Today, ESCAP Social Development Division and Statistics Institute for Asian and the Pacific (SIAP) launches the self-paced e-learning course, ‘Disability Statistics for Tracking Inclusive and Sustainable Development’. The e-learning course was initially launched as a facilitated course in September 2024, attracting statisticians and policy makers in the region. The course was run for five weeks, complemented by a webinar series. During the five weeks, participants delved into basic concepts, methodologies and the latest practices on disability data collection. The webinars facilitated expert discussion on focused topics and discussion among participants and experts to consolidate their learning.
Disability data is key to the ESCAP’s regional development frameworks for persons with disabilities: the Incheon Strategy to “Make the Rights Real” for Persons with Disabilities and the Jakarta Declaration on the Asian and Pacific Decade of Persons with Disabilities 2023-2032. Recognizing the importance of evidence-based implementation and monitoring, the two disability development frameworks have promoted collection and analysis of disability data and statistics.
The course has been designed to strengthen the capacities to produce and use disability statistics. By building statistical capacities of policymakers and statisticians, the course aims to enhance evidence-based policy formulation and report on disability-related SDG and Incheon Strategy goals and targets.
“Persons with disabilities are among the furthest behind in society. The lack of disaggregated data on disability has hindered our efforts to reflect their concerns and needs in policy actions. We are confident that disability data is a powerful tool to enable disability-inclusive policy making, monitoring and evaluation. It can capacitate policymakers and statisticians to mainstream disability into designing policy and strategies. The e-learning course we have developed will assist Asian and the Pacific in regularly producing reliable, timely and comparable disability data and statistics and raise awareness of disability data.”, said Srinivas Tata, Director of the Social development Division of ESCAP.
“As a regional training centre that aid government officials and others working on data, SIAP facilitates capacity-building of ESCAP member States to improve data collection, utilization and dissemination. Data is a key to monitoring the Sustainable Development Goals and advancing fact-based policies. The launch of the training course would be an important step to strengthen disability data that has been much needed but scarce in the region and further facilitate disability inclusion into SDG data tracking” said Ms. Shailja Sharma, Director of the Statistical Institute for Asia and the Pacific (SIAP). “Disability data can inform policy making and monitoring to empower persons with disabilities.”
“This training has enhanced my ability to recognize the importance of disability data, not just for identifying the population with disabilities but for designing services and improving policies that truly meet the needs of persons with disabilities. As there is increased demand to enhance disability data collection and make statistics system more inclusive, it is vital for policymakers and other stakeholders to possess a strong understanding of this area.”, a participant of the facilitated course in 2024.
The training is a part of ESCAP broad efforts to bridge disability data gaps in implementing disability inclusive development in the region. It builds upon ESCAP’s mid-term and final review of the Asian and Pacific Decade of Persons with Disabilities, 2013–2022 that enabled data gathering against key indicators and targets of the Incheon Strategy to “Make the Rights Real” for Persons with Disabilities. It is an initiative developed by ESCAP and SIAP and supported by the Government of Republic of Korea under the project, titled “Towards the Incheon Strategy to Ensure the Rights of Persons with Disabilities in Asia and the Pacific (Phase II)”.