About the Newsletter
Our quarterly newsletter brings together highlights from CIP’s work: new research, fellowship news, and policy in practice around the world. Explore what we’ve been working on and subscribe to receive future editions straight to your inbox.
It has been busy, more than 1,000 people applied for the next CIP Fellowship. New research is asking us to look differently at disability data, budgets and accessibility. And across countries, our team and fellows have been bringing those ideas into policy discussions, training and practice.
This edition brings some of those stories together. Here’s a glimpse of what we’ve been up to, and as always.
Fellows at CIP: Research, Ideas and New Voices
Over 1,000 Applications for the Next CIP Fellowship
We’ve officially closed applications for the next CIP Fellowship cohort, and this year we received more than 1,000 applications, an increase from previous years. Behind those numbers are emerging researchers with disabilities bringing thoughtful questions, lived experience and strong commitment to creating inclusive policy.
With only three fellowship places available, choosing the next cohort won’t be easy. We’re now taking the time to carefully review every application and will introduce the selected fellows once the process is complete.
The next call will open in June 2027. Until then, future applicants can start thinking about the questions they want to explore, the project they would like to develop, and the kind of contribution they hope their research can make.
Disability Rights and Climate Justice in Galway
CIP Fellow Umesh Balal Magar from Nepal joined the 17th International Disability Law Summer School at the University of Galway, marking the 20th anniversary of the UNCRPD. He presented his poster, “Advancing Inclusive Climate Action in Nepal,” and joined a panel on how the Convention can respond to emerging global challenges.
His work focuses on the link between disability rights and climate justice, and on making sure persons with disabilities are included in climate policy and decision-making. That work feels especially urgent in Nepal, where recent climate-related disasters have made these questions impossible to ignore, and increasingly relevant far beyond it.
Fresh from CIP: What We Published
New Disability Policy Insights: Making Disability Data Work Together
Our latest Disability Policy Insights looks at a deceptively simple problem: why can two official sources report very different disability prevalence rates? The brief explores how differences in questions, definitions and data collection methods can make disability data hard to compare, and what harmonization can do to help different sources work together and give policymakers a clearer picture of the barriers persons with disabilities face.
As with our other Disability Policy Insights, there are two ways to explore it: read the full policy brief, or watch a new four-minute video with Dan Mont, where he breaks the issue down in simple terms and walks through practical recommendations for improving disability data harmonization.
Three New Stat of the Month: Looking Beyond the Numbers
Statistics can be powerful, but a number on its own rarely tells the whole story. That is the idea behind CIP’s Stat of the Month, our monthly series where we take a statistic or common claim, look a little closer, and ask what it actually tells us, and what it might be hiding.
Our latest editions tackle three very different questions:
- How much does accessibility really cost? And why does including it from the start save money.
- Is total disability spending enough to tell us whether a budget is inclusive? Using India, we look at why where money goes and whether it is actually spent matters just as much as the headline figure.
- Is it still true that there is “no data” on disability? With 143 countries using Washington Group questions since 2009, we ask whether the real gap today is not the lack of data itself, but the information we still need about the barriers persons with disabilities face in their daily lives
Inclusive Policy in Practice: Around the World
From Research to Policy in Indonesia
Indonesia is putting the extra costs of disability on the policy agenda. Government Regulation (PP) No. 31 of 2026 on Concessions for Persons with Disabilities and Incentives for Companies introduces measures aimed at helping offset some of the additional costs persons with disabilities face in everyday life.
The regulation builds on a study by Prospera looking at those extra costs, with technical advice and support from the Center for Inclusive Policy. It is always exciting to see our work feed into concrete policy responses, and to see governments address the extra costs of disability.
Better Disability Data for Better Policy in Malaysia
Making data systems work better for children with disabilities starts with asking the right questions. Are children with disabilities actually visible in the systems governments use to make decisions? Can those systems show where the gaps are? And are policies and services being designed around people’s real lives, rather than assumptions?
In Malaysia, CIP joined a UNICEF workshop on collecting, analysing, and using data on children with disabilities, CEO Daniel Mont contributed to discussions on disability measurement, Washington Group tools, inclusive indicators, registries, and how to turn data into policy action.
CIP also took part in a high-level OECD discussion on new approaches to disability identification for research, with Jennifer Madans and Daniel Mont sharing their expertise. Because better data is not just a technical exercise. It helps governments see who is being left out and make better decisions about the policies, services, and supports people actually need.
Explaining Tamil Nadu’s Budget in the Language People Use
After Tamil Nadu’s State elections, the newly formed government announced its Revised Budget Estimate for 2026-27. As part of the Disability Rights Alliance, Tamil Nadu, CIP Senior Research Associate Meenakshi Balasubramanian responded in a different format: a video in the local language explaining what the new budget means from a disability perspective taking the budget conversation beyond reports and policy spaces and into a format that is easier to access and share.
From Disability Assessment to Personal Assistance in the Philippines
In the Philippines, CIP Senior Research Associate Abner Manlapaz has been working on two very practical sides of disability inclusion. In Camarines Norte, he facilitated a four-day training for disability assessors from local government units, Persons with Disability Affairs Offices and local OPDs on using the Disability and Needs Assessment System. The training combined system orientation, practical exercises and field simulations, helping assessors better identify and document the needs of persons with disabilities, particularly in emergency and disaster response.
Abner also developed and piloted two training modules on Personal Assistance Services, one for service users and one for personal assistants, together with the Life Haven Center for Independent Living. Tested in Laguna in August, the modules take a rights-based, user-led approach to personal assistance, with persons with disabilities at the center of decisions about the support they receive. The pilot brought together OPDs, local governments, personal assistants, families and disability advocates as part of broader efforts to strengthen and institutionalize personal assistance services in the Philippines.
From the UN to National Statistics Offices
The past few months have taken CIP into very different rooms, from UNHQ to national statistics offices and online classrooms. Daniel Mont continued contributing to the Lancet Commission on Disability and Health, working with the group looking at the economic impact of inclusive health policies.
He also delivered a UNESCO module on disability data collection for an inclusive education course across several Sub-Saharan African countries, and helped launch a community of practice focused on improving Education Management Information Systems. At the Conference of States Parties to the CRPD in New York, Daniel joined sessions on progress in disability data collection and on improving disability assessment systems. And in July, he worked directly with the Thai National Statistics Office, delivering training on cognitive testing of survey questions.
Bringing Disability into Social Protection Reform in Jordan
Jordan is looking at possible reforms to its social protection system, and disability needs to be part of that conversation from the start. As part of an ILO training course on inclusive social protection, Daniel Mont led two sessions on disability data, measurement, and the extra costs of disability for government stakeholders in Jordan.
The sessions looked at how better disability data can help governments understand who their systems are reaching, what additional costs people may face, and what that means for the way social protection is designed.
Aligning Disability Assessment Across Systems
In the Philippines, CIP Senior Research Associate Abner Manlapaz is part of a Technical Advisory Group developing a new Manual of Operations for disability screening and local governance. Recent discussions focused on simplifying disability categories for community workers, shifting health algorithms toward direct service delivery, and harmonizing assessment tools across different stages of life.
The tools being aligned include DepEd’s MFAT, DOLE-ECC’s assessment framework, and CIP’s Disability and Needs Assessment System. The group will work with partners including UNICEF and PARM to map existing screening tools, strengthen monitoring, and better align local government practices with national standards.
More to come.
As always the CIP is busy working on exciting research and policy, so we’ll have more to share before long.
See you in the next one.
The CIP Team
Center for Inclusive Policy
