This webinar discussed how social protection systems can better identify persons with disabilities and assess their needs to provide appropriate support. Accurate identification is essential to define the right package of assistance and determine eligibility. This can be done at different levels, from social registries that flag households likely to include persons with disabilities to fully developed disability management information systems, which rely on disability assessment and certification mechanisms. 

The session explored key challenges in setting up accessible, comprehensive, and cost-effective structures for identification, assessment, and certification. It built on previous discussions on disability-inclusive social protection and examined lessons learned from recent and ongoing reforms in low-, lower-middle-, and upper-middle-income countries. Speakers shared insights from diverse contexts, including Mauritania, Cambodia, and Armenia, highlighting approaches to making social registries disability-inclusive and improving disability assessment, certification, and management information systems. 

Speakers:  

• Alexandre Cote, Social protection and disability inclusion policy specialist, UNICEF 

• Andrey Tretyak, Senior social protection specialist, World Bank 

• Maya Simonyan,  ECD Specialist, UNICEF Armenia 

• Cheikh Rabbani, IT and Database Expert, Social Registry Mauritania 

• Armenuhi Hovakimyan, Social Policy Specialist, UNICEF Armenia 

• Sovannary Keo, Social policy specialist, UNICEF Cambodia 

• Erika Tsuruyama,  Evaluation Specialist, UNICEF Cambodia 

Moderator: Alradi Abdallah, Inclusive Humanitarian Action & Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) Advisor, International Disability Alliance