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Organisations of Persons with Disabilities: Making a Difference in Vanuatu and Solomon Islands, June 2022

Countries
Solomon Islands
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AusAID
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Executive summary

Consensus is building on the need for greater participation of organisations of persons with disabilities (OPDs) in disaster response and preparedness.2 Yet, the lack of practical guidelines and information on maximising OPDs’ engagement and impact motivated CBM Global IAG to commission this study.
The report draws on two comparative case studies in Vanuatu and Solomon Islands, as well as an extensive desk review of documents. It explores the roles and impact of OPDs in each country and identifies key challenges and enablers constraining and supporting OPDs’ contributions to the disaster preparedness and response sector. A localisation lens was applied to the study to enable the identification of practices that support the empowerment of OPDs as local advocates and disaster preparedness and response actors.
Findings from the comparative case study in Solomon Islands and Vanuatu are summarised below.

FINDING 1: OPDs in Vanuatu and Solomon Islands are engaged and making a difference across three main areas: as self-advocates, technical advisors, and implementers.

OPDs in both countries contribute to lowering multiple barriers to inclusion for people with disabilities via their advocacy work, technical support to humanitarian and government actors, service provision and relaying of information directly to and from communities. They are also live examples of the positive contributions that people with disabilities can bring to societies, challenging stigma and raising awareness via their engagement with multiple actors. Positive outcomes have been especially facilitated by the Vanuatu Disability Promotion & Advocacy Association’s extensive network of OPDs in Vanuatu, reaching all provinces of the country. In Solomon Islands, People with Disabilities Solomon Islands’ active role as a technical advisor to Australian Humanitarian Partnership partners is also contributing to these actors adopting more inclusive practices.

FINDING 2: Lack of systematic data collection hampers measurement of the impact of OPDs and other actors for people with disabilities.

Change from OPDs’ actions is expected at various levels, but ultimately aims to benefit people with disabilities and their families. However, this is the most difficult outcome for which to collect evidence. The lack of systematic data collection to understand and monitor the impact of OPDs and other actors for diverse people with disabilities is problematic not only from an accountability point of view, but in terms of the ability of actors to improve practices and promote change over time