SAFOD

Southern Africa Federation of the Disabled

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African Decade (2000-2009)

... the challenge of the decade

By Alexander M. Phiri, Director General of SAFOD

At the conclusion of the United Nations Decade of Disabled Persons 1983-1992, it was observed by many organisations of people with disabilities in Africa that the global decade had its own successes and failures. Among its successes were the opportunities it afforded people with disabilities to meet and share experiences on issues of common concern; and there were more organisations and self-help groups of people with disabilities formed during the UN decade than at any other time in the history of the disability movement.

On the list of failures, the global decade was under-resourced and badly marketed. There was no noticeable improvement in the quality of life of people with disabilities in Africa; only countries in the northern hemisphere appeared to benefit from the decade whilst, through lack of political will, those in the southern hemisphere failed to implement the World Programme of Action Concerning Disabled Persons.

This is what prompted the African disability movement to lobby and gain UN support for the African Decade of Disabled Persons 1999-2009. The goal is the full participation, equality and empowerment of people with disabilities in Africa. A Continental Plan of Action has been formed to guide African Union member states in the formulation of their national disability programmes, as well as putting in place mechanisms for the implementation of the Decade objectives.

However, the major concern we have as people with disabilities in Africa is that having an action plan is one thing, but its implementation is a different issue altogether.

We are now just over three years into the African Decade, and I can’t see much difference yet. So far, only a handful of African states have launched a disability programme for their country. Malawi is one example where the government has come up with a national policy to uphold the rights of people with disabilities. This shows that the government is aware of what needs to be done, and it’s better than not talking about disability at all, but we want governments to take a step further.

There is the concern that if no special fund is set up by governments at the African Union level to facilitate the implementation of Decade activities at continental, regional and national levels, the plan of action as pronounced and adopted by the African heads of state will be yet another ‘talk show’. Governments and state organs should take the lead and responsibility for the successful implementation of the Decade’s plan of action.

We know it’s possible to find African solutions to the problems we face. Africa has got the resources, but we need to urge governments to redirect resources away from conflict towards more meaningful issues of development. They have to set aside material and human resources to address disability issues. For example, there may be the need to appoint a special rapporteur on disability to ensure implementation, monitoring and periodic reporting of the Decade activities.

Another challenge surrounding the Decade is the general slow response by the international community to our appeal for support. It would appear that there are not many donors out there who have the interest to associate themselves with the African Decade of Disabled Persons. Perhaps it could be that the disability movement itself has not done much to market the Decade, and therefore there many not be many people out there who are familiar with the letter and spirit of the African Decade. Or it could be that disability itself as a development issue is not interesting enough to the development agencies.

At the Millennium Summit of 2000, the developed nations pledged to reduce world poverty by 50 per cent by the year 2015. This commitment to give poor people the opportunity to live in dignity is excellent development that we hope will not discriminate against people with disabilities who are the poorest of the poor in Africa.

Currently, support of development programmes in Africa by wealthy nations is by and large excluding people with disabilities as a target group. As part of the African Decade we need to urge development aid agencies to seriously consider introducing a disability dimension in their policies with a view to incorporating the needs of people with disabilities in their development aid programmes.

During the African Decade we want to see a change of attitude at local, national and international level that will enable people with disabilities to assert their political, social and economic rights. It’s disabled people themselves who’ll get things to happen by continuing to advocate for disability rights. The African Decade is an ambitious project, but I don’t mind indulging in ambitious activities. That’s the right way to go, rather than thinking small. It might seem as if little has changed so far, but we’ve still got 70 per cent of the Decade to go. We just need to keep talking about disability issues.