African Decade of Disabled Persons Holds International Partners Meeting, Addis Ababa

In mid-September more than 250 participants traveled from throughout Africa, Europe and other parts of the world to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia to support the work of the African Decade of Disabled Persons, 1999-2009. The majority were representing African governments, non-governmental organizations and disabled people’s organizations (DPOs), but a good number were key figures in disability and development work at the UN and development cooperation agencies and large international NGOs that are expanding their work in Africa to include disabled persons.

The September 21-22 meeting was called by the Secretariat of the Decade and its key donors from Denmark and Sweden in order to prioritize tasks and activities for the 2006-2009 period. Following two days of plenary sessions focusing on effective development practices and projects, and working group sessions on critical topics, the director of the Secretariat, Shuaib Chalklen, summarized the outcomes of the meeting and recent Decade projects:

Five main areas
“We invited you here to learn about African and other initiatives, good practices and success stories in the following main areas: education, employment, health issues, progress and next steps in the UN disability rights convention, and inclusive development as a tool to reduce the poverty of people with disabilities across the continent. Thanks to your hard work over the last two days, we have a clearer understanding of the necessary actions we must take in each of these areas to make a difference in Africa.

Recent Decade projects
“Thanks primarily to our donors, our small Secretariat, comprised largely of Africans, has managed to accomplish a great deal in one year. Our main focuses, in addition to hiring staff, have been: 1) helping to set up National Decade Steering Committees composed of strong DPOs, NGOs and government partners in each of our five pilot countries – Ethiopia, Rwanda, Mozambique, Senegal and Kenya; 2) providing innovative training in low-cost website technology to DPOs in the pilot countries; 3) organizing the founding meeting in Senegal of an African network of women with disabilities; 4) re-launching our website with information about the Decade, our strategies and projects – www.africandecade.org.za; 5) preparing manuals about disability and development, and about mainstreaming disability content into HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment programs; and 6) organizing this International Partners meeting…

Creating awareness and public support for change
“For the next four years, we will be working with our partners and all of you to create national level Decade initiatives in all 53 African countries. We will do this by asking all governments to launch national Decade steering committees based on the models we have already implemented this year. We will provide ministries and Decade committee with first-class public education materials…Inspired by the outstanding photography exhibit we have seen here in Addis, we will design materials that portray disabled Africans with dignity, pride and beauty. Our staff has already begun developing slogans to catch the attention of the public, such as ‘Defying Expectations.’

“In addition, the Secretariat will develop and publish a baseline index of information about disability in Africa, emphasizing the five main areas cited above.

“We know that our biggest challenge is to create awareness of the Decade and public support for concrete improvements in the lives of disabled Africans. So, we intend to organize public events, such as the first African disability film festival that would result in a master tape of outstanding entries that could then be utilized by each Decade committee in its national awareness efforts…

Africa has a lot to share
"Africa has a lot to share with the world—as just a few examples, we have 10 times the number of disabled parliamentarians than any other region, we have many more organizations of disabled women than any other region, and soon we will be leading the world in numbers of disabled entrepreneurs.

"It is time for us now to make our abilities, our capacities and our talents known throughout Africa. We are already being heard in the halls of the UN and its agencies; we are being heard in development banks and we are making progress with our governments. Our collective voice becomes more powerful each year and we must raise it throughout Africa.

"As some of our leaders have reminded us here, we are much stronger than we were five years ago, and my promise to you is that, with your support, we will be twice as strong by the end of this African Decade. Of course, we can only do this with your help—the growing African disability movement, governments that take up their responsibilities to their disabled populations, and donors who support our growth."

Press coverage
The Partners Meeting attracted substantial press coverage from the international level, such as Reuters and BBC World; regional level such as www.AllAfrica.com and the African Union, the founder of the Decade; and from the leading press agencies and newspapers based in Addis, such as the Ethiopian Herald, the Reporter and the Sub-Saharan Informer.

Various interviews appeared with Ethiopian governmental representatives and disability NGOs, with visiting members of parliament from other African countries and with representatives of the Decade.

As examples, the opening session was carried on Ethiopian national television, featuring the statement of Advocate Bience P. Gawanas, African Union Commissioner for Social Affairs, and a strong editorial appeared in the September 23 issue of the Ethiopian Herald, calling for expanded efforts of the Ethiopian government and society to address disability issues, especially attitudes. The editorial concluded:

"Reports indicate that the major problems that encounter people with disabilities in our country are stigma and discrimination in no less degree than the economic problem. In our society (such) people are perceived as persons of peculiar nature that have suffered from the consequences of ancestral sins or curses of supernatural forces. In fact such an attitude is not uncommon in almost all societies where low level of societal awareness is present. Thus it is uncontested that that a particular consideration should be given to awareness-raising endeavors to bring remedies to the discriminatory attitudes. Above all, it is that part of the problem that matters a lot, as man is a social animal that needs affection and assimilation with fellow humans…Hence, the government…to live up to the provisions and laws it has formulated so far, needs the backing of the general public for their implementation and to bring about attitudinal change regarding the problems of people with disabilities."

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