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The European project Bridging the Gap, the ILO/UNICEF/UNPRPD Inclusive Social Protection Project, the International Disability Alliance (IDA) and the African Disability Forum (ADF) held on March 30-31 the Policy Dialogue Conference “Social protection in Africa: a new path towards the inclusion of persons with disabilities” to trigger and reinforce the policy dialogue on inclusive social protection in Africa based on interesting practices across the continent.

The Conference was structured in two online sessions: a technical seminar on the first day and a political conference on the second day, and brought together different stakeholders involving African public institutions, regional and national organizations of persons with disabilities, international cooperation actors such as bilateral agencies, delegations of the European Union or UN organisations, or the African Union, among others.

The technical seminar, opened by the institutional welcome from the organizers, kicked off with the keynote speeches of Alexandre Cote and Taylor Spadafora, UNICEF Specialists in Disability and Social Protection and Social Policy, respectively. They both highlighted the importance of social protection for persons with disabilities and of ensuring social protection schemes tailored to the type of support required by each person.

“Persons with disabilities are more likely to be in a poor household, are more vulnerable to shocks and face disability-related costs. They may need support at different stages of life and face significant discrimination and barriers and being treated unfairly”, stressed Alexandre Cote.

The technical seminar also featured four panels addressing policy planning, income support, inclusive health care and access to community support, education and livelihoods, considered to be four pivotal pillars for inclusive social protection systems.

On the 31st, representatives from different countries and international organisations shared strategies and explored solutions to strengthen their commitment to inclusive social protection as a key component of an inclusive policy framework that facilitates active citizenship, social inclusion and community participation as stated in the UNCRPD. This was followed by the presentations from the rapporteurs on the main highlights of the technical workshop held the previous day.

The conference ended with an ADF video summarizing a joint call for action to find disability-inclusive social protection strategies to set up in Africa.

Call for action on inclusive social protection in Africa

The call for action presented at this Conference is an initiative of the African Disability Forum, with the support of the International Disability Alliance, Bridging the Gap project, and the UNPRPD-ILO-UNICEF inclusive social protection project to call on all African nations, technical and financial partners, and development agencies to:

• Recognize the impact of structural marginalization and inequalities and its consequences in terms of disability related costs for persons with disabilities and their families across the lifespan.
• Promote inclusive social protection schemes in line with Article 28 of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities towards enabling inclusion and full and effective participation.
• Ensure responsiveness of these schemes to the diversity of the disability movement including women and children with disabilities, older people with disabilities and persons with disabilities with high support requirements and in humanitarian emergencies.

This document is available in English, French, Portuguese, Spanish and Arabic.

Policy Dialogue Conference

When:

30-31 March 2021

• To register for 30 March 2021, please click here.
• To register for 31 March 2021, please click here.

The Conference aims to trigger and reinforce the policy dialogue on inclusive social protection in Africa based on interesting practices across the continent to enhance coordination, cooperation and commitment for inclusion in line with the provisions of the UN CRPD and the principles of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

This event is structured in two online sessions:

• Day 1 – Technical seminar (30 March 2021, from 10:30 am to 3:00 pm (CET), including half an hour break in between panels)
• Day 2 – Policy conference (31 March 2021, from 10:30 am to 12:00 pm (CET).

The overall objective of the conference is to initiate a policy dialogue on inclusive social protection in Africa involving the main continental public players.

The specific objectives are:

• to share good practices and experiences on inclusive social protection in Senegal, Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, Sudan and other African countries.
• to reflect on the challenges and opportunities deriving from the covid-19 pandemic.
• to propose new solutions and commitments for inclusion, also with the involvement of the organisation of persons with disabilities and the international donor community.
• to propose a path for future action and related accountability mechanisms.

>>Download the concept note here.

Over the past two years, the European Commission has been developing its new policy to fund international development activities.

From 22 to 25 February 2021, the African Disability Forum (ADF), National Union of Disabled Persons of Uganda (NUDIPU), Down Syndrome International (DSi) and the International Disability Alliance (IDA) are hosting a workshop in Uganda to bring together representatives of organizations of persons with disabilities who have been involved in CRPD and SDGs related processes, including alumni of the Bridge CRPD-SDGs training initiative, Inclusion Works DPO Engagement Officers and Fellows of various initiatives of IDA and their members including the World Network of Users and Survivors of Psychiatry (WNUSP), the International Federation of the Hard of Hearing (IFHOH), the World Federation of the Deafblind (WFDB) and others to strengthen capacities for engagement on the UPR, CEDAW, making linkages with the CRPD and SDGs with a specific focus on Article 27 of the CRPD, and the GDS Commitments.

The purpose of this workshop is to build on the existing work of the participants regarding the Art 27 of the CRPD as well as on the use of UN monitoring mechanisms, in Uganda, and to support them find synergies with one another, and to ensure a wide representation of participants with disabilities, including from underrepresented groups of persons with disabilities, to participate in opportunities for monitoring of the Government commitments under the CRPD, Agenda 2030, CEDAW and the GDS. DPOs will also have the opportunity to participate in deciding the priority areas and themes for the 2022 GDS and in planning their own strategies towards the Summit.

Objectives

The 4 (four) days’ workshop scheduled for 22 to 25 February 2021, is being organized with the objectives to:

• Improve DPOs understanding of the UPR process and all opportunities for participation,
• Prepare DPOs for engaging with the CEDAW review and the preparation of a parallel report from the perspective of women and girls with disabilities,
• Prepare DPOs for collection of evidence and case studies towards creating an intervention on the proposed General Comment No. 8 on Article 27 of the CRPD,
• Review commitments under the Agenda 2030 and progress with respect to persons with disabilities, and
• Review commitments made during the GDS 2018 and prepare recommendations for the GDS 2022.

>>Download the concept note here.
>>Download the agenda here.

Participants

Participants for this workshop will be invited from the diversity of persons with disabilities, drawing from Bridge CRPD-SDGs training alumni from the national cycle that took place in 2018, as well as facilitators of the Bridge CRPD-SDGs, IDA member representatives and fellows, including DPO representatives of the Inclusion Works programme. External stakeholders will also be identified to participate particularly with regards to SDGs implementation. As far as possible, the Bridge CRPD-SDGs quality criteria will be respected in the identification of participants to these consultations, particularly with regard to ensuring a gender balance and participation of underrepresented groups.

Given the investment that has already taken place in Uganda to build inclusive facilitation teams, the workshop facilitation will be undertaken among peers, with overall supervision from the IDA Secretariat.

Other resources

– Learn more about the Agenda 2030 and the CRPD here.
– Learn more about Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) here.
– Learn more about the Global Disability Summit here.

From 22 to 25 February 2021, the Ghana Federation of Disability Organizations (GFD), African Disability Forum (ADF), Disabled Peoples Organisations (DPOD) and the International Disability Alliance (IDA) are holding the Workshop on CRPD and SDGs reporting processes and GDS Commitments review. From the lessons learned from the VNR review, the GDS commitments as well as under the impact of the COVID 19 humanitarian situation, and with the upcoming review before the CRPD Committee and the preparations for the GDS 2022, the Ghana DPOs are desired to reinforce their capacities on reporting preparation and presentation in front of the international community.

Objectives

These 4 (four) days’ workshop scheduled for February 2021 is being organized by the GFD, ADF, DPOD and IDA with the objectives of:

• Improve DPOs understanding of the CRPD Committee’s review process and all opportunities for participation,
• Provide substantive and formal considerations for finalisation of a draft report by GFD, members and partners to the CRPD Committee,
• Provide a good understanding of the SDGs and their links to the CRPD,
• Review commitments made during the GDS 2018 and prepare recommendations for the GDS 2021.

Participants

The workshop would accommodate 32 participants, in a total maximum of 43 people including support people, admin and facilitators.

• Download the full agenda here.
• Download the concept note here.

Other resources

>>Learn more about COVID-19 and the disability movement here.
>>Learn more about the Agenda 2030 and the CRPD here.
>>Learn more about Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) here.

On November 4th and 5th, 2020, the West Africa Federation of Organisations of Persons with Disabilities (WAFOD), the African Disability Forum (ADF) and the International Disability Alliance (IDA) are holding the Regional Workshop in West Africa countries on Disability Inclusive Social Protection Response to COVID-19 Crisis: a new path towards inclusion. This workshop is held in partnership with the United Nations Partnership on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNPRPD), the International Labour Organization (ILO) and UNICEF, with the support from the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (NORAD).

DPOs from 11 African countries, mainly from West Africa – Benin, Burkina Faso, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Guinea-Conakry, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, South Africa and Togo – come together to share their knowledge, skills, and expertise as well as to develop a common DPO-led understanding on social protection inclusive of persons with disabilities.

The workshop was opened by Idriss Maiga, President of the WAFOD and of ADF, who highlighted that “Persons with disabilities in the world are estimated at more than one billion, or about 15% of the world’s population. The obstacles they regularly faced are mainly related to accessibility, discrimination and lack of support which hamper their participation in social, economic and political life on an equal basis with others. The COVID-19 pandemic and its socio-economic consequences have further accentuated these inequalities that persons with disabilities face.”

“COVID 19 crisis has highlighted the limits of social protection systems of many sub-Saharan Africa especially for the general population and for persons with disabilities and other vulnerable groups, in particular,” declared Alex Cote consultant of the UNPRDP-ILO-UNICEF inclusive social protection program.

Since COVID-19, people with disabilities are facing even tougher challenges than in regular times. They are exposed in many ways to the crisis due to the lack of inclusive response. One of these critical responses is the social protection schemes that, at any point in time, are critical for several persons, including those with disabilities, as it plays a significant role in facilitating access to support services, education, income support and economic empowerment as well as to rehabilitation and assistive devices, across the life cycle. Moreover, social protection could be a crucial vector of relief during COVID-19 pandemic and any future crisis.

“Many countries have some form of support through either limited concessions (often benefiting mostly formal economy workers and civil servants), household poverty assistance schemes with having a member with a disability as one of the targeting criteria, or limited coverage of health care costs. However, to date, few countries have taken steps to develop a meaningful and context-relevant combination of individual cash transfer, concessions, and services that would support children, working-age adults, and older persons with disabilities in line with the CRPD”, conclude Cote.

At the end of the day, the workshop aims to share experiences of social protection measures taken by different countries in the region in response to COVID-19, evaluate existing social protection measures that include persons with disabilities, explore how social protection and other initiatives aimed at mitigating the economic impact of the pandemic should include persons with disabilities, with recommendations for actions to include disability in the design and implementation of eligibility criteria and application procedures and their suitability. And Finally, explore messages and advocacy approach regarding the inclusion of persons with disabilities in COVID-19 relief and recovery measures that DPOs can use at different levels: regional and national.

In the closing remarks, Alex Cote declared that “the workshop co-organized by the AFD, WAFOD, IDA, and the UNPRPD-ILO-UNICEF inclusive social protection program was a great opportunity for DPOs leaders of the region to exchange about their country systems and identify inspiring practices that could be combined to build national systems to support the empowerment of persons with disabilities in Africa.” Ayassou Germain, ADF Board member closed the conference exhorting its success and high-level discussions and highlighting that “both WAFOD, ADF and IDA will push the conversation on social protection forward by producing a regional report, and promoting further exchanges with governments, UN agencies and regional representations of the European Union, as well as with the African Union”.

A comprehensive report of the workshop is being produced and will be shared soon at IDA’s networks.

• Download the concept note here.
• Download agenda here.

Panel Session at Business and Human Rights Forum 2019, 27 November

In collaboration with the Fédération National des Associations Personnes Handicapées du Senegal, the OHCHR – West Africa Regional Office, and Sightsavers, on June 1st and 2nd 2018, IDA held a 2 days’ workshop on the CRPD review process. This workshop was developed in the lead up to the process of review of Senegal by the United Nations Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, beginning next September with the adoption of the List of Issues by the Committee.

The 2-day activity gathered 20 participants from organisations of persons with disabilities and other civil society allies both from the Dakar and from other regions of the country. IDA thanks the OHCHR-West Africa Regional Office for having hosted the workshop at its offices in Dakar and to all the partners for their collaboration.

The activity included initial presentations on the CRPD and on the process of review by the CRPD Committee. It was a great opportunity for all the participants to learn about the CRPD review process and the many ways in which civil society is invited to engage and contribute to the drafting of the alternative reports. A specific presentation on Article 24 of the CRPD (Right to inclusive education) was provided on the second day to trigger the debate among the participants. This particular issue is in the pipeline of national discussions related to the rights of persons with disabilities.

The participants actively engaged in addressing proposed exercises, holding group discussions on the situation of the rights of persons with disabilities in Senegal, and reviewing the Initial Report of the State and the draft alternative report of the Fédération. The outcome of these conversations will contribute to the final stages of the drafting of an alternative report by the Fédération National des Associations Personnes Handicapées du Senegal to the CRPD Committee, prior to its adoption of the List of Issues.

In collaboration with the Fédération National de Personnes Handicapées du Niger, on May 28, 29 and 30 2018, IDA held a 3 days’ workshop on the CRPD review process. This workshop was developed in the lead up to the process of review of Niger by the United Nations Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, beginning next September with the adoption of the List of Issues by the Committee.

The 3-day activity gathered 20 participants from organisations of persons with disabilities and other civil society allies both from the capital Niamey and from other regions of the country. The workshop took place in a Meeting Room at the Hotel Sahel and was a great opportunity for all the participants to learn about the CRPD review process and the many ways in which civil society is invited to engage and contribute to the drafting of the alternative reports.

The activity included initial presentations on the CRPD and on the
process of review by the CRPD Committee. More specific presentations
were provided addressing some key issues, notably the rights of women
and children with disabilities, one of the areas of focus of the
Fédération National des Personnes Handicapées du Niger, addressed
throughout the workshop. Further, a presentation addressed articles
Articles 4.3 (consultation and involvement of persons with disabilities
in policy design and implementation) and 33 (national implementation and
monitoring), which are currently being discussed in the context of the
development of the CRPD`s Committee General Comment No. 7.

The participants actively engaged in addressing proposed exercises, holding group discussions on the situation of the rights of persons with disabilities in Niger, and reviewing the Initial Report of the State and the draft alternative report of the Fédération. The outcome of these conversations will contribute to the final stages of the drafting of an alternative report by Fédération National des Personnes Handicapées du Niger to the CRPD Committee, prior to its adoption of the List of Issues.

On the International Day of Persons with Disabilities 2017, the Permanent Missions of the Republic of Korea, Bulgaria, Mexico, Brazil, New Zealand, Finland, Argentine Republic and Israel joined forces with a number of UN agencies, civil society organizations and the International Disability Alliance, to host a panel discussion and art exhibition at the Palais des Nations.

Mr Idriss Maiga, International Disability Alliance Board Member representing the African Disability Forum, Niger, was a speaker during the first panel of the day, which focused on ‘Engaging Broader Society’.

Mr Idriss Maiga highlighted that “After the adoption of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities – CRPD in 2006 by the UN General Assembly, organisations advocating for the rights of persons with disabilities at National level started gaining visibility at the international level (…). Our greatest achievement was captured in article 4, paragraph 3, which establishes the concrete obligation of States Parties to conduct close consultation with, and actively engage, organizations representing persons with disabilities, including women and children with disabilities, in decision making processes relating to all matters relevant to them.”

Mr Idriss Maiga, also listed some concrete examples of how persons with disabilities have been engaging in broader society: “The International Disability Alliance, constituted at the end of this negotiation process, which currently comprises 8 international and 6 regional umbrella organizations of persons with disabilities, is a legitimate civil society organization playing a key role of intermediary between DPOs and the UN system. Persons with disabilities are legitimate experts on their rights, and this has been demonstrated by the CRPD Committee members, whose majority of past and present members are persons with disabilities with a background in grassroots organizations; The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, which with its goals, targets and indicators, has explicit references to persons with disabilities, unlike its previous MDGs.”

He also said: “the disability rights movement at global level is growing in size and strength. However, we feel there is a strong need to engage in the mainstream human rights movements, such as the women’s rights, children’s rights, environmental related rights, civil rights, just to name some. (…) Engaging in a broader society, we also need to learn to hear the voices of others. If we do so, we can really say that: ‘today is a day for all’”.

After the panel discussions, the event continued with the opening of an exhibition.

“Today, I discussed on how we should work in the local level because we need to take into account that there is a remaining gap between the local and global levels. Let’s not forget that the work at the international level has to support in solving the issues that are encountered in the local level.” Mr Maiga said, and added: “in this week, I am going to participate to a few more events in the framework of the International Day of Persons with Disabilities. We prepared some activities that are all aimed to reinforce the Rights of Persons with Disabilities related to the CRPD and SDGs’ implementation. This is a day, a week, where we try to get more visibility on us, to spread important messages regarding our rights. It is critical to remind what we have done in the past years, yet, much need to be done.”

Mr Maiga’s presence in Geneva is part of a broader mission, to participate in a technical workshop on reporting SDG’s implementation in line with the CRPD. Several African countries will be reviewed by the High Level Political Forum (HLPF), and the African Disability Forum (ADF) counts to replicate the methodology of this technical workshop with DPOs and partners in his region.