A/70/297 Convention, 44 States have started an analysis to assess where they stand and identify legislative gaps. This analysis is an important step for States to take towards a comprehensive harmonization process, where national le gislation, policies, customs and practices are measured against the principles, rights and obligations of the Convention. 44. States should ensure that provisions relating to the access of persons with disabilities to social protection are included in disa bility-specific legislation and in mainstream legislation and policy on social protection. Indeed, the review process should encompass legislative areas beyond the traditional scope of social insurance and disability-specific laws, including for instance legislation on education, health, employment, housing and social inclusion. 45. States must also review their institutional frameworks to ensure that persons with disabilities are adequately included in social protection systems. In principle, these frameworks must bring coherence and coordination, rather than fragmentation, across programmes, actors and levels of government responsible for implementing social protection policies. 45 In practice, however, disability-related social protection initiatives are too often disconnected from the broader social protection coordination system and implemented in isolation by the disability agencies within the government, rather than as part of the main social protection strategy. These disability agencies often operate without the engagement and necessary technical support of the main agencies in charge of national programmes. Of additional concern is the lack of coordinated responses between national and subnational authorities, which can jeopardize the availability and quality of benefits and services within a country. 46. This fragmentation increases the likelihood of persons with disabilities being excluded from mainstream social protection programmes, thus limiting the scope, quality and adequacy of the services and benefits they receive. To avoid this, States must ensure that all disability-related programmes are considered as an integral part of their national social protection strategies and are not delegated solely to the responsibility of the government’s disability agency. States should also devote efforts to taking the needs of persons with disabilities into consideration in their mainstream social protection programmes, and enhancing their internal coordination mechanisms to address those needs in a comprehensive manner. Further, States should invest in interministerial and intersectoral capacity-building to strengthen the institutional framework. B. System design 47. States need to assess how the design of their social protection systems affects the situation of persons with disabilities, and in particular: (a) the balance between contributory and non-contributory schemes and (b) the balance between mainstream and specific programmes. 48. Although persons with disabilities can be covered by contributory sche mes (e.g., social insurance programmes), they have considerably fewer opportunities to __________________ 44 45 15-12544 The Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities establishes general obligations relating to legislative harmonization in article 4, paragraph 1 (a) and (b). M. Sepúlveda and C. Nyst. 15/25