4. Disability Inclusion in Humanitarian Action: Partnerships and Consortia

A woman sits outside in her wheelchair, smiling as she weaves to make her own income.

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A woman sits outside in her wheelchair, smiling as she weaves to make her own income.

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To fully include persons with disabilities in humanitarian action, it is often necessary to provide targeted measures and integrate disability-sensitive measures into the design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of all projects and programmes (the so-called ‘twin-track’ approach). The latter is commonly referred to as ‘disability mainstreaming’ (IASC, 2019, p. 19), a term which has no universal definition. The IASC Guidelines on Inclusion of Persons with Disabilities in Humanitarian Action describe it as "the process of incorporating CRPD in protection principles, promoting the safety and dignity of persons with disabilities, and ensuring they have meaningful access to humanitarian support and can participate fully in humanitarian interventions" (Ibid., p. 10). In combination with targeted measures, mainstreaming is therefore a strategy to safeguard the rights of persons with disabilities during humanitarian emergencies and achieving their inclusion in humanitarian action. The inclusion of persons with disabilities is most successful when humanitarian actors observe four ‘must do actions’ that apply in each sector and in all phases of the humanitarian response (Ibid., pp. 19–21):

  1. promote meaningful participation of persons with disabilities
  2. remove barriers
  3. empower persons with disabilities, support them to develop their capacities
  4. disaggregate data for monitoring inclusion.24

As stated, almost all key stakeholders overlooked persons with disabilities in the early phase of the humanitarian response, failing to promote their meaningful participation and identify their needs, capacities and the barriers they face. As a result, persons with disabilities have been left behind, further increasing their exclusion, marginalization and protection risks. However, following the end of the acute emergency phase in 2018, some organizations began to recognize that their responses were not inclusive. One interview partner noted:

Interview 28, representative of an INGO.

You can see now, and especially within the Protection Working Group and task team, that persons with disabilities are becoming a greater concern and are increasingly included in the agenda of the humanitarian organizations.

When asked about the motives for this change, respondents cited two main reasons. First, that donors are increasingly demanding clear deliverables on the inclusion of persons with disabilities in humanitarian programmes. Second, that members of the Rohingya and host communities frequently raise issues on disability inclusion in consultation meetings and key informant interviews with humanitarian field staff.

The strategies for mainstreaming disability and strengthening organizational capacities in this regard slightly differ among organizations. However, all measures focus on changing data-collection methods, removing existing barriers and increasing the participation of persons with disabilities in consultation meetings, focus group discussions and activities.25 To achieve tangible results, all organizations in this study relied on HI, CBM and CDD for technical support, with some receiving additional technical input from disability inclusion experts within their own organizations both at the headquarters level and in Cox’s Bazar. A few mainstream NGOs employed managers who had previously worked for disability-focused organizations and already had a sound understanding of disability and inclusion. Yet, all respondents believed that the collaboration with disability expert organizations such as HI, CBM or CDD was crucial for advancing disability mainstreaming in their programmes and organizational structures as well as the wider humanitarian response. It is therefore unsurprising that the demand for technical expertise from HI, CBM and CDD in Cox’s Bazar was high. However, due to a lack of sufficient resources, the organizations were not able to respond to all requests. One respondent noted:

Interview with staff from a disability-focused NGO.

There is so much demand. There is a momentum. We have to streamline our work because there are so many demands coming in now.

To meet some of these demands, HI, CBM and CDD independently formed partnerships with United Nations agencies and mainstream NGOs. Importantly, they also established the ADWG in collaboration with HelpAge International to promote inclusive humanitarian action in the wider humanitarian response. Overall, three types of collaboration to foster the inclusion of persons with disabilities were identified: 1) donor-recipient partnerships; 2) NGO consortia; and 3) the ADWG. The following sections will briefly describe the working modalities of these partnerships.