Commitment 2.4:
We promote the empowerment of people with disabilities.

Compliance Indicators

Compliance with the Commitments will be assessed against the following Compliance Indicators. All of the applicable Compliance Indicators must be met by every ACFID Member to be considered compliant with the Code. Each of the Compliance Indicators has one or more compliance Verifiers. Verifiers are the description of evidence that is required to substantiate compliance with each Compliance Indicator. Guidance is also provided.

2.4.1 Members demonstrate an organisational commitment to the inclusion of people with disabilities.

Policy, statement or guideline document that commits the Member to the inclusion of people with disabilities.

Guidance

An example statement on inclusion of people with disabilities from an ACFID Member that would satisfy this indicator is provided below:

“In everything we do, CBM strives to work for and with people with disability, to promote their human rights and empowerment. Both in Australia and overseas we’re working with many government bodies and development agencies, to promote the importance of inclusion of people with disabilities and to ensure a political commitment to disability in aid and development activities.”

2.4.2 Members’ planning process includes consultation with people with disabilities and contextual analysis of the barriers to social inclusion and participation.

Design or planning framework, tools, templates which require or approaches which consistently show evidence of consultation with people with disabilities and contextual analysis of the barriers to social inclusion and participation.          

Guidance

Design or planning framework, tools or templates could include the use of an activity design template and activity appraisal/assessment template which require the explicit analysis of needs of people with disabilities in the community or organisation. These tools should include prompts to ensure the analysis includes the perspectives of those marginalised due to disability, and consideration of barriers to their inclusion. Planning approaches should involve direct consultation with people with disabilities and disabled person’s organisations (DPOs) and contextual analysis of the barriers to inclusion and participation.

2.4.3 Members promote opportunities for people with disabilities and/or their representative organisations to participate in decision-making.

Development and humanitarian initiatives consistently show evidence of people with disabilities and/or their representative organisations participating in decision-making about the initiatives that affect them.

Guidance

Approaches which promote opportunities for people with disabilities to be included in policy and program related decision-making could be incorporated throughout design, implementation and monitoring and evaluation.  Strategies that seek to promote these opportunities include: consulting local disabled people’s organisations; tailoring approaches to include people with physical impairments, unseen or undisclosed impairments, psychosocial or intellectual impairments; including people with disabilities or a DPO on the design or monitoring and evaluation teams; and employing people with disabilities. 

2.4.4 Members monitor and evaluate their progress in promoting the empowerment of people with disabilities.

Monitoring and evaluation framework, tools, templates which require or approaches which consistently show evidence of the assessment of progress in promoting empowerment of people with disabilities.

Guidance

Monitoring and evaluation approaches could include consultation with DPOs, the collection of data that disaggregates for people with disabilities, and dedicated analysis on how the initiative has promoted the empowerment of people with disabilities.

Monitoring and evaluation frameworks may have a set of output or outcome indicators that explicitly relate to progress in promoting empowerment of people with disabilities. Monitoring tools, or templates could include explicit sub-sections that prompt analysis of the extent to which the initiative has worked with people with disabilities, employed strategies to promote the participation of people with disabilities, and provided opportunities to empower people with disabilities. The analysis of the empowerment of people with disabilities could be included as a dedicated inquiry area in evaluation terms of reference. 

Good Practice Indicators

The following Good Practice Indicators describe a higher standard of practice than that set out in the Compliance Indicators. While Members do not need to meet the Good Practice Indicators to be considered compliant with the Code, they will self-assess against these indicators once every three years. This provides a clear pathway for Members to strengthen and improve practice over time.

  • Disability inclusion focal person in place.  
  • Activities focused on the promotion of rights and inclusion of people with disabilities are supported. 
  • Training for key personnel and partners which covers disability inclusion issues and the rights articulated in the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) is provided. 
  • Activities that build the capacities of disabled people’s organisations (and other groups with disabilities) to advocate for the fulfilment of the rights articulated in the CRPD are supported.
  • The principles of disability inclusivity are promoted in communications with the public/external stakeholders.  

Good Practice Guidance

Here are some practical suggestions for your organisation to further deepen and improve practice over time.

Organisational and policy

  • Include disability as a priority issue in organisational development, policy dialogue, communications, negotiations and partnerships
  • Identify and address barriers to ensure persons with disabilities have equal access to the physical environment, transportation, information and communications systems, and to other public facilities and services in both urban and in rural areas
  • Prepare and implement an affirmative action plan to include people with disabilities as staff members
  • Advocate for the rights of persons with disabilities such as to local and national governments on institutional or policy barriers that prevent full inclusion of persons with disabilities
  • Mainstream disability in all sectors (including education, health, livelihoods, water and sanitation and disaster management), and include people with disabilities in line with the human-rights based approach and the rights articulated in the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD)
  • Recognise the central role that people with a disability play in representing their own interests and priorities; and accordingly develop and support partnerships with Disabled People’s Organisations in developing countries which play a vital role in giving people with disability a voice
  • Support initiatives to reduce the stigma that surrounds disability, which can be one of the largest barriers to full participation in community and economic life
  • Promote initiatives for economic empowerment and access to economic opportunities for people with a disability
  • Recognise that the lived experiences and perspectives of people with disabilities are diverse and will vary according to age, gender, class, caste, impairment type and other factors. Better understanding of this will contribute to effective approaches, which will differ in different contexts.

Programs

  • In the design phase of any initiative, analyse the experiences of those with and without disability for that particular context
  • Take into account the interaction of gender and disability which means that discrimination, access and inequalities may be different between men and women, girls and boys, family members and carers
  • Use a strengths-based approach, focusing on the abilities, strengths and priorities of people and organisations, and their efforts to achieve self-reliance
  • Promote and enable the active participation, inclusion and contributions of people with a disability through the whole project cycle including:
    • Inclusion of people with a disability into programming guidelines
    • Developing program document templates for inclusion
    • Specific budget allocation to disability inclusion
  • Complement programs or initiatives with targeted, additional support and services to empower people with disabilities (such as programs that focus on children with a disability) and provide them with equal access and opportunities to empower them. Working in partnerships or through referral networks may be useful to do this.

ACFID Results

ACFID Guidance for the Development of a Disability Inclusion Policy (Accessible Word Document)

Accessible guidance for organisations to develop a disability inclusion policy and meet ACFID Compliance Indicator 2.4.1.

ACFID Guidance for the Development of a Disability Inclusion Policy (PDF)

Guidance for organisations to develop a disability inclusion policy and meet ACFID Compliance Indicator 2.4.1.

Disability Inclusive Development Practice Note 2015

This practice note is intended to assist staff of organisation which are involved in international development and ...

Other Resources

Collecting & using data on disability to inform inclusive development

This Practice Note contributes to a conversation on how data on disability can be collected and used within ...

Convention of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities

The purpose of the present Convention is to promote, protect and ensure the full and equal enjoyment of all human ...

DFAT Development for All 2015-2020

Strategy for strengthening disability-inclusive development in Australia’s aid program.

Disability and International Development

This report card outlines why a disability focus is integral to achieving the MDG's.

Disability Inclusive Development: A Practical Guide ADDC

A practical guide to assist development practitioners include the perspectives of persons with disabilities in the ...

Example Disability Inclusion Policy (IWDA)

This policy outlines IWDA’s principles and practices to achieve disability inclusion and articulates IWDA’s roles ...

Example GEDSI Policy (Gender Equality, Disability & Social Inclusion Policy, Palmera Projects)

This Gender Equality, Disability and Social Inclusion (GEDSI) Policy aims to ensure that Palmera undertakes its ...

Incheon Strategy “Making the Right Real” for persons with disabilities in Asia and the Pacific.

The Incheon Strategy provides the Asian and Pacific region, and the world, with the first set of regionally agreed ...

Including the rights of persons with disabilities in UN programming at country level

This guidance note outlines four main areas for mainstreaming the rights of persons with disabilities at UN ...

Inclusion Made Easy – CBM

A quick program guide to disability in development.

Resources for Disability Inclusive Development

DID4All is a website dedicated to providing resources and technical assistance on disability inclusive development.

About

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Annual Report 2022-23

Reporting on ACFID’s activities to ensure transparency and accountability

ACFID

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Federal Budget 23-24 Analysis

Facts and figures on how aid is presented in this year’s annual budget

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Code of Conduct

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2022-23 ACFID Code of Conduct Review

The ACFID Code of Conduct is periodically reviewed to ensure it continues to reflect good practice and the needs of ACFID and its members.

Code of Conduct

The Code is a voluntary, self-regulatory industry code of good practice.

About the Code

Find out more about the Code of Conduct and how it operates.

Good Practice Toolkit

Overview and practical resources, and examples to support the implementation of the Code.

Spotlight on the Code

Provides a thematic ‘deep dive’ into each of the nine Quality Principles in the Code

Compliance

This section outlines the responsibility to be taken by each Member to ensure compliance with the Code.

Complaints Handling

How to make a complaint and information on the Code’s independent mechanism to address concerns relating to an ACFID Members’ conduct.

Other Standards

Mapping the Code with other professional standards and principles in the humanitarian and aid sector in Australia and internationally

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