The Swedish Agency for Participation National monitoring using the recommendation of the UN Human Rights Office 7 October 2015 Arvid Lindén Head of department of knowledge and guidelines The Swedish Agency for Participation

National implementation and monitoring of the Convention The Ministry of Health and Social Affairs is the focal point There is also a high level inter-ministerial working group with representatives from most of the ministries. The Minister responsible for the disability policy regularly convenes a delegation, comprising representatives of Disabled Persons Organisations (DPO) and Secretaries of State for consultation and exchange of information.

The Swedish Agency for Participation Swedish disability policy The national goals for Swedish disability policy The UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) A strategy for implementation of Swedish disability policy

The Swedish Agency for Participation A strategy for implementation of Swedish disability policy Follow up and evaluation Municipalities and county councils important actors Output for the individual in the everyday life Emphasis on a gender and children based approach Strategic agencies 12 policy areas in focus

The Swedish Agency for Participation 12 focus areas Labor market policy Education policy Social policy Health policy Increased physical accessibility Public transport policy IT-policy Culture The media Sports The judiciary Consumer policy

The Swedish Agency for Participation Why do we monitor? Make gaps and inequalities visible Target the most efficient improvements Monitor development over time Could inherently strengthen a human rights-based approach

The Swedish Agency for Participation Living conditions of PWD Webb Panel, voice of PWD Municipalities work Governmental agencies work Qualititative studies Strategic agencies’ reports Other studies Monitoring Swedish disability policy

The Swedish Agency for Participation Examples of the monitoring system Living conditions of PWD –Data on PWD compared to the rest of the population –Usually applied as an heterogenous group of PWD –Health, employment, education level data as well as participation in culture, sports etc. –All areas and ages not fully covered in the data

The Swedish Agency for Participation Examples of the monitoring system Panel of PWD –Over 1800 individuals with disability –Regular surveys on perceived participation and obstacles to participation

The Swedish Agency for Participation Examples of the monitoring system Monitoring municipalities and county councils –Annual surveys of five policy areas to all 290 municipalities in Sweden and one survey regarding public transport to 21 county councils –Efforts of improving conditions to participation –Open comparisons – follow up as a method of improvement

The Swedish Agency for Participation Examples of the monitoring system Open comparison of governmental agencies –Annual survey of 271 agencies with at least 10 employees –Accessibility of buildings, communication and information

The Swedish Agency for Participation Examples of the monitoring system Reports from strategic agencies responsible for the implementation of disability policy in their sector –Annual reports from 22 agencies

The Swedish Agency for Participation United Nations office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (UNOHCHR) model for monitoring of human rights at the national level.

The Swedish Agency for Participation Level of indicators – main indicators Structural level –Organisation/governance –Steering mechanisms Proces level –Promoting activities –Accessible physical envi. –Influence Outcome level –Results

The Swedish Agency for Participation What happens with the results? Feedback to muncipalities and authorities Presentation of results Reporting to UN on CRPD Basis for government decisions Development processes Useful for municipalities and DPO:s etc.

The Swedish Agency for Participation Among persons with disabilities, 26 % feels like they have been discriminated against in their workplace. 8 of 10 municipalities use digital forms for job applications. But only 1 out of 10 have ensured the accessibility of the application form. An example from the labor policy area

The Swedish Agency for Participation Another example from the education area Large problems with giving students the support they need. 47 % of the examined schools are not able to give the support the students are entitled to. Only 1 of 4 municipalities has goals to increase the accessibility and the participation to education for pupils with disabilities. The situation is better in higher education. Students with disabilities study full time to the same extent as other students.

The Swedish Agency for Participation Can you get to work or school? Something very positive – all 21 regional agencies responsible for public transport had put demands on accessibility in precurements when buying new buses 90 % of the public transport vehicles have a place reserved for wheelchairs. That is an increase of 22 % in one year

The Swedish Agency for Participation There is still lots of things left to do…. …..until all people with disabilities can participate on equal terms in Sweden

The Swedish Agency for Participation Challenges Different interests (politics, statistical etc.) Make priorities (the right ones) Not get stuck on details - get the overall picture Childrens, equality and intersectional perspectives Methods to monitor accessibility – big data? Comparable indicators across countries

The Swedish Agency for Participation Current work to get comparable data cross area and cross nations 12 areas of indicators Analyzing statistics from the areas, trying to get some main indicators Looking also at other countries statistics and indicators Find the least common denominator “simplify” - Discriminate between dimensions to be able to distinguish subgroups The Swedish Agency for Participation

Indicators Level of education – high / low Employment – yes / no Income – high / low

The Swedish Agency for Participation 7 October The Swedish Agency for Participation