in the evidence about these needs?
What mechanisms are needed to ensure provision of AT in humanitarian contexts? 

It explored these questions through individual interviews with AT users and their families, as well as people working in the sector, in two humanitarian response contexts: Bangladesh and Jordan. In Bangladesh, we partnered with CBM Global and their local partner, the Centre for Disability in Development, and in Jordan, all those interviewed were beneficiaries of HelpAge International.

The questions focused on the areas identified as gaps in the initial literature review, and used qualitative methodologies to probe and gain further insight into gaps across the entire AT ecosystem.

Supporting young children with disabilities in humanitarian settings

BEILER, ROSALENGA BERMAN
ZUIDEMA, SUZANNE
BECKERLEGGE, FIONA
RODRIGUEZ GARCIA, DEBORAH MARIE
June 2022

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The rapid growth that occurs in the first years of life provides an opportunity to influence and improve developmental outcomes that may impact the entire course of an individual's life. Addressing the developmental needs of children with disabilities during this critical period is essential if they are to survive, flourish, learn, and be empowered (WHO, n.d.). 

Recognizing the importance of addressing all children's unique needs and acknowledging the influence of social stigma and misconceptions about disability that may lead to underdeveloped potential and social exclusion, we seek to advocate for and support the inclusion of young children with disabilities in Early Childhood Development in Emergencies programming. 

The webinar was moderated by Rosangela Berman Bieler, UNICEF’s Global Advisor on Disability, and included presentations on foundational concepts for disabilities-inclusive programming, and alternatives to address young children with disabilities needs in a resourceful, creative manner. 

Early detection tools for children with developmental delays and disabilities in the Middle East and North Africa

UNITED NATIONS CHILDREN'S FUND (UNICEF)
June 2022

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This technical brief was developed to support specialists in countries of the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region to select which early detection tools best fit their needs and context by comparing various tools that have been used in theregion and lessons learned in using and adapting those tools to local contexts.

Barriers to inclusive employment for self-advocates and families

BIALIK, Kimber
MHIRI, Manel
June 2022

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This article is about the barriers to inclusive employment that people with intellectual disabilities and families face in Kenya, Uganda, Nigeria, and Bangladesh.

Through the Inclusion Works Project, we worked with our members in Kenya, Uganda, Nigeria, and Bangladesh to talk with self-advocates and family members about employment.

We had 3 consultation meetings with self-advocates and 3 consultation meetings with families – we talked to 54 self-advocates and 45 family members about access to inclusive employment in their countries.

Some of the barriers that they told us about were discrimination from employers, lack of access to education, unfair pay, issues with safety and security at work, and being pressured to choose self-employment.

This article explains some of the issues accessing inclusive employment that people with intellectual disabilities and their families told us they face in low- and middle-income countries.

The article also gives recommendations for how organisations doing work on inclusive employment can work towards addressing some of these barriers and being more inclusive.

 

 Journal of International Development, Volume 34, Issue 5

Disability inclusive employment in urban Malawi: A multi-perspective interview study

REMNANT, Jennifer
WANGGREN, Lena
HUQUE, Sarah
SANG, Katherine
KACHALI, Limbani
RICHARDS, James
June 2022

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The paper presents interview data from Malawian government representatives, trade unionists, employers and people with disabilities from the country's largest cities Lilongwe and Blantyre. Findings relate to the gap between the discourse of employers and government officials and that of workers with disabilities. Firstly, we find a policy-based assumption of a formalised workforce that is not representative of the predominantly informal disabled workforce. Secondly, the disruptive, intermittent and oftenreactive nature of non-governmental organisation (NGO ) interventions can limit long-term inclusivity agendas and undermine the work of disabled activists in Malawi. Lastly, we present findings on the stigmatised nature of disability in these urban centres. We find that stigma is economic: Urban workers with disabilities are discriminated against locally by employers, landlords and banks on assumptions they will not produce or earn enough to meet productivity demands, rent or repayment costs.

 

Journal of International Development, Volume 34, Issue 5

https://doi.org/10.1002/jid.3678

"We bear it and accept our fate” Perceptions of healthcare access from people with disabilities in Cox’s Bazar

PANELLA, Amanda
June 2022

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In November and December 2021, Ground Truth Solutions (GTS) and the International Organisation for Migration’s (IOM) Needs and Population Monitoring unit (NPM) conducted qualitative interviews with persons with mobility and vision impairments from Rohingya refugee and host community populations with the aim of better informing and supporting agencies in developing disability-inclusive programmes and engagement activities. These interviews focused on access to health services, aiming to gain insight into how people with disabilities experience engaging with healthcare services – as well as perceived barriers to access. It also looked at health information needs so that the humanitarian community will be better equipped to identify gaps in programming, deliver more equitable services, and build trust with this marginalised group. To weave tangible experiences into the narrative and bring findings to life, this research took a ‘user journey’ approach to create a set of ‘personas’ derived from key informant interviews with Rohingya and Host Community people with disabilities in Cox’s Bazar, resulting in this highly illustrative report.

From disability budget commitments to budget execution in Kenya: Matching disability approved allocations to actual spending and performance

Development Initiatives
May 2022

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This paper builds on previous analyses conducted by DI on disability budgeting. In this paper, we match budget commitments to implementation; first by mapping the extent to which disability-relevant budget implementation information is accessible, then by analysing financial and non-financial performance in Kenya over the financial years 2016/17 to 2020/21. We have analysed disability budget implementation in five counties (Baringo, Bungoma, Busia, Kakamega, and Vihiga) and two national sectors (Education and Social Protection).

Labour Market Assessment: Pakistan 2022

GLOW Consultants
May 2022

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This labour marker assessment has identified how the Pakistan market works and the possible entry points, so that youth with disabilities, are included in the benefits of growth and economic development. Initially the report focuses on analysing the macro-economic indicators and the sectoral contribution to GDP, followed by evaluation of labour market data, in order to identify employment rates and employment propensity of sectors and sub-sectors and to identify sectors with highest absorptive capacity. Priority subsectors were selected on the basis of the employment rate, GDP contribution and government prioritization. Value chain analysis of the selected priority subsectors was conducted to analyse possible entry point for people with disabilities in various stages of the value chain by identifying required skills and education. Subsequently, education stocks and flows were analysed to assess whether the demand of skills was coherent with the supply of skills. Existing systems were reviewed to assess the inclusion of people with disabilities in government initiatives and programmes. Likewise, government-formulated polices and legislation were appraised to understand their contribution in improving lives and safeguarding the rights of people with disabilities, followed by analyses of existing labour market information systems. Shortcomings and limitations in policies were identified, emerging issues were highlighted, and recommendations were provided to improve implementation of existing policies.

Global Report on Assistive Technology

WORLD HEALTH ORGANISATION (WHO)
UNITED NATIONS CHILDREN'S FUND (UNICEF)
May 2022

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The WHO-UNICEF Global Report on Assistive Technology (AT) reveals that more than 2.5 billion people need one or more assistive products, such as wheelchairs, hearing aids, or apps that support communication and cognition. Yet nearly one billion of them are denied access, particularly in low- and middle-income countries, where access can be as low as 3% of the need for these life-changing products.

The Global Report provides the best available evidence about the barriers currently preventing access, how access can be improved, and how enabling environments and AT can enable persons with disabilities to enjoy their human rights while generating a tremendous return on investment for governments. The report also makes 10 key recommendations for concrete actions that will improve access to AT, for everyone, that needs them. 

Access to assistive technology for children with disabilities is often the first step for childhood development, access to education, participation in sports and civic life, and getting ready for employment like their peers. Children with disabilities have additional challenges due to their growth, which requires frequent adjustments or replacements of their assistive products.

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