The Home Based Disability Program Impact Evaluation Study was conducted between 2012 and 2016 by the Global Research on Inclusion and Disability team. The study was carried out between January 2012 and June 2016 in 13 provinces of Afghanistan where the program is implemented through four regional offices based in Ghazni (South-Eastern Regional Office), Jalalabad (Eastern Regional Office), Mazar I Sharif (Northern regional Office) and Taloqan (North-Eastern Regional Office) covering each of them several provinces of Afghanistan.
Community-based Rehabilitation (CBR) was introduced in the 1970s to use effective, locally-developed technologies to prevent disability and transfer knowledge and skills about disability and rehabilitation to people with disabilities, their families and the community at large.
The Home Based Disability Program (DP) is a CBR program for persons with disabilities run by the Swedish Committee for Afghanistan (SCA) since 2004. This CBR approach aims at improving the lives and rights of people with disabilities and their communities and covers 13 provinces of Afghanistan.
The SCA DP is the largest CBR program in Afghanistan. The components of the program include:
- Social integration of people with disabilities,
- Employment support and vocational training,
- Special and inclusive education,
- Physiotherapy and orthopedic services.
The purpose of Rehabilitation of Afghans with Disabilities Impact Evaluation (RADIE) study was aimed at measuring the impact of the SCA CBR program on its participants.
Goals of the Study
- Uncover the demographic, disability, and socio-economic profile of CBR participant at baseline.
- Measure the impact of CBR activities on the circumstances and well-being of participants over time.
- Provide targeted recommendations to improve CBR outreach and service delivery.
- Recommend new areas of focus and priority for SCA DP leadership.
- Contribute to empirical knowledge about ways of improving the lives of, and ensuring equal opportunities for, persons with disabilities.
Methods
- We implemented a quasi experiment fieldwork study.
- We randomly selected a control group in 100 villages in the same provinces but outside the catchment area of the SCA CBR program.
- We used propensity score matching analysis to measure the impact of the program on five major outcomes of interest: mobility, activities of daily living, communication, participation in social and community life, and emotional well-being.
Findings
The results indicate that compared to the control group mobility after three years spent on average in the program.
- Activities of daily living improved by 12.4%
- Communication by 8.4%
- Participation in social and community life by 9.1%
- Emotional well-being by 102%
- Employment by 12% for adults between 15 and 60 years old
- Writing skills by 24.9%, and
- Reading skills by 25.2%
