Speakers at an event on Tuesday said that globally, 1.3 billion (130 crore) people, around 16 per cent of the world's population, live with significant disabilities. These individuals face disproportionately high levels of poverty, economic deprivation, limited access to employment, and social exclusion.
While both the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) and national law in Bangladesh recognise access to decent work as a basic human right, there remains a lack of concrete evidence on effective strategies to improve employment opportunities for persons with disabilities.
The BRAC Institute of Governance and Development (BIGD), BRAC University, and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) jointly organised the event titled 'Enhancing Livelihoods for Youth with Disabilities: Evidence from the STAR+ Programme Impact Evaluation dissemination'.
In his opening remarks, Dr. Imran Matin, Executive Director of BIGD, noted that Bangladesh has a strong disability rights movement. He emphasised the movement's motto-"nothing about us without us"-as a guiding principle for research and policy to ensure inclusivity and equity. Professor Hannah Kuper of LSHTM, the project's Principal Investigator, praised Bangladesh's leadership in disability-inclusive research and stressed the importance of scaling successful models like STAR+ globally.
While opportunities for refinement remain, speakers at the event agreed: disability-inclusive adaptations of proven models like STAR+ hold immense value and should be expanded and institutionalised to ensure no one is left behind.
The speakers underscored the critical importance of equipping underprivileged youth with disabilities with the skills necessary for meaningful employment.
The event also explored ways to scale up existing interventions to be more inclusive and responsive to the specific needs of youth with disabilities.
The event presented findings from an evaluation of the STAR+ programme, an adapted six-month version of BRAC's Skills Training for Advancing Resources (STAR) model in Bangladesh.
STAR+ is tailored for youth with disabilities from low-income households who are not in education or employment. The programme combines classroom learning with on-the-job apprenticeships and includes additional support such as assistive devices, workplace accessibility improvements, community sensitisation, inclusion training for trainers and employers, and limited post-program job placement support to facilitate the transition into income-generating work.
Led by BIGD and LSHTM, and funded by UK International Development, this research is part of a broader initiative to generate evidence aimed at improving the long-term well-being and inclusion of people with disabilities, according to the press release.
Approximately 18 months after implementation, researchers reported promising outcomes-particularly in employment, income, and household well-being. Youth with disabilities who participated in the STAR+ programme experienced a 6.2 percentage point increase in employment (a 33 percent rise).
The research stated that working hours rose by 49 percent, and earnings increased by 50 percent, primarily through higher levels of self-employment.
The programme was especially effective for those with at least some formal education (Grade 1 or higher), with this group seeing a 54 percent increase in employment and a 60 percent rise in earnings.
However, participants with no formal education showed no significant improvement. Importantly, both young men and women benefited equally.
The programme also had a positive ripple effect on households. Employment among other working-age family members increased-mainly via self-employment-and participating households were more likely to secure business-related loans.
Food insecurity declined significantly, with STAR+ youth being 46 percent less likely to go a day without eating. However, no significant impact was found on household savings or overall consumption.
