Evaluation of community-based rehabilitation programmes: a search for appropriate indicators

Community-based rehabilitation (CBR) is a common form of service delivery and can provide services for people with disabilities in otherwise underserved areas. Despite a 20-year history of service delivery in many parts of the world by both government and non-government organization sectors, there are few indicators with which to measure the effectiveness of programmes. Among evaluations that have been undertaken there has been a tendency to describe practice rather than the effectiveness of that practice. One reason for this is the lack of robust indicators against which to measure practice. This study examines the activities and outcomes of 10 published evaluations of CBR programmes and proposes indicators for some of CBR practices based upon this examination. Readers are invited to comment upon these indicators or to try using them in their practice.