Publications

Electric mobility is more than a transport solution. It is a pathway to economic transformation, as this pilot demonstrated.

Innovate Now, Africa’s first accelerator dedicated to assistive technology, was established in 2019 through a partnership between GDI Hub and Kilimanjaro Blind Trust  Africa (KBTA). Over more than six years and ten cohorts, it supported more than eighty ventures from eleven countries, testing  whether sustained, specialist support could help locally developed assistive technology reach scale. These lessons informed the creation of GDI Accelerate, GDI Hub’s platform for venture building and ecosystem development. Building on the experience of Innovate  Now, GDI Accelerate combines venture  support with market development, strategic partnerships, financing, shared infrastructure, research, and capacity building to strengthen the wider systems in which disability innovation develops.

What happens when key stakeholders for inclusive clean energy access delivery, who have never met, are brought into the same room? That is exactly what we set out to explore in Nairobi through a workshop hosted by the Transforming Energy Access Disability Support Service (DSS).

In April 2026, the Transforming Energy Access (TEA) platform convened 40 members in Nairobi, Kenya, including people with disabilities, representatives from organisations of persons with disabilities n(OPDs), Transforming Energy Access partners, and disability innovators for a hands-on workshop titled ‘Co-Designing Disability-Inclusive Energy Access’. Designed and delivered by the Global Disability Innovation (GDI) Hub, London, with Senses Hub, Nairobi, as the local engagement partner, a series of interactive sessions explored key needs, barriers, and opportunities to maximise the impact of the clean energy transition for people with disabilities. 

The TEA platform is working to integrate a gender equality, disability, and social inclusion (GEDSI) lens into key decision-making and project activities, tracking results, and supporting a just and inclusive clean energy transition that leaves no one behind.

The GEDSI Toolkit and other training resources presented on this page are aimed at promoting and enabling socio-economic development, growth and poverty reduction, and supporting equal access to the benefits of modern, affordable and reliable energy. It was developed primarily with TEA platform partners in mind, though contains tools and guidance that can be valuable to others in the wider sector.

Video creation has become a global medium for self-expression and communication. However, due to its inherently multimodal nature, the video production process can pose significant barriers for creators with sensory impairments . Worldwide, an estimated 596 million individuals are blind or partially sighted (BPS), and ≈ 70 million are deaf or hard of hearing (DHH) .

This Resource Guide was developed jointly by the Global Disability Innovation Hub (GDI Hub) and the Inclusion Advisory Group (IAG), which is an initiative of CBM Global Disability Inclusion. We would like to acknowledge the contributions of the 15 sector experts who participated in interviews during the initial consultation phase in 2023, offering valuable insights into the challenges and opportunities for inclusion across urban climate action, nature-based solutions, and energy transition

Climate change is the defining challenge of our time. Its impacts are widespread, but they are not experienced equally. Persons with disabilities – who represent over one billion people globally are disproportionately affected by climate-related risks, yet remain underrepresented in climate policy, planning, and action. This Resource Guide is a practical response to that gap. And it brings something new to the field of climate action: a clear, practical focus on how disability inclusion can be embedded across specific climate action sectors. From energy and urban development to nature-based solutions and disaster risk reduction, it showcases real-world examples that demonstrate what is possible when inclusion is intentional. These examples are still too rare and too often undocumented. 

By highlighting them, this guide aims to inspire and equip climate practitioners to act, then document and share those actions to drive learning across sectors. The guide is grounded in dialogue, with organisations of persons with disabilities, climate actors, and development partners, and reflects a growing recognition that inclusive climate action is not only a matter of rights, but of resilience and resourcefulness. This is reflected in the growing momentum for official recognition of a disability constituency with the UNFCCC; a vital step to ensure that persons with disabilities can shape the policies which impact their lives. As organisations committed to disability inclusion and innovation, we see this guide as both a comprehensive resource and a starting point to build more evidence. There is an urgent need for deeper collaboration between disability and climate actors to generate and share knowledge, build mutual understanding, and strengthen inclusive practice. Through partnerships, dialogue, and joint learning, we can ensure that persons with disabilities are not only supported to be resilient to the impacts of climate change, but are active participants in shaping a more just and sustainable future.