Persons with Disabilities (PWD) in Cambodia face many barriers and challenges: poverty and unsustainable livelihoods; stigma and discrimination; limited access to services, information, justice, and education; inaccessibility of physical infrastructure, etc. In addition, there is a lack of mainstreaming of disability into broader policies and plans due to the limited capacities of government officials, OPDs, local authorities, other service providers, and the business sector. Recently, COVID-19 further exacerbated the above-mentioned challenges, particularly those related to livelihoods. The lack of access to information particularly hampers the capacity of PWD, and the organizations that represent and support them to effectively participate in society, including the development and monitoring of inclusive policies and programmes. Noting this, CDRI, in partnership with UNESCO Cambodia, will conduct a research study on information needs assessment to better understand the information needs of persons with disabilities, and provide evidence-based recommendations to strengthen existing systems and capacities of the involved stakeholders.

The study has three main objectives:

• To conduct a comprehensive review of existing practices, legislations, and policies related to access to information to assess their strength and adequacy in response to the information needs of persons with disabilities.
• To examine the current state of information accessibility among persons with disabilities with consideration of domains and levels of disabilities and barriers preventing them from accessing necessary information.
• To conduct a needs assessment on access to information for persons with disabilities in Cambodia.