Together We Stand

[ 14 ] Commissioner for Refugees registration form, to collect data on the support required by new arrivals. The staff of five humanitarian agencies were trained on disability issues so they would understand how to minimize the risk of abuse and provide appropriate assistance. By gaining an under- standing of the presence and vulnerability of persons with disabilities, humanitarian staff were able to work to ensure that aid and services were distributed in a way that did not exclude them. This included involving persons with disabili- ties in the design and maintenance of water and sanitation facilities to ensure accessibility; ensuring that health, hygiene and information messages were distributed using multiple communication methods such as Braille, sign language or drawings; and ensuring that sufficient (solar) lighting is provided in shelter areas to facilitate the safety and commu- nications ability of people who are deaf and hard of hearing. Working closely with camp management, and training IDPs from the camps to provide rehabilitation services, produced an effective balance between making structural changes in the camp and attending to individual needs through promot- ing participation. Despite current interventions, a large gap remains in the knowledge and capacity of humanitarian actors to adequately address the needs of IDPs with disabilities. The Government of the Republic of South Sudan has therefore asked Light for the World to develop a capacity-development programme for emergency actors in-country. The first batch of humanitar- ian actors and government staff is expected to be trained in disability inclusion by July 2016. Conflict increases the prevalence of disability, but humani- tarian camps and services are often not adapted to address the needs of persons with disabilities. Light for the World has demonstrated that with some knowledge on disability, and slight adaptations to make services accessible, all internally displaced persons can benefit from the aid provided. Management of IDP camps was also part of the training given by Hungarian Baptist Aid in Myanmar that enabled ethnic, religious and language minority group leaders to work on building the resilience of their communities. The Kachin State, underfunded and lacking investment, has a long history of conflict with the Government. Ja Seng Pu was a young teenager living in Kachin State when cyclone Nargis struck in 2008, taking the lives of 200,000 people and making half a million homeless. Three years later the Kachin war resumed in her home state, making her life even more vulnerable. The humanitarian principles of impartiality and neutrality were taken up by faith-based organizations which worked to promote the inclusion of all ethnic, religious and language minority groups in their humanitarian work. Hungarian Baptist Aid responded to cyclone Nargis within 24 hours and since then has worked with local counterparts to provide humanitarian assistance, funding and capacity development. In 2014 Hungarian Baptist Aid organized a high-level disas- ter management training series for community leaders of the most vulnerable groups. Eighteen different ethnic, religious and language-minority groups (including Kachin Ja Seng Pu as well as Bamar, Chin Image: Jaco Klamer Persons with disabilities can now access protection, water, sanitation and hygiene, education and food in Mahad and Gunbo camps, South Sudan T ogether W e S tand