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Local System of Inclusive Care and Support Model — Operational guide for municipal teams · UNICEF Colombia

Territorial management of inclusion, support and care.

The Local System of Inclusive Care and Support Model is an operational framework that guides municipalities to design and implement — step by step — integrated systems of inclusion, support and care for persons with disabilities and their families, within a rights-based and inclusive social protection framework.

Through care and support systems it is possible to enable access, participation, inclusive education and independent living for persons with disabilities, accompany families and reduce disproportionate demands of unpaid care.

This guide supports municipal teams and communities in implementing this system of care and support, within a rights-based and inclusive and transformative social protection framework.

Platform managed and developed by UNICEF Colombia, within the Joint Programme in Colombia (UN Women, UNDP, UNFPA and UNICEF), with the support of the Global Disability Fund.

I am a municipal team or citizen — how to implement it
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institutional capacities of the municipality
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critical processes for territorial management
Emergencies

Inclusive management of emergencies and disasters

Resources to prepare for, respond to and recover from emergencies and disasters inclusively, ensuring continuity of support and care for persons with disabilities, their families and caregivers, and articulation with social protection.

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Pioneering territorial experience

Barranquilla Mayor's Office logo
Inclúyete+ logo, a strategy of the Barranquilla Mayor's Office

Barranquilla, pioneer city and co-creator of the Model

Through the City Management Office and its Inclúyete+ strategy, it is a pioneer in operationalizing a district model of care and support for persons with disabilities, their families and caregivers.

See the full experienceSee Inclúyete+ at barranquilla.gov.co

Alliance for an inclusive recovery in Colombia

Make your project an example of how to build back better

If your municipality, company or foundation is repairing a school, a park, a road or a service, you decide whether to repeat the usual barriers or leave the territory more accessible than it was. An inclusive recovery does not cost twice as much: it is planned from day one and it can be verified. (Section available in Spanish.)

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WHY A LOCAL SYSTEM OF CARE AND SUPPORT?

Good municipal governance can overcome service fragmentation, welfare models and social norms, and ensure a system that guarantees inclusion, support and care for persons with disabilities and their families.

A territorial response requires the local government, sectors, community and families to act in an articulated way.

  • Mayor's office and secretariats
  • Municipal technical teams
  • Health, education and protection
  • Community organizations
  • Families and caregivers

Double exclusion

Children with disabilities face the interaction between disability and poverty, with extra costs that increase the demand for unpaid care.

Gender inequality burdens

Care falls disproportionately on women, girls and adolescents, limiting their economic and educational autonomy and perpetuating inequities.

Institutional fragmentation

Health, education, social protection and care operate as dispersed services, with procedures and waiting times that hinder access to rights.

Territorial gaps

Municipalities with less institutional capacity are the ones that most need an integrated system operable at the local level.

Approach

A rights-based and inclusive social protection framework.

Social protection is not abstract. It translates into policies, programmes and instruments that reduce the risks of exclusion, discrimination and overburdens for each child and family. This requires articulating the frameworks of early childhood, childhood and adolescence, inclusion and disability, and care and support systems.

Explore Inclusive Education as Social Protection
01

Effective access and continuity in inclusive early childhood education, with reasonable accommodations and life-long trajectories.

02

Timely, free and enabling disability certification for services and support.

03

Case management and family support articulated with citizen services, overcoming welfare-based approaches.

04

Provision of assistive technology and support for autonomy and participation.

05

Inclusive services and environments in education, health, rehabilitation, recreation and family support.

06

Development of local care and support services for families and caregivers.

Institutional capacities

Capacities the municipality must strengthen.

These are the foundation of territorial management: moving from isolated services to an integrated system that the municipality and community can operate.

01

Identification of support and care needs

Strengthen disaggregated data and information management to identify access barriers and support needs of persons with disabilities as well as care services, and support for families and caregivers. And ensure equitable targeting processes beyond the Sisbén.

02

Case management and inclusive services

Cultural and institutional transformation to eliminate attitudinal barriers and ensure quality and accessibility standards in public and private services, including early childhood education.

03

Provision of care and support services

Support for autonomy and independent living: personal assistance, respite services, community networks and assistive technology.

Critical processes

Establishing processes that make the system viable in the territory.

Five substantive processes and one transversal case management mechanism. Without them, the capacities do not translate into real access to rights for persons with disabilities and their families.

Disability Certificate and Care Registry

Transforming disability certification: from a procedure perceived as a barrier to an enabling social protection instrument for accessing services and programmes.

  • Route: request → interdisciplinary assessment → issuance and linkage to services.
  • Quality standards: timeliness, free of charge, rights-based approach.
  • References: Barranquilla · Inclúyete+ and Instituto Colombiano de Bienestar Familiar · Centers for Inclusion Support.

Inclusion from early childhood

Ensuring early detection, comprehensive care and inclusive early childhood education within the Integrated Care Route framework, articulating health, nutrition, child development and family support so that no child with disability is left behind.

  • Articulation between the Integrated Care Route and inclusion with early detection in health and development.
  • Inclusive early childhood education as a right: reasonable accommodations and accessible environments.
  • Family support from pregnancy and early childhood.

Development of care and support services for families and caregivers

Connecting care services (time, respite and support) with economic inclusion, psychosocial well-being and co-responsibility, reducing unpaid care burdens on women, girls and adolescent caregivers.

  • Respite services, community networks and psychosocial support.
  • Economic inclusion and co-responsibility with a gender perspective.
  • Articulation with CONPES 4143 of 2025 · National Care System.

Financing and Payment for Results

Mechanisms that link public investment and partnerships to verifiable indicators: continuity in inclusive early childhood education, reduction of unpaid care hours, child development.

  • Payment architecture linked to well-being and continuity indicators.
  • Territorial project bank aligned with the municipal development plan.
  • Payment for Results — Inclusive Early Childhood Education.

Articulation with the Centers for Inclusion Support of the Instituto Colombiano de Bienestar Familiar

The Centers for Inclusion Support are a national network of specialized case managers for the inclusion and care of children and adolescents with disabilities and their families. Their articulation with the municipal Model is a critical process that enhances territorial management capacity.

  • Network of case managers of the Instituto Colombiano de Bienestar Familiar for the inclusion of children and adolescents with disabilities aged 6 to 17 years and their families.
  • Articulation with the Individual Support and Inclusion Plan: the Centers for Inclusion Support activate complementary routes to those of the municipality.
  • Access without rights restoration proceedings: since 2025, families can directly request support at the nearest Zone Center of the Instituto Colombiano de Bienestar Familiar.
  • 52 fixed points in 20 departments and 33 itinerant teams available for territorial articulation.

Case management and family support — Transversal critical process

How support for persons with disabilities and families operates.

Case management is the operational mechanism that articulates the five critical processes in the territory. At each step, certification, financing, early childhood and caregiver autonomy converge as cross-cutting moments of a single pathway.

  1. Step 01: Identification

    Characterization of the person, their environment and their supports in the territory.

  2. Step 02: Comprehensive assessment

    Interdisciplinary team evaluates functional, social and care needs.

  3. Step 03: Support plan and reduction of care burdens

    Built with the family, defines services, reasonable accommodations, goals and measures to redistribute unpaid care that falls on women, girls and adolescent caregivers.

  4. Step 04: Service activation and social innovation

    Social innovation allows overcoming barriers and designing person-centered solutions. Articulation with health, inclusive early childhood education, protection and community services.

  5. Step 05: Follow-up

    Periodic support, continuous improvement and results reporting.

Cross-cutting case management resources

How to start in the territory

Five steps to start management in your municipality.

A practical route for mayors' offices, regional governments, technical teams and community organizations that want to implement the Model in their territory.

  1. Political will and collaborative governance

    Ensure leadership and intersectoral coordination for collaborative work.

  2. Territorial diagnosis

    Characterize persons with disabilities, their families and existing services with disaggregated data.

  3. Intersectoral working group

    Articulate health, education, social protection, gender and community under a single governance structure.

    Use the Intersectoral Governance Template to formalize the working group from the first session.

    Download template

  4. Case management

    Set up the team of case managers and launch family support and pathways.

  5. Follow-up and improvement

    Measure results, adjust operations and sustain results-based investment.

Municipal teams and citizens

Let's implement together, from the territory, inclusion, support and care

Access the operational instruments, the guide for families and caregivers, the case management system and free training courses to implement the Model in your municipality.

See all resources and tools
Territorial advisors and multipliers

Support the implementation of the Model in the territory

Access the readiness instruments, governance template, advisor toolkit and resources to support multiple municipalities.

See all resources and tools

Resources and tools

Model Resources and Tools

Everything the municipality and advisory team need to take the route into practice: diagnostic instruments, operational templates, interactive digital tools, free Ágora courses, operational guides and technical documents for each step.

Institutional Capacities

Instruments to strengthen the three institutional capacities of the municipality: identification of needs, case management and inclusive services, and provision of care and support services.

  • Interactive tool

    Territorial Diagnosis Instrument

    Guided interactive form for municipal teams to characterize the population with disabilities, families and caregivers, and identify the municipality's readiness conditions.

    Open instrument
  • Digital system

    Case Management System

    Digital system for the registration, follow-up and management of individual cases of persons with disabilities in the municipality.

    Open system
  • Interactive tool

    Interactive Resource Catalogue by Area

    Navigable catalogue that organizes the Model's resources by capacity, critical process and type of stakeholder.

    Open catalogue
  • Interactive tool

    Guide for Families and Caregivers of Persons with Disabilities

    Interactive guide on rights, monetary transfers (Renta Ciudadana, Fondo Ley 2456 de 2025), Instituto Colombiano de Bienestar Familiar programmes, access pathways and resources for families and caregivers.

    Open guide

Critical Processes

Documents and operational tools for the five critical processes of the Model: certification and registry, early childhood, care services, financing and articulation with the Centers for Inclusion Support.

  • Operational Word document

    Intersectoral Governance Template

    Word document to formalize the intersectoral working group: matrix of stakeholders and roles, session protocol, 90-day action plan, deed of constitution and ordinary session minutes format.

    Download template
  • Interactive tool

    Municipal Readiness Checklist

    For territorial advisors and multipliers. Assesses the municipality's minimum conditions in five dimensions: political will, data, services, technical capacity and community participation. Produces a diagnosis with traffic-light scoring and recommendations.

    Open checklist
  • Operational Word document

    Operational Guide — Innovative Solutions Working Group on Support and Care

    Guidance for setting up and operating the Model's intersectoral decision-making body: objectives, members, case manager reports, session structure, types of decisions, continuous improvement dashboard, operational templates and an illustrative example with 30 cases of children and adolescents with disabilities, including public-private alliances and technical cooperation for supports beyond a single sector.

    Download guide
  • Operational documentResource pending publication

    Investment Project Bank

    Project sheets for funding the implementation of the Model with resources from the General Participations System, royalties and cooperation.

  • Operational documentResource pending publication

    Pathway for Girl and Adolescent Caregivers

    Protocol for the identification, protection and support of girls and adolescents who take on primary care roles.

  • Technical documentResource pending publication

    Document — Support Provision Process

    Conceptual and operational framework for the provision of supports for autonomy and independent living.

Other Associated Resources

Complementary guides, institutional articulation and free training.

  • Operational Word document

    Guide for Articulation with Unified Service Windows

    Conceptual framework, inclusion and gender approach, integrated service flow, eight concrete steps for articulation with the National and Territorial Social Household Registry, citizen service standards for persons with disabilities, families and caregivers, and a verification checklist.

    Download guide
  • Interactive tool

    Toolkit for Territorial Advisors

    Interactive operational guide with instruments, pathways and checklists for territorial support.

    Open toolkit
  • Site page

    Alliance for an Inclusive Recovery in Colombia

    For municipalities and leaders of public and private recovery projects: build back better with universal design, territorial planning checks and a directory of services for inclusion. Section available in Spanish.

    Open section
  • Audiovisual resource

    Webinar series on inclusive management

    A cycle of four sessions to learn, step by step, how to design and implement local systems of inclusion, support and care for persons with disabilities, their families and caregivers.

    4 video sessionsFree accessFor municipal teams and community

    Sessions

    • 01
      Municipal institutional capacities

      How to move from isolated services to an integrated system that the municipality and community can operate.

      • Needs identification
      • Case management and inclusive services
      • Provision of care and supports
      • Data and targeting
      Watch session
    • 02
      Core processes and case management

      The processes that make the system work and the support pathway for persons and their families.

      • Disability certification
      • Inclusion from early childhood
      • Care services
      • Support Centers for Inclusion
      • Case management pathway
      Watch session
    • 03
      Financing and sustainability

      Instruments to finance implementation and sustain the system over time.

      • Results-based financing
      • Investment project bank
      • Funding sources
      • Sustainability
      Watch session
    • 04
      Inclusive humanitarian response

      Preparedness, response and recovery that ensure the continuity of supports and care in emergencies.

      • Inclusive preparedness
      • Continuity of supports
      • Linkages with social protection
      Watch session
    Watch the full series on YouTube

    Playlist with all four sessions

Model Publications

Flagship documents of the Model, gathered in one place for consultation and download: local management recommendations, guidance for inclusive early childhood education, the territorial technical assistance strategy and the Barranquilla case study.

  • Publication

    Guidance on local systems of care and support (Recommendations for the local management of Inclusive and Transformative Care and Support Systems)

    Framework document with policy and management recommendations for municipal and departmental governments to launch local inclusive care and support systems. Now available in English.

    Download English version (Word)
  • Publication

    Guidelines on support resources for inclusive early childhood education in Colombia

    Technical guidance on support resources, reasonable accommodations and assistive technologies for inclusive early childhood education settings.

    Download guidelines (Word)
  • Publication

    Strategy for strengthening inclusion from early childhood in Colombia

    Strategy for technical support to territories in the implementation of care and support systems and inclusion from early childhood.

    Download strategy (PDF)
  • Case studyResource pending publication

    Case study: Barranquilla, pioneering city of the Model

    Systematization of Barranquilla's experience as the first city to implement the Model, with findings, lessons learned and evidence from the pilot.

Free Training on UNICEF Ágora

Free virtual courses for municipal teams, territorial advisors, professionals and organizations.

See all courses on UNICEF Ágora

More information

Inclusive Social Protection for Children — UNICEF Colombia

Access publications, data, policy analysis and additional resources on inclusive social protection for children with disabilities, their families and caregivers in Colombia.

View at unicef.org/colombia