The Hope Inspired Foundation for Women and Youth with Disability (HIFWYD), with funding from the Disability Rights Fund (DRF/DRAF), is implementing a 1-year (January–December 2024) project titled “Partnership for Disability Inclusive Local Governance (PADILG).
This was the main thrust of discussion at a Stakeholders’ Inception Meeting for Persons with Disabilities and stakeholders on Monday in Abuja. Also to be part of the project are the Joint National Association of Persons Living with Disability (JONAPWD), the National Commission for Persons with Disabilities (NCPWD) and the Organisation of Persons with Disabilities (OPDs)
The project, according to the organisers, aimed to advance grassroots disability inclusion in collaboration with local government authorities through the adoption of the national disability framework.
The forum also provides stakeholders with the opportunity to brainstorm on ways persons with disabilities can partner with the ALGON to ensure they are being carried along in the process of governance at the local government level.
The programme manager, West Africa for the Disability Rights Fund (DRF), Theophilus Odaudu, noted that the project was all about grassroots advocacy to advance disability rights at the local government level
Odaudu explained that DRF was a grant-making collaboration between donors and the global disability rights community that empowers persons with disabilities to advocate for equal rights and full participation in society.
He said the overall goal of the PADILG project was to have a local government that responds to the needs of people with disabilities at the grassroots level.
“The local government is the closest to the people, and we have a lot of persons with disabilities in the rural areas and at that level whose rights are not being respected. They are suffering and facing a lot of barriers, ranging from discrimination, stigma, and neglect, to name a few.
“We believe that if the local government system becomes responsive to the needs of persons with disabilities, it will go a long way towards advancing disability rights in the country,” he said.
Also, the Project Lead of HIFWYD, Nwite Oluchi, in her remarks, emphasised the need for the adoption and implementation of the disability framework as a tool to demand inclusion for persons with disabilities.
She said HIFWYD would build the capacity of advocacy cluster members in Abuja, Plateau, Oyo, Gombe, and Lagos State to lead advocacies in their respective states for the adoption of the national disability framework.
The assistant director of public relations and protocol at ALGON, Venatus Okafor, stressed that the implementation of government policies must start at the grassroots.
He said ALGON was very interested and willing to partner with and give support to people who are physically challenged.
“This is the kind of synergy that we are actually supporting at ALGON. We want people who are challenged physically or otherwise to have that sense of belonging in society. They should exist like every other human being, and that is why we deemed it necessary to be represented here today to be a part of what they are doing.
“We want this to transcend to the local government areas, not just at the national and state levels. If you look at the way things are being run in Nigeria today, everything is about federal and state. So we are appealing that policies or the implementation of policies should start at the grassroots with a bottom-up approach. This is what the president of ALGON, Honourable Barrister Kola Alabi, has been canvassing, and we are here to lend our support.”
The one-day Stakeholders Inception and 3-day advocacy training, which began on Monday, is expected to end on Thursday.
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