Data to support disability inclusion

Our work on data to support disability inclusion is conducted under the Inclusive Futures initiative, a consortium of 16 partners led by Sightsavers and wholly funded by UK aid from the UK government.

The issue

Persons with disabilities are less likely to make progress out of poverty and have lower chances of earning a decent living. High-quality disability data – when accessible and used effectively – can help communities, policymakers and local officials better understand and prioritise interventions that are vital for supporting persons with disabilities and ensuring they are not left behind.

The purpose of our work

Development Initiatives (DI) has teamed up with Sightsavers and others on the Inclusive Futures initiative, funded by UK aid. Our aim under the project is to create and test innovative approaches to improve the long-term economic empowerment and inclusion of persons with disabilities in Kenya and Uganda.

DI's role in the consortium is to improve the quality and use of disability data in these two target countries. To establish a baseline for the project, we conducted an initial mapping of the disability data that exists, which involved: identifying official sources of disability data (i.e. censuses, national studies and surveys); assessing the quality of the data those sources provide; and presenting analysis of disability prevalence for working-age persons and employment rates of those with disabilities from publicly available microdata (i.e. individual response data in surveys and censuses).

Our impact

From mapping disability data in Kenya and Uganda, we have found that data on disability in these countries is limited and dispersed across multiple sources. For instance, our disability data landscaping for Uganda found sixteen government surveys and censuses, five government administrative systems and several non-government sources.

Using the high-quality data that we found, we have been able to produce valuable analyses that shed light on inclusive policies and resource allocation for persons with disabilities compared to other sections of the population.

We have been tracking government funding to support disability inclusion in Kenya at national and subnational levels. At the national level, we found key programmes, such as special needs education at primary and secondary schools, are not adequately funded. We also found there is lack of data on programme outcomes and inconsistencies in available budget data. At the subnational level, our analysis of disability inclusion in five counties in Western Kenya showed budget lines to support persons with disabilities were low in number and inconsistent.

To increase the use of available data, we have started to offer training on data life cycle (from types of data, standards and harmonisation to storage, data sharing and protection) to organisations of persons with disabilities (OPDs) in both Kenya and Uganda.

In following a demand-led, rights-based approach and building on our findings so far, we engaged with national actors to assess their data and evidence needs. For instance, we were asked to carry out comparative analysis on the institutional and policy set up as well as investments towards disability inclusion in Kenya and Uganda. These forthcoming outputs benefited from the contributions and review by Bridge CRPD-SDGs Alumni members of the International Disability Alliance Community of Practice from Kenya and Uganda.

Under the Inclusive Futures project, we were able to support the government of Kenya in the development and launch of its Inclusive Data Charter Action Plan. This has motivated us, as part of wider work in this area, to support the Ministry of Public Service, Gender, Senior Citizens Affairs and Special Programmes to implement some of the activities in the Action Plan. This will involve conducting a disability data audit for the country. The audit will comprehensively identify what disability data is currently available for the country, who produces it, where it is stored, and who is currently using it – providing an inventory of disability data for the ministry.

We identified the current scale of disability-relevant official development assistance, expanding on previous work at the global level by looking through the lens of the Covid-19 pandemic.

As a spin-off from our national and subnational budget tracking for disability inclusion, we also analysed whether government budget commitments match actual spending in Kenya. This work was complemented by qualitative data to explore the challenges faced by those formulating, implementing and reporting on disability-inclusive budget allocations in Kenya.

In an effort to make DI itself a more inclusive place of employment, we have offered opportunities to two interns with disabilities. The interns were based in our East Africa Hub and were offered data use skills training. During their placement, the interns participated in our disability data landscaping work in Uganda and disability budget analysis in Kenya. To support a more inclusive culture, DI’s staff were also trained on disability etiquette and unconscious bias training by Sightsavers.

Our disability-tailored data life cycle training continues to be popular and we are expecting to run additional sessions for various OPDs including members of the Inclusive Futures consortium.