Although South Sudan has, as stated, an extremely challenging humanitarian context and a poor infrastructure, this should not prevent persons with disabilities from accessing crucial services. In certain settings, such as, in particular, IDP camps, organizations have made strides to reduce environmental barriers for persons with disabilities. One respondent elaborates:
Representative of a United Nations agency |
The infrastructure is supposed to be accessible and inclusive, and various agencies have tried as much as possible to make them inclusive. I do not know if you have looked at some of the pictures of the camps in South Sudan, but it is muddy and people live under tarps. That is what it is. There is a limitation on what is actually possible to create, although there have been efforts to redesign latrines or redesign bridges, to level roads, so that, for people with physical disabilities, they become more accessible. The regularity that we can do those kinds of interventions depends on funding and staffing. |
Moreover, international organizations increasingly invest in the close monitoring of their activities to ensure that their distribution points, including those run by their implementing partners, are accessible for persons with disabilities. This also entails strengthening the capacities of the field monitors. A representative from another United Nations agency explains:
Representative of a United Nations agency |
We do protection monitoring, which is, we go inside where we see beneficiaries being registered, getting food assistance, looking at how they are being served, other issues that we need to solve as WFP and take into consideration. So that at least in the next round, we can do some adjustments. […] When we look at how best we can mainstream disability, we need to target our field monitors, staff who are having daily interaction with the beneficiaries, who go on day-to-day basis seeing what is happening, monitoring distribution. These are the key targets to benefit from this training, so we can at least start making our distribution side become more friendly to persons with disabilities. |
The same agency also developed a policy to formalize this practice, but it is not clear yet whether other organizations also define concrete guidelines and hence standardize disability in organizational procedures.