The Disability Catalyst Programme invests in developing the capacities of persons with disabilities and their representative organizations to advocate for the implementation of the CRPD and the SDGs.

Some of the largest impacts of the programme are summarized below.
1. This programme has enabled the substantive and meaningful participation of persons with disabilities in UN country team work in selected countries. This is indicated by the active involvement of DPOs in UNPRPD funded national and regional programmes. DPOs from 50% of UNPRPD countries are ‘overall satisfied’ and feel that they are meaningfully involved in UNPRPD country programmes.

2. Legislation, policy and government programmes (including those addressing the SDGs) have undergone harmonization with the CRPD in target countries through the participation of representative organizations of persons with disabilities. This is indicated by the number of national government programme changes addressing rights and inclusion of persons with disabilities secured with grantee input in target countries. There have been 38 national level government programme changes secured with grantee input. DRF grants have improved legislation and policy frameworks to be more in line with a rights-based understanding of disability. Involvement of grantees in advocacy is both leading to legislative, policy and programme changes and opening up opportunities for partnership with other actors, including civil society, national human rights institutions and women’s rights activists.

3. DPOs have increased their capacities to make the most of national and international SDGs and human rights monitoring processes to promote inclusion of persons with disabilities and implementation of the CRPD. The number of countries with trained activists who know how to use UN human rights monitoring mechanisms to further their national advocacy has increased to 35 countries. There has been an increase in quality of submissions from DPOs to the UPR, treaty bodies and High-level Political Forum. By March 2018, 78% of all submissions to CRPD committee reviewed by IDA staff comply with the CRPD (in regard to approach, language, low quality use of diversified data, or ineffective recommendations).

4. The number and increasing diversity of grantee submissions to international or national human rights mechanisms. There is an increasingly diversified disability rights movement in DRF countries, including women with disabilities and indigenous persons with disabilities as well as other marginalised groups. The increased reporting by the disability community to other UN human rights mechanisms such as CEDAW is a positive marker of the increasing influence of the disability movement.

5. The disability movement in target countries is inclusive, reflecting the diverse voices of persons with disabilities. 53% of organizational members in national cross-disability umbrella organizations are from marginalized groups, 13.4% of the total pooled fund grants were awarded to emergent DPOs by 2018 and 52.9% of grants awarded to DPOs representing marginalized groups.

6. Women with disabilities, persons with psychosocial disabilities, and self-advocates from the marginalized groups are involved in regional and global processes related to SDGs monitoring and implementation. At the HLPF 2017, 3% of DPO representatives were youth with disabilities, 3% were indigenous persons with disabilities, and 44% were women with disabilities.