The evidence will inform the next steps. Pictured: Georgia invests 0.3% of GDP in disability benefits that cover 3% of its working age population. A UN initiative to promote disability-inclusive benefits will be launched alongside a global review of evidence on their implementation.
Government development agencies will join both disability organisations and UN agencies such as UNICEF and the ILO in committing to building social protection systems that cover the additional costs that persons with disabilities face.
They will launch both a report with the latest evidence on progress on implementation and a joint statement on actions the development community must now take.
The report, produced by Development Pathways, will both highlight good practice in building disability-inclusive social protection systems, and underline the scale of the challenge that agencies, donors and governments must rise to. The result of a DFID project, it will include evidence on access to both mainstream and disability-specific social protection schemes.
The joint statement, building on this, will recommend that nations ensure that the one billion persons with disabilities worldwide can access both mainstream schemes and disability-specific schemes given the additional costs that they face.
Signed by the International Disability Alliance, the document states that the one billion people face disability-related costs that can amount to a third of a national average wage. It also underlines that only 5-15% of people in need of assistive devices have access to them.
The meeting will be followed by a workshop to take forward a UNPRPD-funded ILO/UNICEF initiative to draw up practical guidance for countries that are reforming their social protection systems to make them disability-inclusive.
Development Pathways recommends that the design and implementation of social protection systems is informed by a strong evidence base. Our team is pleased that the new report, Leaving No-one Behind: Building Inclusive Social Protection Systems for Persons with Disabilities, will provide a basis for global action.
The meeting at which the report and statement will be unveiled will be open to a worldwide audience via Zoom, at 10.30am GMT on 8 April, meeting ID 620-157-058.