WHAT WE DO
Community Support
Supporting choice, control, and independent living
Community support includes the services, networks, and assistance people with disabilities need to live independently, make their own choices, and participate fully in their communities.
CIP works with partners to build the evidence and policy tools needed to build inclusive systems of community support, particularly in low- and middle-income countries. Our research identifies support gaps, documents what works, and helps turn evidence into rights-based policy.
Building better support systems
We research disability support needs, map policies and services, document good practices, and develop frameworks that help governments and other stakeholders respond to gaps in community support.
Advancing an Inclusive Care and Support Agenda
Care and support policies are often developed in silos. We center disability and older persons rights and gender perspectives into the care and support agenda, producing evidence to help shape systems that are sustainable, inclusive, gender-responsive, age-sensitive systems.
“Women and girls with disabilities need to be explicitly mentioned in gender policies.”
18%
Women with disabilities are more likely to report unmet support needs.
45%+
of people with disabilities have an unmet need for care and support.
Our community support research
CIP's paper on the disability support gap examines why community support services remain scarce for persons with disabilities in LMICs.
CIP's second Disability Policy Insights brief argues for disability inclusion in the care agenda, backed by data from 12 countries.
New study on disability care and support in Bogota finds most adults with disabilities still lack the care they need.
More from CIP on community support
What makes community support for people with disabilities work in LMICs? Explore public funding, family roles, user choice, and coordinated services.
CIP researchers explain why disability and gender must be addressed together in care policy, and what inclusive, rights-based care systems require.