Income support for persons with disabilities in Middle East and North Africa (MENA) : social insurance and beyond (English)

This report proposes a toolkit which can be used to produce national assessments in MENA countries. The toolkit consists of a series of four questionnaires to be completed by institutions delivering specific programs in the areas of Social Assistance,... See More + This report proposes a toolkit which can be used to produce national assessments in MENA countries. The toolkit consists of a series of four questionnaires to be completed by institutions delivering specific programs in the areas of Social Assistance, Social Insurance, Health and Education. A first attempt was made to collect primary information from a selected group of countries in the region, but the level of response was low and it resulted evident that systematic collection of data from widespread sources can be best achieved if supported by field work, possibly in connection with ongoing operations, as in the case of a recent assessment produced by the World Bank in Palestine. Social Insurance programs are probably the ones where information is most readily available. In addition, there may be important learning for other programs if further analysis is conducted for these programs. Better understanding and improvements in critical related processes such as disability assessment, costs and the links with rehabilitation programs in Social Insurance may render important lessons for the better implementation of other programs addressed to PWD. The logical sequence of to present our findings should start from a system’s level, down to specific programs. However, given the relatively better availability of data on Social Insurance programs, we have adopted an alternative sequence, and present a discussion of disability pensions in section two, followed by a presentation of the toolkit to assess programs from a system’s perspective in section three. Specifically, the toolkit is included as annexes one to four.  See Less -