#FearOfMissingOut?

This is what exclusion feels like.

At EDF, we want people to understand what exclusion can mean for persons with disabilities. Despite the best intentions of may stakeholders in the sector, persons with disabilities continue to face barriers to receiving, participating and decision-making in the humanitarian aid sector.

Empower Ukraine is a project working towards the better inclusion of at-risk internally displaced persons (IDPs), returnees, veterans, older people, single-headed households, adults and children in institutions, and members of host communities with and without disabilities in specifically six oblasts (regions) in Ukraine.

The programme is implemented by National Assembly of Persons with Disabilities and the League of the Strong (Ukrainian organisations of persons with disabilities (OPDs)) and supported by the European Disability Forum.

Despite many humanitarian stakeholders agreeing that disability-inclusive humanitarian action is pivotal, significant  structural barriers remain across the humanitarian system.

Through our programme we have demonstrated that disability inlcusive humanitarian aid is both achievable and effective when persons with disabilities are involved as leaders and technical experts.

Here we share our recommendations to ensure that persons with disabilities are not left behind in the humanitarian response. Humanitarian actors and donors should prioritise the following actions:

1. Use the technical knowledge and expertise of persons with disabilities: include the meaningful participation of organisations of persons with disabilities (OPDs) and finance their engagement: Persons with disabilities and their representative organisations must be systematically included in humanitarian coordination, planning, and monitoring. OPDs bring technical expertise, community trust, and lived experience that significantly improves targeting, outreach, and programme design. Their participation should move beyond consultation towards equal partnership in decision-making processes. Local OPDs require predictable and flexible funding to respond to rapidly evolving needs. Flexible funding modalities allow OPDs to deliver tailored support, procure assistive devices locally, and maintain services during gaps between project cycles. Investing directly in OPDs strengthens local capacity and improves the effectiveness and sustainability of humanitarian responses.
2. Data creates visibility! Collect, analyse and share data on disability: Investments in disability-inclusive data and needs assessments have significant impact: Lack of reliable data continues to make persons with disabilities invisible in humanitarian planning. Humanitarian actors should systematically collect and analyse disability-disaggregated data using recognised tools such as the Washington Group Questions. Evidence-based programming enables more accurate targeting, stronger accountability, and better allocation of humanitarian resources.
3. The last mile – Achieving deep rural local level reach: Last-mile delivery can be done through OPD networks: Local OPDs are uniquely positioned to reach persons with disabilities in rural, remote, and underserved areas. Supporting OPD-led outreach and community-based delivery models improves access to assistance, reduces isolation, and strengthens trust with affected communities. Partnerships with local authorities can help ensure that successful humanitarian practices are sustained within local systems.
4. Localisation and Sustainability: There before and there afterwards: The Nexus Effect of transitioning from project-led delivery to locally owned and sustained disability-inclusive services: Key enabling factors such as the provision of concrete tools such as tender templates, contracts, and implementation guidelines, using evidence and monitoring data from pilot activities to demonstrate impact, trainings for local officials on disability rights, accessibility standards, and inclusive service delivery, and continuous engagement with local OPDs, shifts perceptions about what is possible and making inclusionnot a donor driven agenda but a core public responsibility.
5. Prioritise safeguarding: Ensure all persons are included in safeguarding implementation:  phillipa.tucker@edf-feph.orgPersons with disabilities are at higher risk of exploitation and harassment, as well as exclusion. safeguarding should be a priority in all humanitarian aid but often the specific needs of persons with disabilities are forgotten. Providing trainings, information and hotlines and other complaint mechanisms that are accessible is vital to ensure safeguarding measures cover and protect all persons.

Come back for our Good Practices Report when we launch it in April 2026.  It will provide 5 examples of scalable, effective, efficient and duplicable humanitarian actions for persons with disabilities in Ukraine.

Disability inclusion should not be treated as a specialised add-on but as a core component of quality humanitarian action. The Ukraine response offers a critical opportunity to demonstrate how humanitarian actors, donors, and OPDs can work together to build an inclusive response that reaches those most at risk of being left behind.

The number of persons with disabilities in Ukraine has significantly increased since February 2022, including civilians and veterans with conflict-related injuries, older persons with mobility limitations, and people whose pre-existing disabilities have been exacerbated by displacement and disruption of services and our inclusion should be a priority for all humanitarian aid actors.

Empower Ukraine remains committed to working with humanitarian partners to ensure that persons with disabilities are recognised not only as beneficiaries, but as essential actors in humanitarian response and recovery.

Participate in one of our trainings (email phillipa.tucker@edf-feph.org for free access)

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