SAFOD is implementing a regional response strategy outlining a series of interventions to reduce infection and increase the impact of COVID-19 responses among persons with disabilities and their carers in the Southern Africa region.
With funding from Norwegian Federation of Organisations of Disabled People (FFO), this project is seeking to build the capacity of youths with disabilities withon our national affiliates to be able to effectively advocate for disability mainstreaming in their countries using social media, blogging, website and other media tools.
With funding from Open Society Initiative for Southern Africa (OSISA), our Inclusive Early Childhood Development & Education (ECDE) Project started in 2016 to strengthen the capacity of DPOs in increasing access to quality ECDE services for children with disabilities. We're now working on developing of a regional (SADC) Inclusive ECDE Strategy.
Funded by the Google Impact Challenge, the AT-Info-Map is a project of SAFOD, AfriNEAD, and University of Washington which started in March 2016 primarily with the development of a mobile app to map the availability of assistive technology in Southern Africa.
With finding from the Norwegian Federation of Organisations of Disabled People (FFO) in Norway, we carry out country-level training workshops on UNCRPD Monitoring Mechanism for our national affiliates & key stakeholders in each country.
Since 2018, we have been collaborating with the University of Loughborough and Aston University on a project that seeks to enable artists and craftspeople with disabilities to contribute to their community through the production of art and craft artifacts by building connections between those involved in inclusive crafts development within SAFOD and their counterparts in the UK in relation to best practice for inclusive crafts.
SAFOD in collaboration with Loughborough University in the UK, implemented a 5 month pilot project (December 2022 to April 2023) in Botswana, Kgatleng District. Through this project a center for culture, heritage, innovation and enterprise (C-CHIE) was built at Kgatleng Disabled Persons Association (KDPA). The centre will be used as a training facility for skills sharing seminars and workshop for production of arts and crafts artefacts.
We are a leading disability-focused network engaged in coordination of activities of organisations of Persons with Disabilities in the Southern Africa region. The organisation was formed in 1986 as a federation of Disabled Peoples Organisations (DPOs) working in ten (10) countries, namely Angola, Botswana, Eswatini, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Zambia and Zimbabwe. In 2021, SAFOD registered 6 more affiliates in other countries in Southern Africa that is, in Sychelles, Madagascar, Mauritius, Comoros, Democratic republic of Congo and United Republic of Tanzania. In each of these countries, our focus is mainly to strengthen the capacity of our national affiliates so that they are able to effectively advocate for the rights of the persons with disabilities in line with the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD). We pursue the following mission statement; "To advocate for the rights of Persons with Disabilities as well as nurturing and strengthening its affiliates and other stakeholders in Southern Africa to ensure promotion of inclusive development and human rights for persons with disabilities."
01 September, 2024
BACKGROUND AND CONTEXT The greatest global challenge of the 21st century
2017 Southern Africa Disability Round Table Forum Report
Evaluation of the Impact & Lessons Learned from the Living Conditions Studies
Manual on Early Childhood Development and Education for Children with Disabilities
Desenvolvimento inicial e educação infanl para crianças portadoras de deficienças
The Assistive Technology Information Mapping Project (AT-Info-Map) AT Guide
Advocacy Manual for Policy Engagement on Inclusive Legislation in Swaziland
SAFOD Narrative and Financial Report for the Year-ended 2018
SAFOD Narrative and Financial Report for the Year-ended 2019
Regional Covid-19 Response Strategy for Persons with Disabilities
SAFOD COVID-19 Survery Snapshot Results - August 2020
SAFOD Child Protection Policy
Assistive Technology Catalogue
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