United Kingdom

Our purpose at HI UK is to bring tangible improvements to the living conditions of people with disabilities and vulnerable populations by supporting HI’s mission and programmes worldwide.

In 2023, we aimed to achieve this by raising funds, influencing policy and practice, and providing high-quality technical expertise to our country programmes.

This was underpinned by a strong focus on building a diverse, motivated and connected staff team with effective support functions and a strong, supportive and ambitious culture. 

This page explains how we achieved these goals in 2023, in each of our areas of activity, and shares some of our highlights for the year.

Supporting HI's programmes

In 2023, with the generous support of the UK public and institutional donors, HI UK supported 25 countries and several global programmes. The projects supported cover a wide range of HI’s activities, including emergency aid, demining, rehabilitation, and inclusive education.

> Read more about our UK finances and annual accounts

Emergency response

2023 saw no let-up in the number of emergencies to which our teams had to respond.

Following the devastating earthquakes that rocked Turkey and Syria on 6th February, support from our generous donors helped provide physical rehabilitation to thousands of individuals, preventing permanent disability from injuries. It also enabled us to provide mobility aids and prostheses and to run a large-scale psychological first aid programme, helping victims of the disaster cope with their anxiety and trauma. In addition, we provided public education about risks from unexploded ordnance.

We were also immediately on the ground in Morocco, which was hit by a 6.8-magnitude earthquake in September, the worst in the country’s history. The disaster caused widespread destruction to infrastructure, mass loss of life and thousands of life-changing injuries.

The following month, more than 12,000 people had their lives turned upside down by two earthquakes across five districts in Herat province of Afghanistan. HI deployed physiotherapists and psychosocial experts to ensure prompt and comprehensive trauma care and to avoid permanent disabilities among people injured by the disaster.

In the last part of 2023, the long-running conflict in Gaza and Israel escalated disastrously. Our dedicated team has been operating in the occupied Palestinian territories since 1996. As the already-severe humanitarian situation in Gaza rapidly deteriorated, our hundreds of staff and volunteers provided a lifeline for the most vulnerable people, including those with disabilities and the newly injured.

Inclusive humanitarian action

In addition to these high-profile emergencies, our UK team supported responses to less widely reported crises and disaster risks in many other countries around the world. These included Bangladesh, Benin, Madagascar, Myanmar, Nepal, Niger, Pakistan and the Philippines. Our UK specialists also travelled to Ethiopia, Iraq and Ukraine to support teams in those countries, and we managed pilot projects in Somalia and Syria to promote new international guidelines on the inclusion of persons with disabilities in humanitarian action, with a focus on humanitarian coordination, protection and food security. 

Mine action

Our specialists in Armed Violence Reduction support humanitarian mine action around the world. In 2023, they conducted technical support operations in Cambodia, Colombia, Ethiopia, Gaza, Iraq, Laos, Lebanon, Libya, Syria, Ukraine and Yemen.

We continued to lead the way in innovation, with the rollout of our unmanned aerial systems (drone) programme to accelerate humanitarian demining in Ukraine and Iraq. We have also successfully deployed and tested our mobile broadband body-worn live-feed cameras for demining in Iraq, Colombia and Lebanon.

We also deployed a unique capability for hazardous environmental surveys and clearance to Northeast Syria, which can survey and clear explosive ordnance located in complex high-rise residential areas, in confined spaces and underwater. This is a humanitarian mine-action first and one of which HI is extremely proud.

Rehabilitation

In 2023, HI UK provided expertise on emergency rehabilitation to a large number of programmes, including Afghanistan, Chad, Ethiopia, the occupied Palestinian territories, Lebanon, Mali, Morocco, Sudan, South Sudan and Ukraine. We also provided technical support to the WHO on delivery of minimum standards in surgical specialised care teams and on management of highly infectious diseases.

Inclusive education

Humanity & Inclusion’s inclusive education projects around the world are supported by two global specialists and a policy advisor, with the team leader based in the UK.

HI UK leads HI’s work globally on inclusive education. In 2023, we collectively provided specialist expertise to 27 countries and territories, including Bangladesh, Jordan, Laos, Lebanon, Myanmar, Nepal, the occupied Palestinian territories and Rwanda. We also developed new projects in Ecuador, Pakistan and South Sudan, and launched a large new
programme in the Democratic Republic of Congo, where we are working alongside Save the Children to support girls with disabilities to access school.

We completed our last Girls’ Education Challenge project in Rwanda, where, following earlier projects in Ethiopia, Mozambique and Sierra Leone, we have been part of the UK Government’s flagship 12-year initiative, the largest global fund on girls’ education, ensuring that disability inclusion is a core part of all the activities.

An important part of our work is to promote inclusive education internationally. We participated in intergovernmental events to raise funds for education, advocating for a strong focus on inclusion. We also co-chaired a working group on inclusive education within the Global Action on Disability network for a second year, bringing together donors, UN agencies and multilateral institutions.

Disability inclusion

A core part of our work in 2023 was the promotion of disability inclusion across international development. As part of this, we are a partner in the UK Government’s flagship Disability-Inclusive Development programme. We also worked hard to influence the Government to
do more to prioritise disability inclusion. We held meetings with the International Development Minister and submitted written evidence to Parliament on the steps that the Government needs to take in order to live up to its commitments in this area. We contributed to a review by the Independent Commission on Aid Impact into UK aid over the past three years, we worked with other UK NGOs to influence the Government’s new “White Paper” on international development and we engaged MPs from different political parties on the importance of inclusive education.

Inclusive health

In Sierra Leone, we began a programme with Concern Worldwide to strengthen the
health system and ensure that it is accessible and appropriate for people with disabilities.
We also continued to play a key role in a global programme on women’s sexual and reproductive health, working with nondisability-focused organisations to promote actions that reach and engage women and girls with disabilities. Our Director of Health presented oral evidence to the UK Parliament.

Raising funds

Humanity & Inclusion UK (HI UK) raises money from the general public, schools, community groups, corporates, trusts and institutional funders in the UK to support HI’s life-changing work worldwide. There are many ways to support our work, including making a donation, taking part in a fundraising event, or leaving a gift in your will.

HI UK is registered with the Fundraising Regulator, which sets and maintains the standards for charitable fundraising and aims to ensure that fundraising is respectful, open, honest and accountable to the public. It is also a member of the Institute of Fundraising and aims to adhere to best practice in fundraising.

Promoting disability inclusion at home

In order to make a difference around the world, we need strong foundations at home. As well as working hard to support programmes building action on inclusion around the world, in 2023 we also took steps to become a more disability-inclusive employer ourselves. We were very pleased to be awarded “Disability Confident Leader” status by the Department for Work and Pensions. This is the highest level of the scheme, awarded to organisations that take meaningful actions on recruiting, retaining and developing disabled people and who also promote disability inclusion with partners, peers and others with whom we interact.

> Read more about our UK staff and trustees

Humanity & Inclusion UK is positive about employing disabled people and is proud to be accredited as a Disability Confident Employer. Find out more about working with us.