By Loveth Asogwa Obiora,
Disability Rights Advocacy Centre (DRAC) on Monday 24th and Tuesday 25th May 2021 in Abuja organized a 2-day training for Organizations of Persons with Disabilities (OPDs), Women’s Rights Organizations, Autonomous Social Movements and Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) on Disability Inclusion and Advocacy for Gender Equality and Women Empowerment/ Violence against Women and Girls with Disabilities /Harmful Practices.
The training is part of DRAC’s Greater Inclusion, Responses and Linkages (GIRLS) project which is supported by the Spotlight Initiative. A global, multi-year partnership between the European Union and the United Nations to eliminate all forms of violence against women and girls by 2030.
The Executive Director, DRAC, Dr. Irene Ojiugo Patrick-Ogbogu in her opening remarks while welcoming the participants, stated that the training is aimed at increasing the knowledge of participants on Disability Inclusion, Gender Equality, and Violence against Women and Girls with Disabilities. She said that her expectation is that at the end of the training, the participants would know more about the existential crisis of violence against women and girls and how DRAC is working to end it especially in the FCT, and how the participants can become better and strategic advocates.
Speaking further, Dr. Irene applauded Spotlight Initiative for supporting the GIRLS project which is aimed at strengthening SRHR and SGBBV services for women and girls with disabilities in the FCT.
Mrs. Kenechukwu, a Program Manager representing the Spotlight Initiative in her goodwill message appreciated the DRAC team and reaffirmed the commitment of Spotlight initiative to amplify the voices of most vulnerable groups in the society including women and girls with disabilities and ensuring that incidences of violence that they experience are ended. She emphasized that the training on Gender Equality is critical because Women and Girls with Disabilities do not have accessible environment and do not know their rights, so Spotlight Initiative has a mandate to address some of these challenges and bridge the gaps. She expressed hope that the 2-day training would achieve these salient points, and they expect that at the end of the training, the participants should be well equipped to sensitize, practicalize and prioritize these issues. She went further to encourage DRAC to continue working hard in areas of ensuring PWDs especially women and girls are mainstreamed in the society especially on issues of Gender Based Violence (GBV).
Dr. Irene in her technical sessions, took the participants on overview of Disability Inclusion: Concepts of Disability, definition, types, statistics, models/barriers, and terminologies. She applied the twin track approach in explaining Disability inclusion, Disability mainstreaming and Disability specific intervention.
The participants were also taken through a session on Gender, Gender Equality (obstacles/strategies to achieving gender equality)Violence against Women and Girls and GBV – causes and remedies available of victims/survivors.
Some pictures of the Training
