Key elements – must do

‘Must do’ actions must be undertaken in all phases of humanitarian action when implementing livelihood programming for personswith disabilities.

Participation

Develop partnerships with OPDs and other organizations working on livelihoods. Involve them in supporting persons with disabilities and advocatingfor and promoting inclusive forms of assistance and services.

Addressing barriers

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Diagram 9 Barriers to access and inclusion in livelihoods

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Flow chart depicting how impacts of the crisis are exacerbated for persons with disabilities in livelihoods.

Impact of the crisis includes insecurity, breakdowns of social networks, destruction of infrastructure, displacement, closure of services. These impacts are exacerbated by barriers in the response including:

Environmental barriers

  • - Inaccessible and unsafe markets, places of work and related facilities (e.g. toilets)
  • - Lack of accessible information on markets, social protection, how to use facilities, opportunities such as skills training, job openings, micro-credit or other financial services
  • - Inaccessible transportation and road infrastructure.

Attitudinal barriers

  • - Negative attitudes and discrimination against persons with disabilities in the workplace
  • - Lack of awareness and knowledge about capacities of persons with disabilities and their possible contributions in the workplace
  • - Lack of confidence in the ability of persons with disabilities to successfully utilize financial services

Institutional barriers

  • - Lack of technical capacity to promote the inclusion of persons with disabilities to successfully utilize financial services
  • - Restrictive entry requirements for access to vocational training or micro-finance schemes such as educational qualifications, collateral, etc.
  • - Employment policies and programmes are not inclusive of persons with disabilities
  • - Lack of accurate data on persons with disabilities Establish peer-support groups and encourage persons with psychosocial and intellectual disabilities to become advocates themselves.

The barriers in the response result in risk faced by persons with disabilities including violence, poverty, environmental hazards, deterioration of health, exclusion, isolation

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Empowerment and capacity development

Data collection and monitoring

The following guidance will support livelihood 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 livelihood programmes in humanitarian settings.