Disability and Poverty in Morocco and Tunisia: A Multidimensional Approach

Abstract

Although a growing body of research is exploring the links between disability and poverty, the evidence that persons with disabilities are more likely to be poor than their non-disabled counterpart remains scarce. The causal relationship between disability and poverty has most often been considered in terms of disparities in income or living conditions. However, some research strongly suggests that disability is associated with deprivation in a number of other dimensions. To date, no study has examined these associations using large scale surveys with a wide range of wellbeing dimensions and indicators using a multidimensional approach. The present paper presents findings of three multidimensional poverty measures based on 17 indicators of deprivation collected through large-scale household surveys in Morocco and Tunisia. These indicators cover a wide range of dimensions of poverty such as health, education, employment, material well-being, social participation, psychological well-being and physical security. Results confirm that persons with disabilities are poorer than non-disabled people in both countries. The study shows that persons with disabilities, particularly girls and women, rural residents, and those with intellectual, mental or multiple disabilities are particularly deprived of basic capabilities and functionings and that stigma plays a role in this social injustice. Civil society organizations should take the lead to promote awareness of social and emotional well-being of persons with disabilities.

Keywords:

• Disability
• Poverty
• Multidimensional poverty index
• Tunisia
• Morocco

View correction statement:

Disability and Poverty in Morocco and Tunisia: A Multidimensional Approach

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

About the Authors

Jean-Francois Trani, demographer, assistant professor at Washington University in St Louis, has 20 years of experience in Low-Income-Countries (LICs), particularly Conflict Affected Fragile States (CAFs). His work lies at the intersection of mental health, disability, vulnerability and poverty with a focus on conducting research that informs policy and service design for individuals living in CAFs and LICs such as Afghanistan, India, Nepal, Sierra Leone and Sudan (Darfur) and, more recently, Morocco and Tunisia. His current fieldwork research in Afghanistan with Swedish Committee for Afghanistan (SCA) is a quasi experiment of the impact of a community-based rehabilitation program on the well-being of people with disabilities (2012–2016). He also carried out a case–control study looking at poverty and disability in Morocco and Tunisia in collaboration with Handicap International.

Parul Bakhshi, social psychologist, assistant professor at Washington University in St Louis, School of medicine, Occupational Therapy Program, has been carrying research in LICs for the last 10 years. She worked on various issues linked to international development: life skills education, disability, processes that create vulnerability and definitions of well-being. She has been evaluating inclusive education programs in Egypt with Save the Children, Afghanistan, Morocco and Tunisia with Handicap International and in Afghanistan with SCA and in Djibouti for UNICEF. She worked as a consultant for UNESCO in Paris, where she contributed to the work of the quality education sector and life skills programs. She is currently working on stigma and social exclusion of destitute groups that impede participation within society.

Sarah Myers Tlapek, MSW/MID, is a PhD candidate in Social Work at the Brown School at Washington University in St. Louis. Ms. Tlapek's areas of research interest include poverty, mental health, interpersonal violence and economic development in post-conflict settings and challenging environments. Prior to starting doctoral studies, she lived and worked in Africa's Great Lakes region, managing economic development, health promotion and child development programs for an international non-governmental organization.

Dominique Lopez had the opportunity to develop knowledge and expertise on health issues such as drug use, disability or reproductive health through her involvement in various projects and positions. Based on an economic and demographic background, she is able to carry out, use and analyze different types of surveys (quantitative and qualitative) as well as statistical tools to better understand social and health situations in difficult contexts (in Afghanistan, for example). Her recent professional experience within national, European and International governmental organizations (OFDT, EMCDDA and UNODC) provides her with an extra dimension in understanding heterogeneous data collection systems, as well as confidence in the negotiation and collaboration with scientific working groups or liaising a certain policy and decision-making levels. She carried out with the other coauthors the case–control survey in Morocco and Tunisia in 2013–2014.

Fiona Gall is the new Director of the Agency Coordinating Body of Afghan Relief and Development. She has extensive experience in humanitarian and development programs focusing on disability and gender particularly in Pakistan and Afghanistan. She led Sandy Gall Appeal for Afghanistan for 10 years and specialized in Community-Based rehabilitation Programs. She has a master degree in Development Management from the Open University in London. She carried out with the other coauthors the case–control survey in Morocco and Tunisia in 2013–2014.

Notes

1 The following equation is used to change of individual rankings into individual weights:

With w_ij weight of the dimension for the individual , r_ij represents the ranking of dimension j for the individual i, n is the overall number of individuals involved in the ranking process. S_n is a parameter given by the following formula:

2 The weight of dimension jis determined by the following equation:

With d the number of dimensions and r_j the classification of dimension j with a value of 1 if this is the most important dimension, 2 if it is the second most important and so on.