3.6 Conclusion

Persons with disabilities are at a high risk of exclusion. The legal and policy context is unfavourable and many attitudinal, environmental and institutional barriers hinder their access to services and their meaningful participation in the humanitarian response. Three major factors challenge disability inclusion in South Sudan:

  1. attitudinal barriers: stigma and discrimination in the society and the humanitarian community
  2. lack of meaningful participation, the fragmented OPD presence outside the capital, Juba, and the absence of OPDs representing the interests of persons with psychosocial and intellectual disabilities
  3. perceptions of disability as an ‘additional complexity’ or ‘yet another task’ in an already complex crisis.

Furthermore, the COVID-19 pandemic has hampered both the participation of OPDs in the cluster coordination meetings and capacity-building, as activities have had to move to an exclusively online format. It should be noted, however, that the representation and participation of OPDs in the clusters was limited even before the outbreak of the pandemic. Furthermore, the multidimensional crisis, characterized by poor governance, rampant corruption, the absence of peace and security, weak civil society and climate change, challenges an effective humanitarian response in general and inclusive humanitarian action in particular.

Despite these challenges, humanitarian organizations are making progress in delivering inclusive humanitarian action, with many investing time and effort in capacity-building, community outreach and advocacy. However, interviews demonstrate that misconceptions on disability are still common and need to be addressed in a systematic manner.