— Year One Endline Analysis
FOUR TEAMS REBUILT WHAT “WELCOME” MEANS
Impact Hub Phnom Penh, Jakarta, The Spark Project in Manila, and Impact Hub Yangon each surveyed their own space, renovated their building, retrained their team, and reopened. This page walks through the journey of each on its own terms.
— The case studies
FOUR PILOTS, READ SIDE BY SIDE, EACH ON ITS OWN NUMBERS
Each market started from a different place and moved at a different pace.
CAMBODIA
Phnom Penh
Full year completed
PWDs engaged
365
Satisfied with space access
89%
Reported more agency
86%
INDONESIA
Jakarta
Full year completed
PWDs engaged
287
Satisfaction
95%
Net Promoter Score
76
PHILIPPINES
The Spark Project
Full year completed
PWDs engaged
265
Accessibility satisfaction
83%
Net Promoter Score
79
MYANMAR
Yangon
Paused mid-year
PWDs engaged
265
Accessibility satisfaction
83%
Net Promoter Score
79
— Cambodia · Impact Hub Phnom Penh
FROM ONE CHAMPION TO ACROSS-THE-BOARD CHANGE
Phnom Penh entered ELEVATE furthest along of the four hubs — a DEI manifesto already existed, written by the staff member who’d become the program lead. But across a team of twenty-five, inclusion still rested on a couple of people at the edges of the work.
349
PWDs engaged across
the year
159
engaged via community events
& Berk Chet festival
148%
Berk Chet PWD turnout
vs. plan
89%
satisfied with space accessibility
86%
reported a change in
personal agency
102
returned for more than
one activity
The team’s turning point
A standard the team holds together, not one person
More than half the team can now handle basic hosting in sign language. The in-house disability-inclusion 101 training reached the whole organization — 10 of 11 participants said they walked away with new knowledge.
From an add-on to the default
When the team points to what actually shifted internally, they point at the building, not the paperwork.
“We can have the DEI manifesto, the DEI strategy on paper, but those things you can’t see every day. When there’s a physical renovation that changes the whole building, it’s ‘this is us, this is what we do, and I’m a part of it.”
— staff member
“We can have the DEI manifesto, the DEI strategy on paper, but those things you can’t see every day. When there’s a physical renovation that changes the whole building, it’s ‘this is us, this is what we do, and I’m a part of it.”
— staff member
A space now known for PWD entrepreneurs, not just entrepreneurs
Kampuchea Sela, a stakeholder the team had known for years without ever discussing the space, booked it for upcoming workshops. Other disability organizations now approach Impact Hub Phnom Penh to rent space specifically because it’s accessible. Maybank sought the team out for help with outreach for its own PWD traineeship.
Take a look at their “Inclusive Event Guideline” for more practical tips on creating an inclusive space!
What it meant for people who came through the door
LEADERSHIP, FROM SCRATCH
Sopheak Nhoek raises chickens, ducks, and geese in Kampong Cham province and founded a local OPD. He heard about Impact Hub Phnom Penh through the ELEVATE program manager and traveled 60 km to join the workshops.
Opportunities like this were rare where he lived, and events in cities were often inaccessible. PWDs in his community rarely joined larger events, and stayed quiet even when they did.
A WIDER NETWORK
A participant with a hearing impairment, whose learning had stayed inside her own community’s networks, left her first mixed workshop knowing — for the first time — that funding and business support existed for entrepreneurs like her.
EXPERT FIRST
Used to speakers who centered their struggles, one participant instead saw professional, skilled speakers with disabilities — reinforcing that a PWD can be “an expert first and a PWD second.”
Carrying forward
Start with intention, not an ask. The team mapped Cambodia’s disability sector and opened conversations before requesting anything — which built trust and brought in a wider mix of national institutions, informal groups and individuals than a formal partner search would have.
One champion isn’t a system. Inclusion had rested on one or two people for years. The in-house training spread ownership across the full team instead.
Where stigma is common, the welcome has to be spoken out loud. A renovated space stayed empty until the team opened a coffee station hosted by two Deaf baristas and gave free coffee to PWDs for a month — removing barriers opens a door quietly; inviting people in is what actually brings them through it.
— Indonesia · Impact Hub Jakarta
FROM SYMPATHY TO EQUALS
An accessibility audit in ELEVATE’s first months traced the route from the nearest metro station: an uneven pedestrian path, a heavy swing door into the ground-floor café, then a steep flight of stairs with no tactile warning and no ramp. Jakarta came into ELEVATE with good intent but no working frame — the starting lens was empathy shading into pity, and the practical result was hesitation.
287
PWDs engaged across
the year
95%
satisfaction rate
76
Net Promoter Score
100%
reported increased
personal agency
210
service attendances at
the space
98
PWD drop-ins recorded
The team’s turning point
From pity to equals
Jakarta’s biggest shift was attitudinal, not architectural.
From event-level inclusion to the business model
Rather than keeping inclusion inside programming, Jakarta wrote it into strategy — and into revenue.
A new venture-building revenue stream now specifically supports PWD-led and assistive-tech businesses. Access our “Inclusive Product Collaboration Guideline” here!
From trained staff to everyday habit
Konekin and other PWD organizations now refer people to the space; PWD communities invite the team into their own discussions. Gerkatin, Indonesia’s movement for people with hearing impairments, took a temporary office at the hub after one conversation.
What it meant for people who came through the door
TOO LOUD, ON PURPOSE
Filoksenia, a foundation working with neurodivergent artists, assumed its audience wanted products “cute and colorful.” The pilot revealed part of that audience found them too loud to wear — they’re now developing new lines.
A SHARED LIFT, A SHARED CAFÉ
“Before, when I went to Anomali Café, I never brought my parents with me. Now that there’s an elevator, I can bring my mom.” — PWD visitor
CONFIDENCE, RETURNING
An entrepreneur whose business had stalled through months of illness found her confidence in doing business coming back.
Carrying forward
Expect old reflexes, even after the reframe. “Unconsciously, when we feel pressured, tokenism is sometimes still the solution proposed, even though we don’t actually implement it.” The team is candid: “We can’t yet say we’re fully inclusive.”
Capacity-building is a step; market access is what helps businesses grow. After the product-collaboration pilot, entrepreneurs asked for the next thing: guidance and collaboration with big brands and established retailers.
— Philippines · The Spark Project, Manila
FROM WILL TO FORMALIZED PRACTICE
An architectural audit of the Spark Project’s headquarters building found one ramp — sitting in a fire lane, unsafe for drop-off. The alternate entrance had no ramp and no call button; the main door was heavy manual glass; circulation ran into a guard post. Spark came to ELEVATE having never worked in the disability space before — accommodation happened case by case, whenever someone raised a need, with no framework behind it.
265
PWDs engaged across the year
83%
accessibility satisfaction
79
Net Promoter Score
100%
reported a change
in personal agency
The team’s turning point
From reactive accommodation to inclusion designed in
“ELEVATE helped shift our approach from reactive accommodation to proactive inclusion, by providing structured guidance and practices that let us consider accessibility from the outset of planning.”
Artifacts that outlast the project
Spark created three things that hold the practice outside any one person’s head: an Inclusion & Accessibility section in the program blueprint, an inclusive events guide, and a “Leave No One Behind” question on every registration form — so the team plans for participants before anyone arrives. A standing DEI Ambassador role now carries the work forward after ELEVATE ends.
From internal practice to an ecosystem tool
The events guide has since gone to partners, suppliers, and other ESOs. Best Buddies Philippines, Project Inclusion Network, and the National Council on Disability Affairs have all asked to keep collaborating.
What it meant for people who came through the door
CO-CREATORS, NOT CONSULTANTS
ATRIEV, a blind-led organization, co-developed six to eight inclusive marketing modules now live on Spark School — self-paced modules its leader said it would never have been funded to build alone. Click here to check out the course!
FELT, NOT JUST CONSULTED
“They deeply appreciate our efforts to really understand them and work with them to improve ourselves. It makes them feel we care about the work we do.” — Spark staff member, on ATRIEV’s feedback
A DOOR OPENS
Individual entrepreneurship wasn’t year one’s focus, but some participants left inspired anyway — one now hopes to become an entrepreneur himself.
Carrying forward
Codify practice into tools. The blueprint section, events guide, registration question and ambassador role each hold a piece of the practice outside any individual’s head — and the guide has already travelled to partners.
Test with PWDs directly. Gaps invisible to staff — missing alt text, uncaptioned video, vague links — were obvious to testers immediately.
Universal design opens the door; meeting each person is ongoing. Focus groups asked for support for participants with intellectual and developmental disabilities — in delivery, one participant with autism still found training jargon overwhelming. The work continues past the initial build.
— Myanmar · Impact Hub Yangon
A FOUNDATION FOR DISABILITY INCLUSION, ESTABLISHED
Yangon entered ELEVATE with no prior work in the disability space — this was the team’s first real exposure to inclusion as a practice. Due to external factors outside the program’s control, the team had to pause midway through the year, after completing its first training, its needs assessment, and its physical renovations.
85
PWDs consulted
85%
were unemployed at baseline
68%
said venues were inaccessible to them
Oct–Nov 2025
renovation window, completed
Carrying forward
A shortened journey still built something real. Inclusive hosting knowledge, relationships with OPDs and PWDs, and a first layer of inclusive practice across programs — a base the team can build on when the program resumes.
— Field Notes
NINE THINGS ALL FOUR TEAMS WOULD TELL THE NEXT IMPACT HUB.
Different starting points, different buildings, different timelines — but the lessons rhyme. Sorted by hub.
Phnom Penh
Community engagement starts with intention, not an ask — map the sector and offer before you request.
Phnom Penh
One champion isn’t a system. Build a mechanism that spreads ownership across the whole team.
Phnom Penh
Where stigma is common, removing barriers isn’t enough — the welcome has to be spoken out loud.
Jakarta
Expect old reflexes. Tokenism can resurface under pressure even after a real reframe.
Jakarta
Capacity-building is a step. Market access — brands, retailers, buyers — is what helps businesses grow.
Manila
Codify practice into tools — a guide, a form question, a named role — so it outlasts any one person.
Manila
Test with PWDs directly. Gaps invisible to staff are obvious to testers in minutes.
Manila
Universal design opens the door. Meeting each person’s actual needs is ongoing, curious work.
Yangon
Even a paused journey can leave a real foundation — and relationships that outlast the project.
— Year one, closed
ACCESS STOPPED BEING SOMETHING TO REQUEST.
Four hubs, four different starting points, one shared shift: people with disabilities stopped having to ask for access and started finding it already built in. This page is a working design concept for turning that story into a site funders, OPDs, and other hubs can actually explore.