We have been working with our member organisations and self-advocates in Nigeria, Uganda, Kenya and Rwanda to advocate for the employment of people with Down syndrome and intellectual disabilities.

The organisations were already trying to advocate for the rights of people with Down syndrome but had limited experience using the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) and Sustainable Development Goals (SDG's) in their advocacy work.

The organisations were used to advocating for people with Down syndrome rather than supporting them to advocate for themselves or alongside them.

Of the organisations in these four countries, only Down Syndrome Foundation Nigeria already had a self-advocacy group for people with Down syndrome, which we helped to establish a few years ago. The organisations were enthusiastic to establish groups but needed support.

From September to November 2020 we delivered training to the organisations on human rights and advocacy. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic and accompanying restrictions, the planned in-person training had to be delivered online.

We have since supported the organisations to establish self-advocacy groups representing people with intellectual disabilities.

The newly established self-advocacy groups have begun receiving training and discussing advocacy activities.

The group in Nigeria have been learning about COVID-19 and the key issues for them. The group met with the Lagos State Office of Disability Affairs to advocate for free COVID-19 vaccines for people with intellectual disabilities. They also met with the Nigerian Institute of Medical Research to discuss COVID-19 issues. The Institute have since provided a free virtual training for parents and people with Down syndrome on COVID-19.

Our next step is to support the organisations to work with the self-advocacy groups to produce plans on how to advocate for inclusive employment.

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Read more about this project:

Employment advocacy in Africa

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Read more about our employment work here:

EMPLOYMENT

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This project is funded by the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (NORAD).

The content of our website does not necessarily reflect the views of our NORAD.