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 simultaneously aim to remove barriers to participation (non-discrimination, accessibility, awareness raising) and provide individual support (social protection, support services, assistive devices). After reviewing the engagement of the diversity of stakeholders at the global level, CIP identified social protection and community support services as areas where more work is needed to translate CRPD standards into implementable policies and programs in low- and middle- income countries.
Prior to COVID-19, the engagement of CIP on social protection was mostly connected to work on the costs of disability (see more in the data for inclusion section) and the collaboration with the ILO-UNICEF-UNPRPD inclusive social protection initiative with the development of background papers on different subjects, such as data or employment.
With the COVID 19 crisis, CIP stepped up its engagement and supported the ILO-UNICEF-UNPRPD response, OPDs advocacy in India and the Philippines as well as outreach together with the International Disability Alliance. It also carried out a study with Monash University for WHO on the impact of COVID 19 on access to assistive devices and support services, and 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
- 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 also 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 TCI 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 also 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 in December which led to the formulation of the call for action for inclusive social protection in Africa.
- WHO – impact of COVID 19 on access to Assistive Technology and Support Services: CIP co implemented a study with Monash University which examines 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 will generate a series of articles chronicling the impact of Covid on people’s ability to obtain and use these forms of assistance, and make policy recommendations on how the situation can be handled better in the future.
- 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.
Continuing work started in 2019, CIP supported the evaluation of Disability Rights International’s project in Serbia and Bulgaria aiming at building the capacity of local stakeholders to advocate for deinstitutionalization and community-based programs. CIP was hired to evaluate the program, using focus groups, reviews of project materials, and evaluation surveys distributed to participants. The evaluation was meant not only to gauge the benefit of the program to participants but to provide guidance on where efforts might be most effective
Articles about inclusive social protection
- Focusing a Disability Lens on Budgeting – Example from Kenya
- The United States Census Bureau’s Decision to Switch to the Washington Group Questions
- What are the challenges to providing quality higher education for persons with disabilities in low and middle income countries and what would be the effective approaches to eliminate barriers to reduce dropout and improve quality higher education?
- Holding Governments Accountable for Inclusion
