From Global Insight to Local Action

This blog presents the global insights gathered from four years of research undertaken by the Global Disability Innovation Hub, funded by UK International Development under the AT2030 programme. The overarching research question was, ‘What is the current state of inclusive and accessible environments and infrastructure in lower-and-middle-income countries (LMICs), and what is the role of inclusive design in creating an enabling environment for persons with disabilities?’ 

 The research combined a mixture of qualitative, participatory, and design-led research approaches to develop six city case studies that were adapted to the local context in collaboration with local partners. 

The outcome was a series of research reports that included a Global Comparison Report and a Global Action Report based on six city case study reports. 

The six case study cities included 

• Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia 

• Varanasi, India 

• Solo, Indonesia 

• Nairobi, Kenya 

• Freetown, Serra Leone 

• Madelin, Columbia 

The Global Action Report, which is driven by research, presents ten principles or strategic outcomes to be considered while implementing sixteen action areas highlighted in the report to make cities inclusive. The sixteen action areas are intended to help city governments identify important measures for their city improvement, working with local persons with disabilities, developing a bespoke inclusive city action plan and implementing the actions. 

Global insights 

“I wonder why people don’t make construction accessible to everyone.” 

• Quote from a resident in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia 

“Accessibility in public areas is one important thing we have been ignoring for a long time. For anyone who is walking accessibility is not there, so accessibility in the urban environment the roads leading to all of the heritage sites such as Ghats and temples is inaccessible.”  

• Quote from a resident in Varanasi, India. 

Cities already had legislation and policies guiding accessibility, harmonised with the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities; yet on the ground, the reality was far from inclusive. Some challenges that emerged from the research are highlighted below:  

Poor implementation of legislation concerning inclusion and accessibility: The research presented multiple reasons for poor implementation such as 

• Not engaging persons with disabilities and their organisations as partners in the city planning process. 

• Absence of an action plan to implement accessibility with an earmarked implementation budget.  

• No cross-cutting accountability. Infrastructure accessibility in most countries was the task of the ministry looking at disability inclusion.  

• Public procurement is not used to accelerate accessibility.   

• Countries' standards and design guidelines are often not contextualised and culturally suited to the city.   

“When issuing the building permits, it is best if it is given the condition that the building will be accessed by the general public, so that it must be given standards for disability access. That should be made compulsory.” 

“The challenge is that in the context of preparation, not all agency ministries are truly capable of translating regulated narratives into target narratives as well as indicator narratives that can be contributed to the National Action Plan” 

• Quote from a resident in Solo, Indonesia 

Unresponsive services 

Residents across all cities commonly reported difficulty in accessing community services. Some reasons highlighted included. 

• Inaccessible transport system making it difficult to reach services, including first- and last-mile connectivity. 

• Inaccessibility of the built environment and lack of accessible information and communication. 

• Poor attitudes, lack of awareness or poor training of service providers who had no idea about how to assist persons with disabilities 

“We need to build a more resilient social protection model and harmonise inclusive design across board not just in the environment but also in health.” 

• Quote from a resident in Nairobi, Kenya 

 The growing challenge of informal settlements  

• All cities struggle with growing informal settlements. However, none of them had a plan to address the intersecting challenges of these areas while considering disability inclusion. 

• Residents from informal settlements emphasised the inaccessibility of homes, external environments, and WASH facilities. 

• Residents also highlighted the need for contextual approaches that consider the communities and their unique place in the world.  

“This settlement is an area that is sloppy, highly populated with a poor road network, and lacking access to many basic and social services like a health centre, educational centres, access to safe drinking water as well as improved sanitation.”  

• Quote from a resident in Freetown, Sierra Leone 

Lack of disability-inclusive, climate-resilient infrastructure  

• The cities felt the impact of climate change but had no inclusive adaptation and mitigation plans. 

• Pockets of projects looked at what climate change means for persons with disabilities but did not have a holistic approach.  

• There is a dearth of technical guidance and inadequate research on what disability-inclusive climate-resilient infrastructure needs to be addressed.   

“We must implement better pedagogical processes…we, the technical professional, should know more about people's disabilities and realities in order to be able to address them from a technical point of view.”  

• Quote from a resident in Medellín, Colombia. 

Local Action  

Several recommendations were presented by the participants that are compiled in the Global Action Report. Some of these include: 

1. Localisation of action. Accelerating accessibility and disability inclusion and developing a roadmap to make a city truly inclusive requires careful planning and strong collaboration across national, regional, and city-level authorities. It also demands decentralised decision-making, equitable allocation of resources—including budgets and skilled practitioners—and clearly defined responsibilities with accountability for implementation. Furthermore, all city development and climate action projects must embed inclusion from the outset. 
2. Translation of legislation, policies, and standards into real-life practice and delivery. This involves localising and culturally adapting the key statutes, guidelines, and standards. There is a need for consistency between national law and city-level policies and plans. Cultural adaptation of standards to meet the local context was considered necessary. Translation into the local language/s was also expressed for better uptake by different stakeholders, as was raising awareness among all stakeholders on the mandatory requirement for better implementation. 
3. Addressing inclusion at the first and the last mile. It is common to have pockets of unconnected inclusive design solutions in the city, resulting in an environment that isn’t accessible for persons with disabilities to negotiate, particularly creating barriers in the first and last-mile connectivity. The need to break the silos that various governmental departments operate in while addressing inclusion was needed to create more seamless environments with attention to first and last connectivity.  
4. Training and capacity development. The need for increasing in-house expertise within the government department to address different aspects of inclusive cities was highlighted. Raising awareness across sectors, such as the city administration and policy decision-makers, can transform mindsets. Training or awareness-raising of all key urban stakeholders, including service providers, is required for the impactful implementation. Training on accessibility and inclusive design is required at all levels: national, regional, and city.
5. Meaningful Engagement with residents with disabilities is the most important action and is tied to all other recommendations. It involves recognising the value and importance of the lived experience expertise that people with disabilities bring, partnering with them and their organisations in planning, implementing, and monitoring inclusion in cities, and engaging with them for training and awareness-raising programmes. 

Goal 11 of the Sustainable Development Goals mentions the need for cities to become more inclusive for everyone, including persons with disabilities. We invite local and municipal governments, urban and built environment sector, development sector, organisations of persons with disabilities, funders, and local residents to use the findings of this rich evidence-based research to develop action plans to accelerate inclusion and accessibility in their city, fulfilling their global and national commitments. 

To discover more about this work, join our IncluCITY webinar series, starting on the 23rd of April 2025.