Reports & Summaries

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DISABLED PEOPLE’S ORGANISATIONS (DPOs) NEEDS ASSESSMENT RESEARCH

Authors: A.K. Dube, A. Chimusoro, R. Mandimutsira, M.    

                Chinamasa, M. Munhangu, D. Munhangu.

SAMAITA ASSOCIATES: Registration No: CK99 131 84/23    VAT Number: 4870181767

Publication Date: December 2008

Summary

This 133-page report highlights the importance of streamlining disability issues in research through enacting laws and policies that support the inclusion of people with disabilities in development and empowers them as researchers on their felt needs. The study focuses on the situation of people with disabilities in Lesotho in regards to the legal environment, development needs and the role of Disabled people's organisations (DPOs).

According to Dube et al. (2008) though DPOs in Lesotho are professionally run with qualified and experienced people, there is a dearth in their research and advocacy capacity.  In addition, discrimination and generally negative attitudes about people with disabilities have limited their integration and all spheres of society in Lesotho. The development situation of people with disabilities in Lesotho has been worsened by a difficult legal environment that does not recognise the rights of people with disabilities as full citizens, hence their lack of equal access to education, medical care and development opportunities.

The report concluded that appropriate laws which support the needs of people with disabilities were the only solution to improving their livelihoods in Lesotho and in other parts of Southern Africa.

Click here to download the full report in PDF format.

DISABILITY POLICY AUDIT RESEARCH IN NAMIBIA, SWAZILAND, MALAWI AND MOZAMBIQUE

Author: Dr. Raymond Lang

The Leonard Cheshire Disability and Inclusive Development Centre, University College London.

Publication Date July 2008

Summary

Despite the enactment of laws and crafting of policies supporting disability, people with disabilities are still fighting for inclusion and integration in society, especially in developing countries in Africa. This is one of the major findings of this 91-page report, Disability Policy Audit in Namibia, Swaziland, Malawi and Mozambique, commissioned by the Southern African Federation for the Disabled (SAFOD) in 2008. The report outlined the array of disability policies existing in Namibia, Swaziland, Malawi and Mozambique.

The corner stone of protecting disability rights lies in United Nations Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities, which mandates signatories to adopt national laws to give people with disabilities equal rights to education, employment and cultural life. Ratification of the Convention remains a challenge since the Convention came into effect in May 2008 as ratification comes with the responsibilities of allocating resources that will ensure people with disabilities are included as full citizens in all spheres of national development. Political will was key to the full implementation of national laws recognising disability in the development agenda.

Click here to download the full report in PDF format.

            (SRP) LITERATURE REVIEW REPORT

Authors: Shuaib Chalken; Kedibone Seutloadi and Safoora Sadek 

Diabalwa Professional Services cc

Publication Date: January 2009

Summary

Several international human rights agreements -- especially the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities -- have motivated lobbying for inclusion and integration of people with disabilities. This has become an added incentive to generate evidence from disability focused research as an advocacy strategy.

Authors of the 57-page report, SRP Literature Review, say the operation of the UN Convention in 2008 and the implementation of the African Decade for Persons with Disabilities and the Millennium Development Goals (MDG’s) have renewed the interest in disability research and lobbying.

Noting the link between disability and poverty, the review found that a number of countries in Southern Africa did not have home grown research outputs that would trigger development policy changes for the benefit of people with disabilities. Without appropriate research evidence, lobbying for inclusion and integration was ineffective. As a result, people with disabilities continued to be impoverished.

Click here to download the full report in PDF format.

HIV AND AIDS AND REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH CARE

AMONGST DISABLED PEOPLE IN MALAWI AND NAMIBIA

Authors: Gubela Mji, Siphokazi Gcaza, Margaret Wazakili (PhD)  

                and Donald Skinner (PhD)

The Centre for Rehabilitation Studies Stellenbosch University, University of the Western Cape and Unit on Research for Health and Society

Publication Date: November 2008

Summary

The UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities -- which to date has been ratified by only six countries in Southern Africa -- champions the rights of people with disabilities to marriage, sexual relations, medical and healthcare. However, a pilot research commissioned by the Southern Africa Federation for the Disabled (SAFOD) in Malawi and Namibia has established that a majority of people with disabilities do not have adequate access to information and services on sexual and reproductive needs. Furthermore, they are vulnerable to HIV and AIDS because of a combination of general ignorance about the disease, sexual abuse, lack of resources and poor support services in terms of information, testing, counselling and treatment.

The 49-page, research study, HIV and AIDS and Reproductive Health Care Amongst Disabled People in Malawi and Namibia noted that people with disabilities are marginalised when it comes to their sexual and reproductive rights. This has contributed to their exposure to HIV and AIDS. Authors of the report have highlighted the challenges of the research evidence on the prevalence of HIV/AIDS amongst disabled people and their access to key services.

The research cited discrimination and failure to include disability issues in national HIV/AIDS policies and strategies as major drawbacks to the enjoyment of sexual and reproductive rights by people with disabilities. Though the study recommended further research into the exact impact of HIV and AIDS on people with disabilities, it found abuse rife among women and girls with disabilities and action rarely taken to prosecute perpetrators because of weak legislation and socio-cultural indifference to the issue.

Click here to download the full report in PDF format.

PROMOTING EDUCATION AND TRAINING OF DISABLED PEOPLE IN SOUTH AFRICA AND LESOTHO

             Authors: A. R. Gwitimah and W. Khupe

The ZIMBABWE OPEN UNIVERSITY, FACULTY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES and the MUSCULAR DYSTROPHY ASSOCIATION OF ZIMBABWE (MDAZ)

Publication Date: July 2008

Summary

Education is important a critical foundation for the self development and self actualisation. It is the basis for career choices and training. It also determines employment opportunities which are limited for people with disabilities, according to this research study.

The study, Education and Training of disabled people in Lesotho and South Africa, compiled by A.R. Gwitimah and W. Khuphe, said people with disabilities failed to secure long term employment because of illiteracy and lack of skills.

Owing to limited and appropriate learning facilities, people with disabilities were mostly likely to fail to complete primary education, triggering a domino effect on their chances to enter higher and tertiary education. Worse still without basic education, they were unable to access skills training and this reduced their long term job security.

Implementing policies on education for people with disabilities such as the UNESCO goal of Education for All by 2015 will help improve the education and training of people with disabilities. Besides, national DPOs need to be capacitated to better advocate for the promotion, investment in and mainstreaming of the education and training of people with disabilities as part of the national education plans, the study recommended.

Click here to download the full report in PDF format

Contact

The SAFOD Research Programme (SRP)

SAFOD Regional Headquarters

Plot 6230 Tati River Plots

P O Box 3236 Nswazwi Complex

Francistown

Tel: +267 2405164

Fax: +267 2405156

E-mail: safod@botsnet.bw

Web: http//www.safod_srp.org.bw

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