The joint project will address primarily two key challenges in overcoming stigma and discrimination, with a view to better addressing violence against women and girls with disabilities following an intersectional approach.
Firstly, better tools are needed to generate evidence of disability-related stigma and discrimination and its impact at national level. Existing tools are fragmented, predominantly focused on the Global North, and do not measure the full chain of stigma including gender based and intersectional stereotypes, prejudice and discrimination. Inspired by examples in other contexts (e.g. PLHIV Stigma Tool) the project will develop a framework tool which can be adapted for national contexts, and pilot it in project countries.
Secondly, many interventions addressing disability-related stigma and discrimination have focused on raising awareness rather than changing behaviour. The project will use behavioural insight (BI) approaches to design and pilot interventions for behavioural change in project countries and evaluate their impact.
The anticipated result of the project is strengthened services for the elimination of violence against women with disabilities following evidence-based interventions and changed attitudes and behaviour of rights holders and duty bearers. The Project will also mainstreame intersectional elements across both interventions.