Disability Data Initiative Sub-Saharan Africa (DDI-SSA)
The Disability Data Initiative (DDI) is a global research group founded by Prof Sophie Mitra at Fordham University. Its mission is to advance disability rights monitoring by utilizing publicly available national data. In 2021, the Initiative partnered with nine regional hubs, including the South African Medical Research Council (SAMRC), which now spearheads efforts in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA).
The DDI team regularly reviews publicly accessible datasets, such as national censuses and household surveys, to determine whether they include disability-related data. This work aligns with Article 31 of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD), which mandates data collection to facilitate the implementation of the Convention. Where disability data is available, the team conducts in-depth analyses to identify gaps and track progress in promoting the rights of persons with disabilities and achieving sustainable human development.
The Initiative has also developed two innovative databases: one cataloging the availability of disability data and another summarizing analyses of these datasets. These tools provide valuable insights into the "disability gap" in critical areas such as education, health, social security, and poverty. To date, the DDI has reviewed over 3,000 datasets and produced country-level estimates for approximately 70 nations, including 28 in Sub-Saharan Africa.
Additionally, the DDI-SSA team supports the analysis of other public datasets, such as those from the Burden of Disease study or school monitoring surveys. Recently, the Initiative secured a grant to enhance the capacity of researchers in SSA to apply DDI methodologies. Moving forward, the DDI plans to analyze emerging datasets both regionally and globally, offering cutting-edge insights into disability statistics and key development indicators such as universal healthcare, education, and climate change.
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You can find our DDI databases at the below links
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| Webinars | |
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The Launch Event for the Advancing Disability Rights Monitoring through Disaggregated Statistics in Sub-Saharan Africa project was held on the 19th of February 2025. The event marks the launch of an 18-month project to increase capacity amongst young researchers and advocates to use the DDI research approaches and tools to inform advocacy and monitor disability rights. In addition, the event introduced participants to the newly launched Disability Statistics Databases. The Databases are user-friendly and accessible tools that enable easy access to disability data, including where we can find disability data, the prevalence of disabilities, and SDG/CRPD indicators disaggregated by disability type and severity. The event had around 100 attendees, mostly from South Africa and Kenya, but included participants from across Africa as well as some attendees from other regions of the world. Attendees came from a variety of organisations, including public health facilities, universities, research institutions, NGOs, DPOs, and other teams from within the South African Medical Research Council. As part of the UNFPA's ESA Disability Inclusion Webinar Series (Link), we presented on the DDI results and hosted a discussion around the use of DDI data. As part of this effort we developed an HTML-based presentation offering interactive and accessible content. Here is the link to this presentation: The first DDI-SSA webinar on 23 March 2023 introduced participants to the DDI. The webinar provided an overview of where and what type of disability data is publicly available on disability globally and in the Sub-Saharan region. The webinar discussed what disability questions had been applied and how they can be used to calculate disability prevalence using different cut-off points for the degree of disability. It also showed how these cut-off points could be used to measure disability gaps in employment, income education, health, employment, and multidimensional poverty. It illustrated how this gap analysis could inform and monitor policy implementation focusing on the rights of persons with disabilities. |
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Global DDI Newsletters you can find here:
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| Student Thesis | |
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Deghaye, Nicola Mary (2023): Measuring enrolment and support for children with disabilities at the school level (South Africa). Dissertation for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Faculty of Economic and Management Sciences at Stellenbosh University. McKenzie, Tamlyn Candyee (2022): Childhood and adult disability: Impact on education and the labor market in South Africa. Dissertation for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Economics in the School of Accounting, Economics and Finance at the University of KwaZulu-Natal. |
Contact details
Prof. Dr. Jill Hanass-Hancock: Jill.hanasshancock@mrc.ac.za
Bradley Carpenter: bradley.carpenter@mrc.ac.za