This study has three important limitations. First, it does not evaluate specific projects and the degree to which they include persons with disabilities. To give interview partners the opportunity to speak openly about the challenges and opportunities they encounter in their daily work with respect to disability-inclusive humanitarian action, the identity and affiliation of interviewees were anonymized. This report cannot therefore give precise descriptions of the internal dynamics within individual projects, partnerships and consortia projects.
Second, the study mainly includes interviews with representatives of international and national organizations that collaborate with HI, CBM or CDD to enhance their capacities on disability-inclusive humanitarian action. One interviewee was employed at an NGO that did not have a formal partnership with HI, CBM or CDD. The study cannot assess the extent to which organizations without a formal partnership with disability-focused organizations include persons with disabilities in their humanitarian programming.
Third, due to access conditions, the researcher was only permitted to visit the camps and could not interview or hold focus groups with the refugees to understand their perspectives on the humanitarian community’s efforts to mainstream disability (though the researcher was able to speak with a group of beneficiaries with disabilities in the host communities). As a result, the contextual overview on inclusion barriers relies on reports, observations and expert interviews with humanitarian staff.
A comprehensive, systematic evaluation of relevant guidelines and standards and how they inform humanitarian practice in various contexts is needed but requires more in-depth and comparative research that is beyond the scope of this study.