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Institute for Development studies publishes new journal on building disability-inclusive futures

April 2026

People with disabilities are too often excluded from development research and programmes.

New research published in the Institute for Development Studies’ quarterly bulletin, ‘Building disability-inclusive futures,’ sheds fresh light on the urgent need for disability-inclusive development. The first issue to focus on disability and development in the journal’s 60-year history, it uses learning and evidence from the Inclusive Futures programme to highlight promising progress and persistent gaps that continue to leave millions behind.

Disability-inclusive development

An estimated 16% of the world’s population have a significant disability. Despite this, people with disabilities often remain excluded or underrepresented in development programmes and research.

Between 2018 and 2026, the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCDO) funded a £49 million investment in the disability inclusive development programme to address this. The programme used rigorous research to understand what works to improve outcomes for people with disabilities in education, employment and health in low- and middle-income countries, while working to ensure that governments and the international community use this data and evidence to drive better disability inclusion interventions.

The programme is made up of two parts: an intervention component (the Inclusive Futures programme, which is led by Sightsavers and the International Disability Alliance) and a research component (PENDA, which is led by the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine).

A black man in a wheelchair wearing stripy trousers and a red T-shirt smiles broadly at the camera

Building disability-inclusive futures

Read this special disability-focused issue of the IDS bulletin.

Read the IDS bulletin
Risikat sits in her wheelchair outside a school in Nigeria.
Risikat Toyin Muhammed from the Women with Disabilities Self-Reliance Foundation in Nigeria. © Joy Tarbo/Sightsavers

Closing the evidence gap on an essential development issue

Co-edited by Claire Walsh from Sightsavers, Gayatri Sekar from the International Disability Alliance and Stephen Thompson and Brigitte Rohwerder from IDS, the bulletin brings together insights from over 40 contributors and co-contributors, including researchers, practitioners and people with lived experience of disability. It draws together the evidence, lessons learned and the barriers the programme faced in thirteen articles on a range of topics integral to disability-inclusive development, including participatory research, stigma, education, safeguarding, partnering with OPDs, and accessible transport.

Learn more

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Putting disability inclusion into action

Abhilasha Sharma, Inclusive Futures’ monitoring, evaluation and learning manager, reflects on what disability inclusion in action looks like based on seven years of working on the programme.
A mother and her two sons are smiling and laughing.

Busting disability inclusion myths

Inclusive Futures’ senior learning adviser, Pascale Hall, reflects on the programme’s learning legacy and discusses how the development sector can debunk long-standing myths about disability inclusion.
Two young women in blue and yellow headscarves are smiling at the camera.

New report confirms disability inclusion is one of the smartest investments in global development

A new Inclusive Futures report proves that disability inclusive development delivers powerful, cost-effective and lasting results.

What works to include people with disabilities?

Resources and learning

Inclusive Futures are specialists and global leaders in disability and development from more than 20 global organisations.

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