Interventions to Improve the Labour Market Situation of Adults with Physical and/or Sensory Disabilties in Low- and Middle-Income Countries: A Systematic Review. Campbell Systematic Reviews 2015:20

In the past, the lack of data on people with disabilities living in low- or middle-income countries (LMICs) has contributed to the invisibility of disability as a development priority. This is beginning to be addressed. While the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) did not specifically mention disability, it is increasingly being recognised that the new post-MDG development agenda will be impossible to achieve without inclusion of people with disabilities. This systematic review examines the current evidence on the effectiveness of different interventions to improve the labour market participation of adults with disabilities in LMICs. The review scope covered a wide range of intervention strategies, populations, settings, and evaluation designs. 14 eligible impact evaluations published across the 20-year period 1992-2012 were identified. The type of evaluation design was quasi-experimental design with concurrent comparison group (five studies) or single-group pre-test/post-test (nine studies). Two studies used statistical methods to adjust for potentially confounding effects. Studies were conducted in a limited range of LMICs (five countries in Asia, three in Africa, and one in Latin America: three were low-income economies (Bangladesh, Kenya, and Zimbabwe), four were lower-middle income (India, Nigeria, Philippines, and Vietnam), and two were upper-middle income (Brazil and China). Populations with all impairment types were represented in the impact assessments, although most were focused on persons with physical disabilities. In all 14 studies the direction of effect was positive for the outcome variables measured. An appendix contains additional tables. [Sightsavers International provided additional funding for this report.]