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Governments and development agencies increasingly recognise social protection as an important component of poverty reduction and development. Social assistance, defined as non-contributory, regular and predictable cash or in-kind transfers, has received particular attention. Disabled people are often identified as a target group, yet little information is available about the best approach to including disabled people in social assistance schemes.

This paper brings together initial findings from a scoping study and workshop discussion about disability and social assistance in developing countries. It highlights a number of issues that need to be considered in the design of social assistance schemes including:

• whether to have specific social assistance for disabled people or to make mainstream social assistance inclusive
• the role of conditions criteria for eligibility
• barriers to access
• links between social assistance and other programmes
  

The paper concludes makes a number of recommendations for effective design of social protection programmes, and concludes that:

• asserting disabled peoples’ equal right to social assistance does not signal a return to welfarism. It is not instead of action to claim rights, but supports and underpins it
• disability cannot be looked at through the lens of social assistance alone. We have to challenge the assumptions that disability can only be dealt with through social assistance and social welfare
  

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