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African Disability Forum
Launch of the first African Disability Forum
African Leaders of organisations of persons with disabilities established a new platform that advocates for the rights and inclusion of persons with disabilities in development in Africa.
ADDIS ABABA (ILO News) – About 40 regional and national leaders in Africa established a new platform to strengthen the voice of Africans with disabilities in advocating for their rights and inclusion policies.
The African Disability Forum (ADF) was recognized after a two-day meeting of organisations of persons with disabilities (DPOs) in Africa, which took place from 17-19 November 2014, at the UN Conference Centre, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
The ILO Programme on disability in Ethiopia welcomed this initiative. The ILO Irish Aid Partnership Program has many years of experience in the promotion of disability rights and inclusion and has significant number of partners in the country.
The new Forum will serve as a unified representative voice of African DPOs to pursue activities like:
Disability research and information dissemination
Monitoring national implementation of the CRPD
Promoting national implementation of the AU Continental Plan of Action on disability for the extended African Decade (2009-2019).
Strengthening the participation of youth with disabilities in national and regional structures and programmes
Facilitating participation of children with disabilities in national Children’s parliaments and other similar structures
Facilitating participation of women with disabilities in the development of the post-2015 Sustainable Development Agendas.
Promoting the inclusion of persons with disabilities in mainstream development agencies.
The ADF is an initiative of Mr. Shuaib Chalklen, the UN Special Rapporteur on Disability of the Commission for Social Development who chaired the Regional Meeting.
The launch meeting was facilitated by the UNDESA and in collaboration with the African Union and the UNECA as well as development partner organizations including the Abilis Foundation of Finland and the Norwegian Association of the Disabled.
The first ADF General Assembly will be held in 2015. An Interim Working Group (IWG) composed of 10 leaders of continental, sub-regional and national organizations of DPOs is currently operating with men, women and youth leaders with disabilities from Algeria, Burkina Faso, Cameroun, Gabon, Kenya, Niger, Mauritania, Morocco, South Africa, Uganda, and Zambia.
