Directorates
·	Director General's Office
·	Data Development
·	Strategic Evaluations
·	Partnership and Continuous Evaluations
Publications
·	Evaluation Reports
·	Evaluation Briefs
·	Labour Market Development Agreement Series
·	Lessons Learned Series
·	Evaluation Tool Kit Series
·	Evaluation Forum Newsletter
·	From Theory To Practice

Human Resources Development Canada (HRDC) and the organizations that came together to form it have long and proud traditions of continuous learning and improvement.

Over the years, the Evaluation Services Directorate (ESD) of the Evaluation and Data Development Branch at HRDC has produced numerous evaluations on a wide range of departmental programs. In 1996-97, ESD initiated a new series of evaluation studies with the object of taking the findings of earlier reports and updating them with new literature reviews and expert opinion. The primary goal of the new exercise is to identify the lessons that can be learned from past experience -- to focus on what has worked, what has not, and for which client groups. Another important goal is to develop evaluation measurement tools in areas where such tools are non-existent. Finally, the studies take the information available on a topic and make it readily accessible to all.

Not surprisingly, this new initiative has come to be known as the "Lessons Learned" series. The intended audience includes senior managers, program managers and policy analysts both within and outside the federal government, members of the academic research community and all stakeholders who will benefit from having a clearer idea of the lessons learned based on evaluation studies of past and present programs.

HRDC is pleased to present the second study of this new series. It focuses on the lessons learned from disability policies and programs over the period of 1980 to 1997. There is a wide range of programs aimed at assisting persons with disabilities in Canada. In the last few years, it became clear that there was a need to bring together the information on all of these programs, both in Canada and abroad, in a compact synthesized report on disability issues. As with all our Lessons Learned studies, the aim is to determine what works best and why. This report answers this need and adds to the pool of knowledge on disability programming.

As a learning organization, HRDC will continue to experiment with new approaches and evaluate their effectiveness. HRDC recognizes the vital importance of the evaluation process and is committed to continuing its work in this area.