Development of a Digital Case Management Tool for Community Based Inclusive Development Program.

Abstract

Disability inclusive development practices require reliable data to identify people with disabilities, their barriers to participation and support needs. Although several tools are available for measuring different components of disability, it is often difficult for program teams in low resource settings, including lay community workers of community based inclusive development (CBID) programs, to collect and analyze data for program monitoring and evaluation. This paper presents the development of a digital CBID Modular Tool with automated data analysis to support routine case management processes and monitoring of a CBID program in Laos PDR. The tool was developed in different phases involving stakeholder consultations, auditing of existing tools, content development for the different modules for disability assessment and support needs, software development and testing. The tool was developed in a participatory process including people with disabilities. The tool measures needs and support requirements of people with disabilities in health, functioning, economic, education and caregiver support domains, and enables intervention planning. The content included is both context specific and universal as derived from the widely used validated tools. This unique digital CBID Modular Tool can support data collection by lay community workers and support reliable data collection to measure disability inclusion in a development program.