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"Based on an ethnographic type baseline study conducted on four support groups for people living with mental health problems, evolving in various contexts (prisons, hospitals, refugee camps and mental health centres) in Madagascar, Lebanon, South Sudan and Togo, this study identifies four dynamics contributing to the emergence and the structuring of these groups: survive, get medical care, get organised, advocate." 

Purpose: This study aimed to estimate the cost-effectiveness of a community- based rehabilitation (CBR) programme known as Inspire2Care (I2C), implemented in Nepal by Karuna Foundation Nepal. In the absence of any gold standard methodology to measure cost-effectiveness, the authors developed a new methodology to estimate the programme’s achievements and cost-effectiveness.

Methods: Financial records were reviewed to determine total expenditure during the period August 2011 - December 2013. Programme records which documented the physical, mental and social status of children and adults with a disability qualitatively before, during and after the intervention were used to determine a starting disability weight and improvement score, which was then converted into a change in disability weight. The disability weight and expected remaining lifespan of each person were used to estimate disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) averted by the intervention. The cost per DALY averted was estimated by dividing the total programme expenditure by the sum of DALYs averted over that same period.

Results: I2C cost 204,823 Euros to implement over the period August 2011- December 2013. In total, an estimated 1,065 DALYs were averted from the treatment and rehabilitation components. The cost per DALY averted was 192.34 Euros.

Conclusions and Implications: The methodology devised for the study was able to successfully estimate the cost-effectiveness of the I2C programme. Using WHO benchmarks, this programme can be considered highly cost-effective. Other organisations can assess the cost-effectiveness of their programmes by using the assessment improvement score and subsequent conversion to DALYs averted. However, while mental, physical and social gains have been captured, other benefits from I2C cannot be captured in the cost per DALY averted statistic. Further research is needed to develop methods for incorporating these harder-to- measure gains in cost-effectiveness studies with a single outcome measure like the DALY.

This short guide aims to guide non-governmental organisations (NGOs) through a four-step analysis of capacity. Known as a SWOT exercise, this tool has been found to be useful in many NGOs and stands for the "Strengths" and "Weaknesses" within your organisation; plus factors outside your organisation that offer "Opportunities" or pose "Threats."  The guide enables NGOs to lead themselves through the SWOT exercise and make, implement, evaluate and monitor the resulting strategic action plan

"This report takes stock of the main public financing for health trends over the past fifteen years in the African region, and highlights opportunities for accelerated progress toward universal health coverage (UHC) based on better-informed budget planning and utilization decisions. The report presents new evidence on the critical role played by domestic public financial management systems on the level, effectiveness and quality of public spending on health in Africa. It argues that these systems should be reconsidered if countries are to move towards UHC. Country experience in reforming public finance systems to support progress towards UHC indicates that success depends on more than simply increasing the level of public budgets. Rather, it requires appropriately targeted health budget allocations, complete execution of health’s public budgets, and improved efficiency in the use of public resources for health.

The report is composed of three sections. The first section is articulated around three policy highlights: aligning budget resources and health priorities; closing the gap between health budget allocation and expenditure; and maximizing UHC performance with the money available. Section 2 is dedicated to providing detailed health financing information on countries, and includes 48 country profiles focused on key health financing trends. The last section includes information on progress towards the development of health financing strategies in the region, as well as regional and country benchmarks on key health financing indicators"

WHO/HIS/HGF/Tech.Report/16.2

This provides an overview of UNICEF’s 2016-2030 Strategy for Health which "aims to: end preventable maternal, newborn, and child deaths; and promote the health and development of all children. With the first goal, UNICEF commits to maintaining focus on the critical unmet needs related to maternal, newborn and under-5 survival. With the second, UNICEF highlights the importance of also looking beyond survival and addressing the health and development needs of older children and adolescents. The Strategy emphasises the importance of prioritising the needs of the most deprived children and promotes multi-sectoral approaches to enhance child development and address underlying causes and determinants of poor health outcomes. It aims to shift UNICEF from vertical disease programmes to strengthening health systems and building resilience, including calling for better integration of humanitarian and development efforts by encouraging risk-informed programming in all contexts"

Realizing the rights, and addressing the needs of victims of cluster munitions, landmines, and other explosive remnants of war (ERW), requires a long-term commitment that should continue well after clearance work has been completed.

This Guidance was developed in a participatory manner through tailored questionnaires, a workshop, and an online platform with contributions from a total of 30 states, as well as from representatives of survivors’ organisations and a range of international and civil society organisations. With assistance from Handicap International, from the feedback received, the Convention on Cluster Munitions Coordinators selected a range of good practices and national examples of effective implementation. These have been identified at three levels: legislation, policies and plans; ensuring equitable and equal access to services and resources; and measuring progress.

In recognition of the fact that affected States and donor States face different challenges in implementing an integrated approach, the Guidance is divided into two parts – the first part addresses the practices of affected States, and the second those of donor States. Each part is further divided into two main sub-sections dealing with the dual imperatives of an integrated approach: ensuring that specific victim assistance efforts act as a catalyst for inclusion; and ensuring that broader efforts contribute to the realization of victim assistance obligations. Each sub-section highlights relevant provisions, challenges, good practices, and national examples for each of the three levels

In 2016 ADD commissioned an independent learning review of their Capacity Building model. The review focused on ADD experience in Cambodia and Bangladesh, and was carried out by Anne Garbutt of INTRAC and Brenda Lipson of Framework. The review confirmed that the ADD approach is working as they thought, that it is effective, and that it contributes to positive change in line with ADD Theory of Change.

Calls for evaluations in Community Based Rehabilitation (CBR), in particular those of a participatory nature have stepped up in recent years. Much of this shifting discourse has emerged in response to the fact that evaluations overall remain scarce. Furthermore, very little is known about the impacts of CBR in practice and if/how it benefits persons with disabilities and their families on the ground. Nevertheless, and despite the calls for participatory approaches, the few existing efforts are too often targeted at creating standardised evaluations frequently at the expense of voice, participation and flexibility. This paper reports on a series of critical workshops held in Jamaica with CBR workers and other stakeholders, the objectives of which included discussions and reflections on emerging issues in localised, locally driven and responsive participatory evaluation frameworks. The findings highlight how participants favoured a flexible, adaptive and iterative approach that was not rigid, structured or per-determined by outsiders. Instead, they favoured an approach that created a safe space for sharing and learning, prioritised their narratives, and that was directly linked to and that fed directly into action on the ground. The paper concludes with the call for critical, engaged and bottom-up approaches that move away from control-oriented approaches in CBR towards more experimental and adaptive problem and process-oriented approaches, that embrace complexity and that are consistently responsive to an ever changing context.

Disability & the Global South (DGS), 2016, Vol. 3 No. 2

This paper analyses the current (as of 2012) state of global human rights funding. Through the use of tables, graphs and other methods of data presentation, the International Human Rights Funders Group​ (IHRFG) outline the largest grants foundations, where and how the money is spent by these foundations, and the causes which these funds are spent on