Key elements – must do
‘Must do’ actions must be undertaken in all phases of humanitarian action when implementing inclusive food and nutrition programmingfor persons with disabilities.
Participation
- Ensure that persons with disabilities, their families, and OPDs are actively involved in identifying barriers, and in planning, designing, implementing, monitoring and evaluating food security and nutrition policies and programmes. Consider a wide range of issues, including appropriate locations, time, frequency, distribution and assistance arrangements.
- Ensure that persons with disabilities are fairly represented, taking into account the full range of disabilities as well as age, gender and diversity. Make concerted efforts to encourage the participation of underrepresented groups, including persons with intellectual and psychosocial disabilities, indigenous persons, women and girls in formal and informal mechanisms and processes that address food security and nutrition.
- Recognize that, with adequate nutrition, persons with disabilities have the capacity to participate in activities and in society on an equal basis with others.
Addressing barriers
- Identify and monitor barriers and solutions that impede the ability of persons with disabilities to access food security and nutrition programming and services. Provide reasonable accommodations to promote full inclusion.
- Make available all assessment and reporting tools, and information related to food security and nutrition, in multiple accessible formats. Consider the requirements of persons with hearing, visual, intellectual and psychosocial disabilities.
- Implement strategies to reduce disability- related stigma. Raise awareness in the community about the rights of persons with disabilities. Establish peer-support groups that include persons with psychosocial and intellectual disabilities.
- Review sectoral policies, guidelines and tools to ensure that they clearly affirm the right of persons with disabilities to access and inclusion.
Empowerment and capacity development
- Mainstream protection and safeguarding measures in all food security and nutrition programming. Inform persons with disabilities of these measures and how to access them. Recognize the gendered dimension of some protection and safeguarding risks.
- Build the capacity of OPDs to enable them to participate actively in all phases of food security and nutrition programming, including design, implementation and monitoring. Enable them to represent the interests of persons with disabilities in coordination structures and mechanisms.
- Strengthen the capacity of food security actors to understand the risks and obstacles faced by persons with disabilities and how to remove them in compliance with humanitarian principles.
- Make food security actors aware of the rights of persons with disabilities, and the interactions between disability and age, gender, migration status, religion and sexuality.
Data collection and monitoring
- Collect and analyse food security and nutrition data on persons with disabilities, disaggregated by sex, age and disability. Do so systematically in all phases of the humanitarian programme cycle. Where reliable data are not available or cannot be collected, use the 15 per cent estimate of global disability prevalence.
- Share information on the cross-sectoral needs of persons with disabilities in inter-agency coordination mechanisms (WASH, protection, health) and ensure cross-sectoral coordination.
- Ensure that data ethics and protection principles (including confidentiality, provision of information, informed consent, security) are respected whenever data on persons with disabilities are collected and used.
The following guidance will support food and nutrition actors to identify and remove barriers faced by persons with disabilities,as well as their families, support persons and caregivers, when they try to access food and nutrition programmes in humanitariansettings.