Our Global Disability Summit Commitments

Commitment

Updates

CBM Global with our OPD partners will promote diversity, pursuing practical strategies in the countries where it works that strengthen the involvement of people from diverse backgrounds and impairments, including under-represented groups facing intersectional discrimination.

GDS Reference: Promote underrepresented groups and address intersectionality 

Over the last year our Country Teams have developed country strategies and programme plans with our partners with a greater focus on diversity of partnerships and inclusion of under-represented groups, such as persons with psychosocial disabilities, intellectual disabilities, deafblind and other groups. Examples include supporting the establishment of the National Association of Persons with Psychosocial Disabilities in Zimbabwe, developing a new project in Nepal addressing caste-based discrimination for persons with disabilities, engaging with the Association of Intellectual & Developmental Disabilities in Nigeria and working with people with albinism in Madagascar. 

CBM Global will increase the levels of funding flowing to OPD partners, including budget provisions for organisational strengthening plans that best suits their priorities and requirements and with a recognition of core running costs as a necessary component of project management.

GDS Reference: Increase funding to support OPDs’ priorities 

Over the last year, the volume of funding to OPD partners has increased by 18%, with investment into organisational strengthening where this is a recognised priority. CBM Global continues long term partnerships and funding to a number of global OPD partners, including International Disability Alliance, World Blind Union and World Federation of the Deaf.  

CBM Global will revise its existing partner assessment processes, moving beyond only compliance requirements associated with specific projects to an overarching focus on long term organisational sustainability and effectiveness and more considered approaches to understanding risk and opportunity.

GDS Reference: Adapt funding conditionalities to OPD support 

CBM Global’s Partner Assessment tool and assessment process is being reviewed and modified to ensure a broader and longer term perspective and with adaptations more appropriate to OPD partnerships. This is also a request that was identified by partners in our 2022 partner feedback exercise. We are aiming to finalise the tool in early 2023 along with guidelines for organisational strengthening. 

CBM Global will advocate to donors for flexible and longer-term funding to OPDs that facilitates organisational strengthening.

GDS Reference: Mainstream OPD engagement across funding 

Advocacy to government donors continues to be undertaken by CBM Global Federation Members. For example, CBM Australia advocacy to the Australian Government in the last year focused on obtaining commitment to a new disability inclusive development strategy and restoration of the core funding for disability in the aid budget. Organisational and funding support for OPDs has been prominent in all advocacy messaging as well as in their technical advisory support to the Australian Government.  CBM UK has engaged with the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office on this issue at different levels and as members of a BOND working group are focusing on changing donor policy towards more locally-led development and organisational strengthening.     

CBM Global will ensure that OPDs actively shape and contribute to the development and monitoring of CBM Global country strategies, including identifying key legal, social and other barriers to participation which need addressing in the country context.

GDS Reference: Remove legal, social and other barriers to participation of persons with disabilities and their organisations. 

Over the last year, the number of OPD partners in a funding relationship with CBM Global has increased by 45%. New country strategies have been developed or existing strategies reviewed in 10 countries and the role of OPDs in this process has been strengthened. In all instances, OPDs were actively engaged and consulted and their input has been a key influence. Advisory Panels are being created as a forum for CBM Global country teams to receive more feedback and guidance from local and national OPDs.  

CBM Global in its communications will challenge negative perceptions of persons with disabilities and will model and promote the strategic role of OPDs in achieving locally led inclusive development and inclusive humanitarian action.

GDS Reference: Support awareness-raising to combat attitudinal barriers, either OPD-led or with the active involvement of OPDs 

This commitment is being pursued via CBM Global’s publications and social media channels and the Federation Members’ communications. Examples include commencing global humanitarian projects which support the engagement of OPDs in humanitarian action and the development of Good Practice Guides highlighting the role of OPDs in community mental health. CBM Global is leading efforts to strengthen the voice of people with psychosocial disabilities in Global Mental Health research (through collaboration with the Global Mental Health Peer Network, Centre for Global Mental Health and other research groups). CBM Global’s Inclusion Advisory Group undertakes inclusion advise together with OPDs and our advocacy priorities are all pursued in partnership with OPDs.  

Where aligned with disability movement priorities, CBM Global will invest in strengthening the capacity of the disability movement to influence mainstream agencies through technical advisory roles, including through building OPD roles, resources, and associated budget into advisory contracts. Initially, the focus will be in the Asia Pacific region

GDS Reference: Support partnerships with other social movements

In the last year a new project has started that engages OPDs in the delivery of inclusion advice to other organisations. Consultations have been undertaken with OPDs (national, regional and global) to design elements including sector guidance notes and an Asia Pacific Fellowship pilot programme in 2023. 

CBM Global will strengthen disability inclusion in the Humanitarian Programme Cycle by systematically integrating disability inclusion considerations in all needs assessments, project vetting procedures, and monitoring and reporting. We will ensure that all complaints and feedback mechanisms are fully accessible to and inclusive of persons with disabilities, and involve persons with disabilities, including women and those from under-represented groups, in their design, and use. 

GDS Reference: Make humanitarian action inclusive of persons with disabilities throughout the humanitarian programme cycle 

As part of its operating and partnership model CBM Global ensures that disability inclusion is formally integrated as a matter of principle in all phases of the programme cycle. To support this in 2022 CBM Global completed humanitarian preparedness plans in 5 countries, with the process including consultation and participation of OPDs alongside other mainstream partners. We completed a series of OPD and Country Team capacity strengthening initiatives which included the roll out of new and revised technical guidance such as the Inclusive Rapid Needs Assessment Toolkit and the inclusive Feedback and Complaints mechanism which was tested in Bangladesh. CBM Global conducted 2 Real Time Evaluations which included OPD representatives in the evaluation team. CBM Global also co-chaired the IASC Working Group that developed Inclusive MHPSS (Mental Health & Psychosocial support) Guidelines. 

CBM Global will establish and support intersectoral disability working groups in humanitarian coordination, allocate dedicated staff for disability inclusion in emergency preparedness and response in all high-risk countries and invest in building the capacity of humanitarian staff and partners to implement a rights-based approach to disability inclusion in all aspects of their work.

GDS Reference: Strengthen capacity on a rights-based approach to disability inclusive humanitarian action including in situations of armed conflict 

In the last year CBM Global has supported interagency collaborations both at global and country level to promote the rights of persons with disabilities in humanitarian action. At country level CBM global is currently coordinating the Age and Disability Working Group in Bangladesh, and is a member of disability working groups in Philippines and Nepal. We have promoted more disability inclusion interagency collaboration in Burkina Faso and Kenya and capacity strengthening initiatives of mainstream and OPD partners. At a global level CBM Global has been co-chairing the Disability Reference Group with IDA and UNICEF and leading one of its working groups on OPD capacity strengthening, chairing the Elrha Age and Disability Technical Working Group and became a SPHERE board member bringing inclusion expertise.   

CBM Global will establish meaningful operational and strategic partnership with OPDs, including those led by women and under-represented groups of persons with disabilities. This will include investment in institutional strengthening of OPDs to build their capacity to effectively prepare and respond to humanitarian crises.

GDS Reference: Build strong partnerships with organisations of persons with disabilities (OPDs) 

In the last year CBM Global has been leading 2 global projects supporting the engagement of OPDs in humanitarian action and as a practical way of rolling out and implementing the IASC Guidelines on inclusion of persons with disabilities in humanitarian action: one in collaboration with UNICEF and IDA on Bridge Article 11 funded by USAID and one with IOM in Nigeria, Fiji and Bangladesh funded by CBM Australia. Both projects are running through 2023 with a number of learning products to be developed as a result. 

CBM Global commits to support the provision of accessible platforms for OPDs to participate and influence climate decisions at global and regional level including by facilitating their access to climate action negotiations and processes.

GDS Reference: Include persons with disabilities in climate action 

CBM Global Federation works in partnership with OPD partners at a global level supporting joint advocacy initiatives on the inclusion of persons with disabilities in climate adaptation, and Action for Climate Empowerment, the overarching goal of which is to empower all members of society to engage in climate action. In our partnership work with IDA and the European Disability Forum we have advocated for an accessible and inclusive climate process within the whole UNFCCC (UN Framework Convention on Climate Change) including COP and other international, regional and national level fora. We shared our reflections with governments and different UN organisations on how to improve access and supported accessibility provisions, such as sign language interpretation, at side events at both the Bonn and Sharm El Sheik climate conferences. At a country level, in 2022, we conducted participatory research in two climate vulnerable countries (Bangladesh and Madagascar) and produced 2 case studies documenting evidence of the impact of climate change on persons with disabilities in Nepal and in Madagascar. The research report and case study are used as part of our national level advocacy. 

CBM Global will take measures to ensure that Gender Based Violence risk mitigation and response are inclusive of and accessible to women and girls, as well as men and boys, with disabilities. This includes removing physical, communicational, attitudinal, and institutional barriers to access, and taking measures to ensure that child protection interventions are fully inclusive of children with disabilities, including through review and adaptation of policies and procedures; making physical spaces and activities safe and accessible; and ensuring that reporting and referral mechanisms are inclusive.

GDS Reference: Protect persons with disabilities from violence, exploitation, and abuse 

CBM Global has a Gender and Disability toolkit which we have tested and rolled out humanitarian programmes in Bangladesh through trainings to the ADWG members. All our humanitarian responses ensure that barriers to services are addressed, enabling access and participation of persons with disabilities and include appropriate referral mechanisms. We also acknowledge that GBV and more specific work with children with disabilities are areas that CBM Global needs to further strengthen and gain more expertise on. 

CBM Global will contribute to the WHO’s revised guidance on rights-based mental health legislation, due for completion in 2022. We will advocate for the repeal of discriminatory laws and continue to support national and regional organisations of persons with disabilities to be able to have an increasingly strong voice in the process of such reform.  

GDS Reference: Review legal frameworks to promote inclusive health systems 

CBM Global’s contribution to WHO’s revised guidance on rights-based mental health legislation continues into 2023. Two of our mental health team are participating in the WHO committee which is working on this revision. We were pleased to see the Nigeria Mental Health Act, which we worked on with local actors, signed into law in January 2022. 

CBM Global will implement the Accessibility GO! process in hospitals as part of new Inclusive Eye Health Projects. During this process, we will train in hospital settings about disability inclusion and the prevention of discrimination in the health sector.

GDS Reference: Address multiple and intersecting discrimination in the health sector and build capacities on inclusive health in the health workforce and in service delivery 

This commitment is reflected in our new Inclusive Eye Health strategic plan for 2023-2025. It is a specific objective being pursued with a number of our eye health partners, with initial focus on new projects in Laos, Nigeria and Nepal. 

CBM Global’s approach to mental health is based on the principles of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. We will ensure that all programme and advocacy work is aligned to the CRPD, in particular seeking to engage with service providers to promote a paradigm shift in services, an end to institutionalisation and coercion and a holistic, rights-based and recovery-orientated approach to much-needed reform.

GDS Reference: Incorporate a mental health approach in line with the principles of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities 

We have made more deliberate efforts to assert rights-based principles in programming, and we are using measures to ensure we track this. We have also documented this in our Good Practice Guides and worked on co-production in research. We have carried out QualityRights training in 4 countries and translated the QualityRights e-training into Spanish. 

CBM Global works closely with the Inter-Agency Standing Committee Disability Inclusion and Mental Health and Psychosocial Support Reference Groups. We will continue to promote and advocate for universal use of inclusive approaches to health components of preparedness and response in the sector, through coordination systems, collection of disaggregated data, and promoting dedicated disability focal points to ensure inclusive approaches.

GDS Reference: Make disability inclusion an integral part of health emergency preparedness and response 

CBM Global, working in partnership with the World Blind Union, is leading on taking the new IASC Inclusive Mental Health & Psychosocial support (MHPSS) Technical Note forward, with specific training for agencies and partners across the humanitarian field. 

CBM Global commits to include disability data during national assessments of avoidable blindness, to help guide the development of inclusive national eye health plans.

GDS Reference: Optimise the use of data on disability inclusion to inform health policies and investments 

While no national assessments were supported in the past year, this remains an ongoing commitment to ensure disability data is included in any surveys in eye health.

CBM Global will seek to engage with national and regional OPDs as central actors in all our health work, for example ensuring that health programmes engage with persons with disabilities in all parts of the Programme Cycle, that OPDs are the main vehicle for community engagement in anti-stigma campaigns (like Time To Change), and are promoted as trainers (for example in Bridge training) and are the main actors in our advocacy work.

GDS Reference: Engage OPDs in health-related policy design, planning, implementation, monitoring and evaluation 

National and regional OPDs are increasingly recognised as central actors in all our health work. For example a SUCCEED programme is  funding CBM Global OPD partners to promote institutional strengthening and national voice (in Malawi, Nigeria, Sierra Leone and Zimbabwe).  

CBM Global will build on existing and bring new Pacific partnerships to scale up its program investment in the Pacific region from 2022. This will be done in collaboration and alignment with the Pacific disability movement and to support the implementation of both the Pacific Framework on the Rights of Persons with Disability and the PDF Five Year Strategic Plan 2021-2025.

CBM Global has developed a strategy for Pacific engagement and programming in consultation with local stakeholders, including the disability movement. This will be launched in early 2023. It aims to work in support of the priorities of the Pacific Disability Forum (PDF) and includes direct support for PDF as well as new programming now getting underway. 

CBM Global in partnership with OPDs will advocate for the disaggregation of quality data by disability, gender and age in data collection and statistics by governments and also to improve gaps in our programmes.

As an advocacy outcome, CBM Global, in partnership with the International Disability Alliance (IDA) and the Stakeholder Group of Persons with Disabilities (SGPwD), is contributing to the Inter-agency working group on household surveys chaired by UN Women and UN Statistics Division to create a guidance document on ensuring accessible surveys. CBM Global partnered with UNFPA Asia Pacific and others (IDA, SGPwD, Pacific Disability Forum, ASEAN Disability Forum), to develop a disability data advocacy workshop for OPDs, a regional disability data mapping, and other data-related guidance documents. CBM Global is a member of the Strategic Advisory Group of UNICEF’s Centre of excellence on data for children with disabilities and continues to co-chair and co-lead data advocacy efforts in the SGPwD’s disability data working group. 

CBM Global commits to supporting persons with disabilities and their representative organisations in capacity building in data advocacy to gather, understand and use data for advocacy and to advocate for better data.

CBM Global is developing a strategy for organisational strengthening of OPDs and other partner organisations. The topic of data advocacy is  included within this strategy. It is also a key topic in BRIDGE training which we support. CBM Global co-developed the disability data advocacy toolkit in partnership with the International Disability Alliance (IDA) and the Stakeholder Group of Persons with Disabilities (SGPwD) and continues to use this toolkit as a guide to build the data capacity of OPDs. Emerging from the toolkit was the development of the disability data advocacy workshop in partnership with UNFPA Asia Pacific, IDA, SGPwD, the Center for Inclusive Policy, and regional and national OPDs.  

CBM Global will advocate in partnership with OPDs for disability data to measure the Sustainable Development Goals via the Stakeholder Group of Persons with Disabilities, the Inclusive Data Charter and the Leave No One Behind Partnership.

In partnership with the International Disability Alliance, the Stakeholder Group of Persons with Disabilities, the Leave No One Behind Partnership, the Inclusive Data Charter, and the Global Partnership for Sustainable Development Data, we presented and engaged in various UN, SDG data processes, including at the 13th session at the IAEG-SDGs and the expert group meeting on citizen data. As an outcome, CBM Global presented and supported OPD partners to present in various UN events around SDG data, such as the UNGA’s launch of the data values campaign, and is a key member in establishing and engaging in the multi-stakeholder Citizen Data Collaborative. 

CBM Global commits to an intersectional approach to collect, analyse, and disseminate reliable inclusive data, including community-driven data. 

Over the last year, CBM Global has been developing its impact framework. This has involved identifying appropriate indicators that can be used to measure the changes we are making as an organisation. Quantitative and qualitative indicators have been agreed, including indicators related to the wellbeing of people with disabilities and their situation and how they are treated in their communities. Further work will be undertaken to determine how best to collect data and measure these indicators in a fully inclusive way.