INCLUSIVE SOCIAL PROTECTION
Supporting the design of social protection policies that promote full participation, account for the extra costs of disability and promote community support.
Inclusion requires a set of policies that remove barriers to participation (non-discrimination, accessibility, awareness raising) and provide individual support (social protection, support services, assistive devices). Social protection and community support services are areas where significant work is needed to translate CRPD standards into implementable policies and programs in low- and middle- income countries.
During the COVID 19 pandemic, CIP worked with UN agencies, organizations of persons with disabilties (OPDs), and governments to examine social protection policies and advocate for more inclusive social protection responses. Examples of this work include:
- In 2020, within the ILO-UNICEF-UNPRPD program , CIP produced an initial global overview COVID Social Protection response for persons with disabilities as well as a short awareness video on the need for inclusive social protection response in different languages with sign language interpretation.
- During April and May 2020, CIP supported the International Disability Alliance to organize a series of webinars to understand how disability-inclusive social protection schemes can respond to the COVID 19 outbreak worldwide, measures being taken in various countries, and their impact. A total number of 207 registered people from 40 countries (ASEAN, South Asia and Africa) attended. CIP also supported a webinar with Transforming Communities for Inclusion – Asia Pacific.
- Indian CIP fellow Meenakshi Balasubramanian supported the drafting, in consultation with many OPDs, of a report on the Indian government’s initial Social Protection response for persons with disabilities called “Too little, too few” which was subsequently used for advocacy in different states.
- In the Phillipines, CIP fellow Abner Manlapaz, supported OPDs’ advocacy for a greater social protection response as well as advocacy for a disability support allowance.
- In support to ILO social protection component of the UNPRPD joint response to COVID 19, CIP continued to monitor global social protection response for persons with disabilities, provided technical assistance to UN country teams and OPDs and developed more informational videos to support training and capacity building efforts.
- CIP provided technical assistance to the Joint Program on Social Protection Madagascar in the design of a pilot disability assessment for a cash transfer program initiated by UNICEF. CIP also provided technical assistance to Lebanon, Georgia, and Philippines for data analysis (see data section).
- CIP developed informational videos on disability related costs, coverage of health care costs and accessible delivery mechanisms.
- CIP supported IDA and OPDs from South Asia to document governments’ social protection response for persons with disabilities.
- CIP provided technical support to a regional workshop organized by ILO, IDA and the African Disability Forum that took place in Niamey, Niger, which led to the formulation of the call for action for inclusive social protection in Africa.
CIP co-implemented a study with Monash University which examined how the Covid pandemic affected the lives of people who use assistive technology and support services. Through a series of structured interviews in 6 low- and middle-income countries, snapshot surveys of AT and support service users in a couple dozen countries, and surveys of service providers in the same countries, this project generated three articles chronicling the impact of Covid on people's ability to obtain and use these forms of assistance, and proposed policy recommendations on how the situation can be handled better in the future.
Mont D, Layton N, Puli L, Gupta S, Manlapaz A, Shae K, Tebbutt E, Calvo I, Sidiqy M, Dube K, Kacilala U. Assistive Technology during the COVID-19 Global Pandemic: The Roles of Government and Civil Society in Fulfilling the Social Contract (2021) International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health; 18(22):12031. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph182212031 Layton N, Mont D, Puli L, Calvo I, Shae K, Tebbutt E, Hill KD, Callaway L, Hiscock D, Manlapaz A, Groenewegen I, Sidiqi M. (2021) Access to Assistive Technology during the COVID-19 Global Pandemic: Voices of Users and Families. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. 2021; 18(21):11273.
https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph182111273
Puli, L.; Layton, N.; Mont, D.; Shae, K.; Calvo, I.; Hill, K.D.; Callaway, L.; Tebbutt, E.; Manlapaz, A.; Groenewegen, I.; Hiscock, D. (2021) Assistive Technology Provider Experiences during the COVID-19 Pandemic. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health, 18, 10477. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph181910477
- CIP financially supported the tremendous work of Filipino Sign Language Access Team for COVID-19 (FSLACT4COVID19) who created an emergency national interpretation system in no time to ensure access to information for deaf persons in the Philippines. Initiated by volunteers, FSLACT4COVID19 did not have any financial backing, so CIP invested to keep it going and supported their fundraising efforts.
- From the initial core group with practically zero resources except for personal finances, the Team grew to over 70 volunteers all working remotely under home quarantine conditions. From March to June 2020, the team provided: (1) sign language interpreter insets on daily newscasts on a public TV station and the two leading private broadcasters; (2) remote medical consultations for more than 80 deaf clients; (3) community assistance to over 250 families of the deaf on relief, social amelioration cash transfers, travel assistance, and human rights violations; (4) 130 COVID-19 and quarantine terms translated into Filipino Sign Language; (5) the dissemination of over 50 Deaf produced / signed advisories, infographics, via the internet, and on TV; (6) over 121 daily briefings recorded, edited, and uploaded with interpreter insets.
