United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR)

United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the UN Refugee Agency, is a global organization dedicated to saving lives, protecting rights and building a better future for refugees, forcibly displaced communities and stateless people. We work to ensure that everybody has the right to seek asylum and find safe refuge, having fled violence, persecution, war or disaster at home.

The start of the 21st century has seen UNHCR help with major refugee crises in Africa, the Middle East and Asia. We have also been asked to use our expertise to help many internally displaced by conflict and expanded our role in helping stateless people. In some parts of the world, such as Africa and Latin America, the 1951 Refugee Conventionhas been strengthened by additional regional legal instruments.

UNHCR now has more than 11,517 members of staff.

Read more: http://www.unhcr.org/en-us/

Data Disaggregation (2018) Routes to Economic Empowerment (2018) Inclusive Education (2018) Eliminate Stigma and Discrimination (2018)

Data Disaggregation	Updates	Progress
Commitment year: 2018 Commit to use the Washington Group questions UNHCR will incorporate the Washington Group question set into its continuous registration process to improve identification and protection of persons with disabilities. Timeframe and/or implementation plan: The use of Washington Group questions was piloted in Jordan. In 2018-2019 additional pilots will be implemented using different methodologies, for example the use of WG short set of 6 questions at continuous registration and the extended set at household surveys. Following the pilots, guidance will be provided on which WG-related methodology can be implemented in different data collection scenarios. Changes will be made to data collection tools accordingly. Submit update	Updated in 2020 The guidance for identification of persons with disabilities at registration is being finalized; technical changes required are being addressed in UNHCR's registration system. The guidance will be followed by a capacity building plan to roll-out the new way of collecting data on persons with disabilities across UNHCR operations. Updated in 2020 The guidance for identification of persons with disabilities at registration is being finalized; technical changes required are being addressed in UNHCR's registration system. The guidance will be followed by a capacity building plan to roll-out the new way of collecting data on persons with disabilities across UNHCR operations. Read more	Underway
Routes to Economic Empowerment	Updates	Progress
Commitment year: 2018 Access to decent work, Access to financial services & Skills development for decent work UNHCR will invest in the capacities of persons with disabilities and will improve their access to livelihoods opportunities, on an equal basis with other persons of concern. Timeframe and/or implementation plan: This forms part of ongoing economic inclusion initiatives for refugees. Implementation will include: 1) Supporting efforts to understand/identify reasons of levels of access to livelihoods opportunities by refugees with disability; 2) based on results of the assessment, adopt approaches/interventions that address these barriers and purposely ensure inclusion of refugees in economic inclusion programs including skills development, employment and entrepreneurial activities, financial inclusion, etc.; 3) engaging relevant partners - private sector, development and government actors -to include refugees with disabilities in their livelihoods/economic inclusion programs Submit update	Updated in 2020 During the reporting period, UNHCR issued a call for proposals to promote the digital access, inclusion and participation of persons with disabilities. Good practice identified includes Turkey, where vocational training for youth with disabilities took place; UHNCR is initiating collaboration with authorities in Jordan to discuss access for persons with disabilities; and UNHCR in Egypt has established a quota for persons with disabilities in livelihood programs. The Global Agenda for Economic Inclusion (GAEI) is ... Updated in 2020 During the reporting period, UNHCR issued a call for proposals to promote the digital access, inclusion and participation of persons with disabilities. Good practice identified includes Turkey, where vocational training for youth with disabilities took place; UHNCR is initiating collaboration with authorities in Jordan to discuss access for persons with disabilities; and UNHCR in Egypt has established a quota for persons with disabilities in livelihood programs. The Global Agenda for Economic Inclusion (GAEI) is still under development and will be published in 2021 Read more	Underway
Inclusive Education	Updates	Progress
Commitment year: 2018 Policy, standards and regulations & Capacity building: teachers and staff UNHCR will improve equitable access to quality education for displaced children, including refugee children with disabilities, working with partners, including governments on national system participation. Timeframe and/or implementation plan: In close cooperation with partners, UNHCR will advocate for and work towards the inclusion of all displaced children in national education systems. UNHCR will support capacity building on inclusive education for UNHCR staff, partners, teachers and education personnel. In order to reinforce inclusive planning and programming, UNHCR will also improve data collection, identify and disseminate good practices from its education programmes (provision of assistive devices, community-based approaches...) as well as producing global recommendations. Submit update	Updated in 2020 2020-2022 Educate A Child (EAC) programme activities in 9/14 country operations (Cameroon, Chad, Kenya, Malawi, Malaysia, Rwanda, South Sudan, Uganda and Yemen) include organization of home visits to identify children with disabilities who are out of school, training on inclusive education for teachers and staff, provision of assistive devices (wheelchairs, crutches, hearing devices, glasses, etc.), improvement of educational infrastructure (ramps, disability friendly latrines, etc.) and provision of financial ... Updated in 2020 2020-2022 Educate A Child (EAC) programme activities in 9/14 country operations (Cameroon, Chad, Kenya, Malawi, Malaysia, Rwanda, South Sudan, Uganda and Yemen) include organization of home visits to identify children with disabilities who are out of school, training on inclusive education for teachers and staff, provision of assistive devices (wheelchairs, crutches, hearing devices, glasses, etc.), improvement of educational infrastructure (ramps, disability friendly latrines, etc.) and provision of financial or material assistance to children with disabilities. In order to strengthen the capacity on inclusive education, four webinars on inclusive education were delivered between October and December 2019 for UNHCR Education colleagues/focal points in various field operations. The webinars focused on successful approaches in providing access to education of refugee children and youth with disabilities, on awareness raising on the importance of educational access, and on using appropriate terminology when talking about refugee children with disabilities. In addition, complementary written guidance was produced based on the webinars. The new Result-Based Management Good Practice Indicators currently under development will disaggregate data by sex, age and disability, and include a dedicated indicator to monitor disability inclusion in education. The reviewed Refugee Education 2030 Strategy includes mentions to the UN Disability Inclusion Strategy, and dedicated actions to implement the strategy regardless of legal status, gender and disability. Read more	Underway
Eliminate Stigma and Discrimination	Updates	Progress
Commitment year: 2018 Representation and empowerment of persons with disabilities UNHCR will enhance the meaningful participation of persons with disabilities, throughout the operations management cycle, and will consult them on protection and solutions. Timeframe and/or implementation plan: In 2018 and 2019 UNHCR will, develop a checklist for the inclusion of PwD in participatory assessments conducted throughout the year for different purposes; address the issue of participation of PwD in planning, design and implementation through a Need to Know Guidance on Working with PwD and an e-learning emphasizing strategies that foster Inclusion of PwD in humanitarian responses; develop guidance on identification of persons with disabilities in registration and other data collection processes; and documenting and disseminating good practices including on partnerships with Organisations of PwD (DPOs). Submit update	UNHCR and IDA will start a partnership collaboration from 2020. The collaboration includes four areas of interest: Mutual capacity building; Humanitarian Coordination; Advocacy and CRPD monitoring; and the implementation and monitoring of the UN Disability Inclusion Strategy. UNHCR and IDA will start a partnership collaboration from 2020. The collaboration includes four areas of interest: Mutual capacity building; Humanitarian Coordination; Advocacy and CRPD monitoring; and the implementation and monitoring of the UN Disability Inclusion Strategy. Read more	Underway