Universalia has just won a second contract with the Disability Rights Fund to conduct a learning evaluation, including developing or modifying tools for data collection, recording, and management.
The Disability Rights Fund, launched in 2008, is a pooled fund that combines the resources of multiple governmental and private donors and awards small grants to grassroots Disabled Persons’ Organizations (DPOs) in Africa, Asia, Pacific, Eastern Europe, Latin America & the Caribbean, and the Middle East.
Through small to modest grants, DRF empowers DPOs to participate in ratification, implementation, and monitoring of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) at country levels. As of June 2013, nearly US$10 million have been distributed through over 460 modest, CRPD-related advocacy grants to DPOs in over 20 countries.
The mandate received by Universalia entails supporting DRF in the development or modification of existing tools for data collection, recording, and management in ways that are feasible and flexible and allow for updating by staff as information needs evolve. It also entails conducting the learning evaluation, which will assess the extent to which DRF’s objectives are being fulfilled, as well as operational aspects, such as project management and implementation of activities.
The evaluation team, led by Elisabetta Micaro, will also involve Dr. Charles Lusthaus (Senior Methodology Advisor), Sandra Nduwimfura (Evaluation Consultant), and Dr. Futsum Abbay (Disability Rights Specialist).