By Chris Agbo
Disability Rights Advocacy Center (DRAC) once again from 14th -16th October 2020 in Abuja hosted the second edition of the Disability Rights Fund (DRF)’s Strategic Advocacy training for her grantees and other Organizations of Persons with Disabilities (OPDs) in Nigeria.
The Strategic Advocacy 2.0 training was organized to further strengthen the strategic advocacy capacity of the Nigerian grantees through training and sharing experiences; to orient the grantees on the practical utilization of the Advocacy Strategy Paper 2020-2024 and its policy brief developed at the first training held in October 2019. The training also facilitated the positioning of interested grantees to the three advocacy clusters established by the advocacy strategy and to develop the terms of reference for each of the formed clusters to guide operations of the clusters.
The Program Officer of DRF in Nigeria, Theophilus Odaudu in his opening remark said that DRF began grantmaking in Nigeria in 2018 with six grantees namely: Disability Rights Advocacy Centre (DRAC); Centre for Citizens with Disabilities (CCD); Independent Living Programme for People with Disabilities (ILP); Family Centred Initiative for Challenged Persons (FACICP); The Albino Foundation (TAF); and Joint National Association for Persons with Disabilities (JONAPWD) but currently, DRF have 13 grantees namely: Association of Lawyers with Disabilities in Nigeria (ALDIN); Centre for Citizens with. Disabilities (CCD); Disability Rights Advocacy Centre (DRAC); Deaf Women Aloud Initiative (DWAI); Inclusive Friends Association (IFA); Lionheart Ability Leaders International Foundation (LALIF); Nigerian Association of the Blind, FCT chapter (NAB-FCT); Nigeria Association of the Blind, National (NAB); She Writes Woman Mental Health Initiative (SWW); The Albino Foundation (TAF); TheseAbilities Women and Youth Empowerment (TAWYE); The Irede Foundation (TIF); and Voice of Disabilities Initiative (VDI).
He stated that three of the DRF/DRAF grantees are leading separate coalitions, that is: DRAC is having a National Coalition grant to lead a coalition working on disability disaggregated data comprising DRAC, JONAPWD Anambra State, Disability not a Barrier Initiative (DINABI), and Mimijiean Foundation; IFA is also leading a National Coalition comprising IFA, Haly Hope Foundation (HHF), FAECare Foundation, and Advocacy for Women with Disabilities Initiative (AWWDI); and The Irede Foundation leads a Mid-Level Coalition comprising The Irede Foundation (TIF), Festus Fajemilo Foundation (FFF), and Children Developmental Centre (CDC).
He informed that they have spent over six hundred thousand US dollars in Nigeria through these grantees carrying out different projects that geared towards promoting the rights of persons with disabilities.
Speaking further, he expressed satisfaction that more groups representing excluded disability clusters are also joining the DRF grantees family such as She Writes Woman (Mental Health), Irede Foundation – Parents of children with disabilities and LionHeart Ability Leaders International Foundation – DeafBlind.
He welcomed the new grantees such as Deaf Women Aloud, She Writes Woman, Irede Foundation, Nigeria Association of the Blind, Voice of Disability Initiative, LionHeart Ability Leaders International Foundation and TheseAbilities Women and Youth Empowerment (TAWYE) etc.
He also said that DRF cannot support all organizations of persons with disabilities because advocacy is capital intensive but DRF can give recommendations for OPDs to approach other donors.
He expressed sadness over the death of Executive Director of one of the grantees Mrs. Foluke Idowu of Independent Living Programme for People with disabilities and a one minute silent was observed in her honour.
The Executive Director of DRAC, Dr. Irene Ojiugo Patrick-Ogbogu in her speech welcomed OPDs present at the event. She expressed gratitude to DRF for always choosing DRAC to host DRF events in Nigeria and for the support DRF is giving Nigerian OPDs in both financial grants and technical support. She urged participants to take the training seriously and acquire important advocacy skills because it is geared towards achieving the ultimate goal of inclusion for persons with disabilities in Nigeria.
The event witnessed the presence of the Executive Secretary of National Commission for Person with Disabilities, Hon. James Lalu who expressed his gratitude in the way DRF brought together leaders of disability community and urged the participants to put in their best as they learn new ways in advocating for the rights of persons with disabilities. He demanded that the communique of the workshop be sent to him at the end so that it can also serve as guide which the commission would be using to perform their duty. He called on every member of OPDs to always approach the commission with ideas that will be beneficial to persons with disabilities.
The workshop was facilitated virtually by a seasoned consultant based in Lusaka, Zambia, Wamundila Waliuya who was also the facilitator in the first edition of the workshop in 2019. The co-facilitators were Theophilus Odaudu, DRF Program officer in Nigeria and DRAC Program Officer, Noel Balogun.
The participants were taken in the following activities in the three days long workshop; progress on the implementation of the advocacy strategy, they scored themselves based on action taken in the last one year to ascertain progress made, they were guided for the expected outcome in the coming year. There were review of the Capacity assessment of the organizations, SWOT analysis review, Advocacy issues review, Advocacy Audience Allies and Partners Engagement Process, Alliance Building as Engagement Activity, Strengthening Alliance Building, Strategic Approaches of Advocacy and Strengthening Use of the Approaches, Lobbying and Influencing styles and Role play, Research and policy analysis and working with the media.
The participants went into groups to identify priorities, design advocacy programme in line with the Global Disability Summit. The groups worked on Empowerment of persons with disabilities, Sexual Reproductive Health Rights of Persons with disabilities and Inclusive Education.
A participant, Barrister Daniel Onwe, President of Association of Lawyers with Disabilities in Nigeria, also made a presentation on Strategic / Public Impact Litigation, stating how litigations can help to advance the rights of persons with disabilities in Nigeria.
Some notable advocates at the workshop were Chidi Olujie (President, Nigerian National Association of the Deaf (NNAD) Lawrence Idemudia (Centre for Deaf Inclusion), Beatrice Mube (Mimijean Foundation), Obinna Ekujereonye (NAB FCT), Barr. Ikem Uchegbulam (National Civil Service Association of Persons with disabilities), Hauwa Ojeifo (She writes Woman-Health Initiative), Comrade Musa Muazu Musa (National Commission for People with disabilities), Haruna Mohammed(Nigerian National Association of the Deaf(NNAD), Damian Okechukwu Ivom (The Albino Foundation), Celine E. Osukwu (Divine Foundation for Disable Persons), Hauwa Ojeifo (She writes Woman-Health Initiative), Olanike Akinola (Network of women with disabilities in Nigeria) Crystal Chigbu (Irede Foundation), Bilkisu Ado Zango (NW Zononal Coordinator JONPWD) Agbo Christian (The Qualitative Magazine (TQM) and many others.
