Disability Data Management System Project in Batangas Province Receives Support from International Labor Organization

August 10, 2022

A project financed by the United Nations Partnership on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNPRPD) that is jointly implemented by the International Labour Organisation (ILO), UNICEF and the International Disability Alliance, is supporting the provincial government of Batangas to pilot a new disability assessment mechanisms being developed as part of the Disability Data Management System (DDMS).

The Persons with Disabilities Affairs Office’s (PDAO) primary role is to ensure the delivery of appropriate programs and services for persons with disabilities within their jurisdiction. However, there is currently no reliable and systematic information regarding the needs of persons with disabilities and the barriers that they face to participate in community life or to be economically active. Aware of this predicament, the Office started to develop a disability assessment and data management system that will also facilitate the delivery of disability ID card as provided for by Republic Act No. 9442.

Guided by the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and Governor Hermilando I. Mandanas’ thrust HELP ( Health, Education, Livelihood, and Protection of Life, Environment and Property), the disability assessment system will also collect information on the support requirements of persons with disabilities. The new system will increase the accessibility, comprehensiveness and reliability of disability assessment and determination by enabling non-medical staff at local levels to carry out the disability assessment. They will use twenty new tablets provided by the project for a Computer Assisted Personal Interviewer (CAPI) tool which allows to partially automate the data collection at household level. This will greatly reduce errors and costs of collecting information as well as speeding up the assessment process. The ILO has procured the new tablets provided through the UNPRPD financed project to support the pilot testing of the disability assessment and data management tool in Batangas Province to learn lessons for a possible role out.

The pilot is co-funded by UNPRPD, the United Nations Economic and Social Commission in the Asia Pacific (UNESCAP), Norway, UNICEF and the Centre for Inclusive Policy (CIP) and Implemented jointly with World Education USAID-OKARD, Philippine Statistics Authority, Department of Social Welfare and Development, National Council on Disability Affairs, Department of Health, Department of Interior and Local Government, CBMS Network, Physicians for Peace, and UP CAMP.

The project activities included consultations with government agencies and offices, expert groups such as organizations of persons with disabilities, medical and allied professionals among others to develop the disability assessment tools and the guidelines on implementing the Disability Data Management System (DDMS). During a series of webinar-trainings, the project implementation team learnt about the experiences of building such disability assessment and information systems in other countries such as Lao PDR and Cambodia who developed similar tools.

The system will be piloted in five (5) out of thirty-four (34) cities and municipalities in Batangas. Building on the Community Based Monitoring System (CBMS) infrastructure, DDMS will take advantage of the technology and existing infrastructure to ensure sustainability when implemented nationwide. DDMS is expected to be interoperable with other existing database system such as CBMS and the Philippine Registry of Persons with Disabilities managed by the Department of Health. This will ensure that all existing databases are complementing each other for a more informed decision when developing new policies and programs but as well as monitoring the situation of persons with disabilities.

EDWIN ABELARDO N. DE VILLA
PDAO Head
Province of Batangas