Summer school: Analysing data on children with disabilities
Fostering inclusion through data
Trento, Italy
Article 31 of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities mandates that ratifying States Parties “collect appropriate information, including statistical and research data, to enable them to formulate and implement policies to give effect to the present Convention”. This requirement is also embedded in the Sustainable Development Goals. Goal 17, which focuses on the means of implementing the 2030 Agenda, includes an explicit target on supporting countries to increase the availability of high-quality, timely and disaggregated data.
Valid, reliable and relevant data on children with disabilities are essential for a variety of purposes, including to:
- Understand the situation of children with disabilities;
- Assess the role of environmental factors (including societal attitudes and physical barriers) in the experience of disability;
- Inform policies and programmes, facilitate the planning of services, and improve participation and quality of life of children with disabilities and their families;
- Advocate for the rights of children with disabilities;
- Report on progress towards national, regional and international conventions and goals.
To help countries fill these data gaps, UNICEF and the Washington Group on Disability Statistics developed the Child Functioning Module for use in censuses and surveys. The module conforms to the biopsychosocial model of disability, focusing on the presence and extent of functional difficulties rather than on body structure or conditions, and is intended to provide a population-level estimate of the number and proportion of children with functional difficulties. Following the release of the Child Functioning Module in 2016, more than 50 countries have used it to collect data on children with disabilities.
To capitalize on the current momentum and enhance the ability of stakeholders to make timely and data-driven decisions affecting children with disabilities, UNICEF launched the Centre of Excellence on Data for Children with Disabilities in 2021. The Centre was created to meet the growing need for coordination, quality oversight and technical expertise in the field, drawing on the principles of partnership, innovation and inclusivity. The Centre supports a broad range of activities to build the capacity of data producers and data users, facilitate the development of new methods and tools, and support data collection, data analysis, data interpretation and use.
Training objectives
In partnership with the Department of Psychology and Cognitive Science of the University of Trento, the Centre is organizing a four-day summer school course on data analysis in August 2023. The training aims to increase participant knowledge on how to analyse and interpret data on children with disabilities obtained through the Child Functioning Module, and will provide participants with the opportunity to use their own country’s dataset to conduct the analysis.
Applications need to be submitted via application form by 31 May 2023. A recent CV needs to accompany the application and should be sent to adwivedi@unicef.org by 31 May 2023.
The applications will be reviewed, and selected participants will be notified by email. Note that there is limited capacity.
Target audience
The training is intended primarily for representatives of national statistical offices and other professionals whose primary work is to conduct data analysis. They include those who work in relevant government ministries, research institutes and academia.