Disability Inclusion for Health and Development Updates

Read about what Nossal's disability inclusion team are currently working on - and also some exciting new collaborations that have started in 2019.

The disability inclusion team has kicked off 2019 with a growing portfolio of work on disability data and measurement. The team are completing a study into the use of the Washington Group questions on disability in development and humanitarian programming for the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) under the CBM-Nossal Partnership. They are also providing technical assistance to design and deliver a baseline survey for a USAID multi-year Community Based Inclusive Development programme in Laos implemented by World Education and Humanity and Inclusion. Additionally, the team are providing technical support to incorporate disability measurement components into the Individual Deprivation Measure (IDM) poverty measurement tool for use in Myanmar. The IDM is being developed by the International Women’s Development Agency (IWDA) with the Australian National University (ANU) and funded by DFAT.

The team are also pleased to have started 2019 with new collaborations. These include collaborations with with UNFPA to provide technical assistance to a disability survey in Laos and to support the prevention of gender-based violence for women with disability in Timor Leste, and support to Motivation Australia for a study of procurement options for assistive products in the Pacific funded by WHO. Further new collaborations with WHO include technical support to the development of a rapid assistive technology assessment tool (rATA) for global use and developing a national priority list for assistive products for Timor Leste.

Finally, the team is pleased to be developing new working relations with Melbourne’s Royal Children’s Hospital on early childhood intervention, and to be a working group member for the Inter Agency Standing Committee’s guidelines for disability inclusion in humanitarian response.