Introduction
According to the World Health Organization, 15% of the world population lives with a disability[1] including 93 million of children. In the context of emergency, field experience and observations indicate that persons with disabilities are often neglected in the contingency planning, assessment, design and delivery of humanitarian relief. In addition, people with disabilities are rarely consulted and included in decision-making processes, further impeding good understanding of their needs. Emergency situations such as conflict or natural disasters can also create a new generation of people who experience disability due to new injuries, lack of available quality medical care or psychological distress, or collapse of support structures.
The World Humanitarian Summit (WHS) process is seeking to find better ways to meet the needs of millions of people affected by conflicts and disasters. In collaboration with Handicap International, and with the support of the International Disability Alliance (IDA) and the International Disability and Development Consortium (IDDC), the WHS secretariat has decided to launch an online survey in three parts to collect the views:
- of persons with disabilities that have been affected by a humanitarian crisis,
- of the organizations representing them, and
- of humanitarian actors.
The purpose of these surveys is to identify gaps and good practices in humanitarian response, and to find a way towards a more inclusive humanitarian system. They will take you only a few minutes and your answers will be processed with strict confidentiality. All the answers will be compiled by Handicap International. They will form the basis of a report including recommendations that will feed into the World Humanitarian Summit process.
Feedback, comments and additional information are welcomed – please contact Handicap International directly: inclusionsurveys@handicap-international.org
Please disseminate these surveys as largely as possible to make this consultation successful.
The surveys are open until July 1st 2015.
Please take a moment to share your views. We thank you in advance for your interest.