Take Action
In everything you do – including conducting assessments, and designing and implementing your program – stop and assess the factors that may prevent a person from having full and equal access and participation in that activity (see Table 2). Ideally, potential barriers should be identified during the design of responsive information services to ensure universal design of the communication channels and formats (see Table 3).
How to assess barriers and design an accessible program:
- Review existing data - or collect data - which speaks to barriers different groups may face and their preferences in accessing that activity. When collecting data, use the Washington Group Short Set of questions to disaggregate data by disability, in addition to age and sex. Include specific questions on barriers and preferences for communication. Seek support from representative organizations to ensure that these groups are included in any consultations. Train staff in how to provide reasonable accommodation to ensure persons with disabilities and other groups can participate in the data collection.
| RESOURCE – See the IRC Inclusive Client Responsiveness Guidance for guidance on collecting and analyzing disability-disaggregated data (pg. 29), tips and examples of reasonable accommodations (pg. 25 and 47), and tips for conducting accessible focus group discussions or key informant interviews (pg. 48). |
- When designing any activity, involve children, women, persons with disabilities, older persons, and other contextually relevant groups in the design of responsive information services, either directly or through engagement or representative organizations.
| RESOURCE – See the UNICEF Disability Inclusive Humanitarian Toolkit for tips on engaging with organizations of persons with disabilities in humanitarian action. |
- When designing information services, establish a flexible budget line for accessibility and reasonable accommodation as costs are likely to depend on the context (estimated 0.5-7% of overall budget). Consider formulating partnerships with representative organizations to support outreach efforts and use multiple accessible formats and channels of communication. Conduct a safety and accessibility audit to evaluate the level of accessibility and safety of those approaches, and to identify existing barriers of different communication channels through a checklist (which can also identify budget required). Include considerations of protection risks and barriers which result in underrepresentation, isolation and marginalization in risk assessments. Explicitly define the proactive measures that will be taken to engage with persons with disabilities, women, children, and older people to improve accessibility of communication channels and address barriers and risks identified in assessments.
- When implementing responsive information services, ensure all staff are trained on inclusion and accessibility – frontline communicators should understand the rights-based model to inclusion and information production focal points should understand accessible content development. (See Tool 2. Inclusion Core Concepts Training)
- When monitoring and evaluating the program, collect data which can be disaggregated by disability, age, and sex. Monitor, for example, whether persons with disabilities benefit from information and communication approaches. Pay particular attention to the experiences of persons who face multiple, intersectional, or heightened access barriers due to their impairment, gender, age, or social status.
Whose inclusion might we pay particular attention to?
*Depending on context, other groups are going to be marginalized and therefore you should not be limited by this list.
- People with disabilities: For the purposes of this guidance, people with disabilities include those who have long-term physical, mental, intellectual or sensory impairments which in interaction with various barriers may hinder their full and effective participation in society on an equal basis with others. (13) Access to information is often a barrier for persons with a disability who have specific communication needs. They are often excluded from decision-making spaces and have unequal access to information and availability of services. They can be socially isolated if they don’t access the community regularly through employment or education for example. (14)
- Women and girls: Diverse women and girls are present in every humanitarian context. Diverse women and girls face multiple forms of oppression, which further reduce their power, choice, and protection and increase barriers to accessing services. (15)
- Older people: We use the term older people to describe someone in later life. It is common in all societies and cultures to divide our lives into different stages, with older age being the latter stage and an older person being someone in that stage. (16) Older people may face barriers in accessing and understanding information or services due to physical constraints or complicated processes.
- People with diverse sexual orientations, gender identities, gender expressions and sex characteristics (SOGIESC): We use the term SOGIESC to describe Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer and/ or Questioning, Intersex, Asexual, Two-Spirit, and the countless affirmative ways in which people choose to self-identify. People with diverse SOGIESC may experience marginalisation within households, communities, institutions, public services, laws and other aspects of life means that lead to a lack of opportunities to build resilience and rebuild their lives, access services, and may self-exclude due to expectations of violence and discrimination. (17)
- Children: Younger children might not have access to or might find it difficult to understand publicly available information. Unaccompanied and separated children may be particularly challenged in accessing timely and relevant information. (18) Children are usually unable to express their fears / anxieties. (19)
- Other contextually relevant marginalized groups: This might include people with certain legal statuses (e.g. resident, registered asylum seeker, unregistered/no legal status), ethnic groups, religious groups, etc.