Disability Resources for the ESCWA Region

The UN Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia’s (ESCWA) Disability Statistics program aims to improve the production, dissemination and communication of disability statistics in areas of critical concern, including those in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). ESCWA maintains a Disability Statistics webpage providing access to events, policy briefs, research and studies publications, and training materials.

ESCWA’s publications include: ESCWA Disability Framework: 115 Indicators to Bridge the Gap between Policy and Statistics and Regional Guidebook to Improve Disability Data Collection and Analysis in the Arab Countries. 

The Regional Guidebook provides explores the different approaches in design, implementation and analysis of disability data collection in the Arab countries, in view of improving the standardization and implementation of the Washington Group Short Set on Functioning and related indicators used to capture data on people with disabilities.

ESCWA Disability Framework: 115 indicators to bridge the gap between policy and statistics, is the first three-dimensional disability framework that maps disability-related indicators to three major development frameworks: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The Framework and its 115 indicators embody a major step forward in bridging the gap between policy and statistics and monitor progress made.