Investment design is a critical enabler of disability equity and rights across development programs. This Good Practice Note helps program managers and design teams to embed disability equity and rights in investment designs, aligned with DFAT’s International Development Programming Guide.
Australia’s International Disability Equity and Rights Strategy (IDEARS) commits to working with people with disability throughout the program cycle, including design. It emphasises local leadership and decision-making, recognising that early engagement with people with disability and their representative organisations strengthens co-design, local ownership, and long-term impact. To be effective, investments must be informed by diverse and underrepresented people with disability, including Deaf people, people with diverse sexual orientation or gender identity, and psychosocial or intellectual disabilities.