Coverage of Social Assistance

Concerning social assistance, statistics are sometimes available on the number of persons with disabilities benefiting from particular schemes. However, as mentioned above, it is difficult to draw conclusions from such statistics about the total number of persons with disabilities covered by social assistance, since in most countries there exist more than one programme. Furthermore, the available statistics are calculated and presented in different ways, meaning, for instance, that whereas some report the number of persons with disabilities benefiting form a programme, others report the number of beneficiary households that include one or more persons with disabilities. This complicates the comparison of coverage between programmes and countries. 

The non-conditional Karama component of the Takaful and Karama programme in Egypt as of 2016 had 61,949 beneficiaries, of whom 50,206 – i.e. 81 per cent – were persons with disabilities.[1] As of 2014, 39.1 per cent of the 225,525 households benefiting from Tunisia’s PNAFN included at least one person with a disability. This would imply a relatively high coverage of persons with disabilities, considering that only 8.04 per cent of all households in Tunisia included one or more persons with a disability (see also figure 17 further below).[2] According to Jordan’s National Aid Fund (NAF), as of 2015 12,000 persons with disabilities benefited from its assistance (including mainstream as well as disability specific CTs).[3] This corresponds to approximately 12 per cent of all NAF beneficiaries.[4]

Households benefiting from the State of Palestine’s PNCTP reportedly comprize 761,532 persons, of whom 65,980 – or 8.7 per cent – have disabilities.[5] In Morocco, 8,295 children with disabilities lived in households benefiting from the country's CT programme targeting widows in 2017. They thus made up some 6.9 per cent of all children in beneficiary households.[6] In Algeria, as of 2016, a total of 238,968 persons with disabilities benefitted from La Pension Handicapée à 100%.[7]

In Mauritania, in 2017, the families of 110 children with multiple disabilities received CTs targeted to this group[8] and 200 persons with disabilities have been given land lots for housing.[9] Meanwhile, 244 persons with disabilities in the country as of 2016 benefitted from income-generating activities.[10] However, the proportion of persons with disabilities in the region benefiting from mainstream public works schemes (i.e. those not specifically targeting persons with disabilities), such as the one in Yemen, is likely to be low, since the nature of such work is often physically demanding, making it difficult for persons with mobility and other physical disabilities to partake.