Inclusion & Mainstreaming of Persons-With-Disabilities (PWDS) and Other Vulnerable Groups in Social Protection Programmes

Social protection is increasingly recognised by government and development agencies as an important component of poverty reduction and development. Social assistance received in form of cash and in-kind transfers has helped in reducing poverty in which persons with disabilities are often identified as one of a number of groups who could potentially benefit from this form of support. Several mainstream schemes aimed at vulnerable groups and poor households including persons with disabilities in their targeting criteria. However, considering that the monitoring and evaluation systems are generally weak or non-existent, there is very little disaggregated data from these schemes to show the actual inclusion of persons with disabilities. The structure of social protection schemes can be an obstacle to the employment of persons with disabilities. Thus, social protection systems that both mainstream schemes and targets people with disabilities only can play a critical role in laying the foundation for many persons with disabilities to enter and/or stay in employment by ensuring that persons with disabilities have income security, that their disability-related needs and extra costs are met and that they have effective access to health care services. These systems can significantly promote the participation of people with disabilities in the labour market and in society at large. This training is designed to bridge the skill-gap in targeting, planning, implementation and management to ensure the inclusion and mainstreaming of persons with disabilities in social protection programmes.