Situational Analysis of Persons with Disabilities in Uganda
In 2019, Development Pathways was contracted by WFP to conduct a situational analysis of persons with disabilities in Uganda. The analysis comprises four interlinked components: a national representative household survey; qualitative life-history data; a review of the “disability architecture”; and a diagnostic of existing social protection programmes.
The final Ministry of Gender, Labour and Social Development report provides an overview of the vulnerabilities and risks that persons with disabilities, and their caregivers, face across their lifecycle. This includes an overview of the additional costs of living with a disability in Uganda, as captured by both quantitive and qualitative data. The report then examines the services that are currently provided for persons with disabilities (both social protection-specific and mainstream) and discusses how inclusive these programmes and services are. All of this is framed by an analysis of existing governance structures, legislation and policy.
Whilst the report makes a number of recommendations, one of the aims of the report is to inform the design of a new disability-specific programme which will take practical steps to strengthen Uganda’s social protection schemes. As indicated in the report, there are a number of key social protection schemes missing within Uganda’s framework, including a child disability benefit, a disability benefit for working-age adults (which also compensates those who can work for the additional costs they experience) and a care/support benefit. A number of other recommendations are also made with the aim of having a transformative effect for persons with disabilities. The situational analysis will feed into the initiatives currently being undertaken by the Expanding Social Protection II programme (ESPP II) to enhance the inclusion of persons with disabilities within social protection.
The long version of the report can be found here. A shorter summary version of the report is available here.
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