THE NOSSAL INSTITUTE
   FOR GLOBAL HEALTH

Disabled boy

Inclusive Development Practice

Evidence is mounting that particular subpopulations often do not enjoy the material and social benefits of development. Such groups are also typically excluded from playing active roles in planning and implementing development activities. While levels of exclusion may vary across settings and timeframes, exclusion commonly affects people with disabilities, ethnic minority groups, women and girls, orphans, the elderly, injecting drug users, people living with HIV/AIDs, migrants, and people displaced through natural disasters or conflict. These subpopulations are consistently reported as most at risk of chronic poverty and social exclusion, facing more difficulty asserting their rights, and having the least opportunity to participate and benefit from development. This is evidenced by relatively low levels of income, education, employment, access to health and social services, and social participation.  The cost (both human and economic) and impact of exclusion, and the links to poverty, are impossible to ignore.

As a consequence, government and non-government actors have introduced programs aimed to increase the economic and social inclusion of disadvantaged or vulnerable groups. These programs may be specifically targeted to address needs of particular groups, or they may be designed for the general population with a special component for subpopulations. In order to successfully design, implement and evaluate such programs, detailed information is required regarding the barriers that particular groups face to social and economic inclusion within a local context. Accumulating this knowledge base represents a considerable challenge for policy makers and development practitioners, and a critical factor in determining equitable development and achieving the Millennium Development Goals.

Inclusive development practice (IDP) emphasises:

The Nossal Institute’s IDP Unit comprises a team of researchers and development practitioners committed to promoting and enabling the successful inclusion of disadvantaged groups in development. The Unit offers a range of expertise across disadvantaged groups, the program cycle, and country experience. In particular, it has a strong foundation of work in areas of gender, disability, and displaced populations. Expertise is offered across all stages of the program cycle, including design, implementation, and monitoring and evaluation, along with capacity building in each of these areas. The Unit’s activities primarily focus on the Asia-Pacific region.

Core activities of the Unit include practice, capacity building, consultancies and research. The Unit also is the liaison point for the CBM-Nossal Institute Partnership in Disability and Development.

Selected IDP Unit activities are listed as follows, with greater detail under each of the themes of the Unit. [links here to statements on Gender Inclusion and Programming, M&E]

Development Practice

Education and Learning

Research

Selected recent publications
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