19 November 2020
13:00 UK / 08:00 EST
Free
Country Capacity Assessments - supporting country governments to address AT access
Showcasing the need for and the importance of Assistive Technology (AT) the Country Capacity Assessments have identified current gaps in policy, procurement and provision - giving an overarching view on a national landscape in relation to AT and aiding decision-makers to understand what their AT priorities are.
Assessments have been carried out across 7 countries in Africa, as well as Mongolia and Indonesia, with further assessments ongoing in Viet Nam, Bolivia and the Dominican Republic. A new WHO tool has been used to collect the data - the AT Capacity Assessment tool (ATA-C). This project is part of Global Disability Innovation Hub’s UK aid funded AT2030 programme, and has been delivered alongside WHO, CHAI and UCL’s Development Planning Unit.
Hear from those that created the ATA-C tool and implemented the Country Capacity Assessments, exploring in more detail the insights and outcomes from Ethiopia, and the importance of stakeholders in driving health policy change. We’ll also find out more from Bolivia, where the assessment is just beginning, and how the ATA-C tool is being launched globally to support national governments to improve access to AT.
Read the lessons learned report of the Country Capacity Assessment
Emma Tebbutt
Maria L. Toro-Hernandez
Julian Walker
Eshetu Bekele Tadesse
Abas Hassen Yesuf
Background
The Global Disability Innovation Hub (GDI Hub), World Health Organization (WHO), and Clinton Health Access Initiative (CHAI) have been working since early 2019 to create and pilot a new tool for evaluating a country’s capacity to deliver appropriate assistive technology (AT), at scale, to people in need. The tool, called the Assistive Technology Capacity Assessment (ATA-C), has now been used to complete 11 country capacity assessments (CCAs), and five more are underway. The purpose of the CCAs is to “capture a high-level understanding of the often-fragmented AT sector in a country or region,” helping raise awareness about AT gaps and opportunities and contributing to advocacy and policy and program development. One year after the first CCAs began, GDI Hub commissioned research into lessons learned so far and recommendations for how the tool and process might be improved in the future.
The ATA-C tool
The ATA-C has had several key successes across the board, including:
- It raised awareness about AT issues in every country where it has been implemented.
- The CCA process led directly to a greater degree of coordination among AT actors in each country. In most cases, it led to the creation of new working groups that collaborate and share information across different government ministries and non-governmental partners.
- In some countries, findings from the ATA-C have already helped form the basis for new policies and, in some countries, budget allocations. In others, the findings are informing ongoing policy development.
Find out more by reading the full Country Capacity Assessment lessons learnt innovation insight.
