BRIDGETOWN, Barbados (CMC) — Four Caribbean Community (CARICOM) countries will benefit from a project aimed at providing reliable data to inform and strengthen their programming targeting the disabled community.

The CDB said that its board of directors had approved the project to support disability assessments in Grenada, Jamaica, St Lucia, and Trinidad and Tobago.

“Under the project, these countries will benefit from workshops designed to train participants in the conduct of disability assessments, disseminate assessment findings and obtain feedback on those findings, and discuss strategies for more effectively addressing disability in the region,” the bank said.

“We know that persons with disabilities continue to face stigma, discrimination and exclusion, and are vulnerable to poverty, despite their ability to function in the society and the economy.

“It is therefore imperative that we invest in creating enabling environments for disabled persons, in order to reduce these vulnerabilities and advance multidimensional progress in the Region,” said Daniel Best, CDB Director of Projects.

He said this developmental focus forms an important part of fulfilling regional and national commitments, and is a critical linchpin of the ‘no one left behind’ principle that underpins the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda.

People with Disabilities (PWDs) as defined in Article 1 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disibilities, 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.”

The CDB said that these barriers include inaccessible infrastructure, inaccessible communication, limited reasonable accommodation and assistive aides, stereotypes, and weak enforcement of treaty, legislative and policy commitments.

CDB said through the disability assessment project, seeks to minimise these barriers by addressing disability data deficits in the region.

The region’s premier financial institution said it aims to achieve this by providing robust disability data in social, economic and political domains; examining the differential impact of disability and its intersection with other vulnerabilities associated with sex, age cohort, – children, youth, elderly and working age), ethnicity, and race (as relevant – and identifying constraints and enablers to equal participation of PWDs compared with persons without disabilities in growth sectors of the formal and informal economy.

In addition, it will also be examining vulnerabilities to natural disasters, economic shocks and climate change.

The first phase of the intervention is scheduled to commence in 2018 and is expected to be implemented over a 30-month period. The findings of the assessments will enable CDB to develop more targeted evidence-based projects and knowledge products and services to support disability mainstreaming in the Region, and will identify opportunities for development cooperation between CDB, its BMCs and other development partners.

The CDB said that the other countries in the Caribbean will benefit under a subsequent phase of the project.