Disability inclusion finance

Last year, for the first time, the Southeast Asia Aid Map online database included a unique tag and filter to identify projects that integrate disability inclusion as an objective. The methodology is based on the OECD Development Assistance Committee’s disability inclusion marker and includes estimates for development partners in the Aid Map database who either do not use the marker or do not report to the OECD.

The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that 16% of the global population lives with a significant disability.¹ This means that around 96 million people in Southeast Asia may experience barriers to participation in society, education, employment, and access to services, or be excluded from development programs.

The ASEAN Disability Forum was inaugurated in 2011 and adopted the Bangkok Declaration. It provides strategic input to promote disability-inclusive policies within ASEAN, reflecting growing regional policy interest in disability inclusion.² Yet significant challenges remain, including health inequities, barriers to education and employment, and limitations in enforcement capacity and the resources needed to implement disability-inclusion policies effectively.

Trends

Before the Covid pandemic (2015–19), disability inclusion finance averaged 5% of total ODF. In 2020, it rose to 13% and reached 15% in 2023. In 2024, however, it accounted for just 9% of total ODF to the region, falling from $4.4 billion in 2023 to $2.3 billion. The drop largely reflects the completion of ADB infrastructure and budget support projects in Indonesia and the Philippines, where disability inclusion was a “significant” rather than “principal” policy objective.

From 2015 to 2024, social protection ODF has seen much higher integration of disability inclusion objectives, at 96%, compared with 9% overall.

Key partners

The seven largest partners (ADB, World Bank, Japan, Australia, Germany, the United Kingdom, and the United States) provide 91% of all disability inclusion ODF to Southeast Asia. Another 62 partners contribute the remaining 9%.

The ADB is the largest provider of disability inclusion aid in the region, contributing 50%, followed by the World Bank at 16%. Contributions by both are marked as “significant”. Japan is the third-largest provider, contributing 10%, with 99% of that marked as “significant”.

Australia is the largest single provider of ODF with a “principal” focus on disability inclusion (8% of Australia’s total disability inclusion ODF to Southeast Asia), and the fourth-largest provider overall, accounting for 45% of “principal” disability inclusion ODF to the region. Australia first adopted a disability-inclusive development strategy 15 years ago. In 2024, it updated the strategy, underlining its focus on disability inclusion and setting performance targets for disability equity in its development program investments.³

South Korea is an outsized provider of aid with a “principal” focus on disability inclusion. It provides less than 1% of total disability inclusion ODF to the region but 23% of the “principal”-focused total.

Sources

1. WHO, Global Report on Health Equity for Persons with Disabilities (Geneva: World Health Organization, 2022), https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/9789240063600.
2. ASEAN Disability Forum, “About”, https://aseandisabilityforum.com/about/.
3. Australian Government, Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Australia’s International Disability Equity and Rights Strategy: Advancing Equity to Transform Lives (Canberra: DFAT, 2024), https://www.dfat.gov.au/publications/australias-international-disability-equity-and-rights-strategy-advancing-equity-transform-lives.