Therap is working in collaboration with the Ministry of Social Welfare (MSW), the Government of Bangladesh to implement a pilot project to build a national database on persons with disabilities. The other partners of this pilot project include National Forum of Organizations Working with the Disabled (NFOWD) and National Foundation for Development of the Disabled Persons (NFDDP). These are among the most well known national-level disability organizations of the country. Through their member organizations, NFOWD and NFDDP are working on data collection and entry while Therap is providing the technical expertise and support required to build and maintain the database. Department of Social Services (DSS) under the ministry is responsible for monitoring the project.

The pilot project is being implemented in 6 out of 64 districts of Bangladesh. The database will store demographic and disability related information of around two hundred thousand persons with disabilities. Some of unique characteristics of this database are as follows:

• At grassroots level data will be entered into an offline database, but the final database will reside in secure, online servers in remote locations.
• Unlike the usual paper based files or even computer based data storage system, this online database will no longer be susceptible to data loss caused by systems break downs, infrastructural damages, natural disasters and others.
• The database will maintain backups in different servers.
• Fingerprint recognition technology will be used for identification and verification of the data entered into the database. This will prevent data tampering at data entry level.
• The final database will be available online for the concerned government and non-government bodies having appropriate authority. They will be able to access the data from any physical location through internet.

After successful completion of the pilot phase, this project is expected to cover the entire country, recording data of approximately 14-15 million people.

When deployed nationwide, the database will:

• Identify the actual number of persons with disabilities in the country
• Reveal their current status
• Manage a vast amount of demographic and disability related data
• Generate a broad range of statistical reports, and through all this
• Help ensure proper resource allocation, transparency and accountability of interventions

Therap has also been discussing possible interventions for the improving the disability scenario with key organizations including the World Bank, National Forum of Organizations Working with the Disabled (NFOWD), Department of the Social Services (DSS) under the Ministry of Social Welfare, National Foundation for the Development of the Disabled Persons (NFDDP), and Society for the Welfare of the Intellectually Disabled (SWID).