Inclusive COVID-19 Responses Campaign
Making sure no health emergency leaves persons with disabilities in Southern Africa behind.
A right, not a favour
Health is a human right. The COVID-19 pandemic put that right at risk for millions of persons with disabilities across Southern Africa.
This campaign began with evidence. SAFOD ran an FFO-funded research study into how the pandemic was affecting persons with disabilities in the region. The findings were stark, and they shaped what came next. That research informed the SAFOD COVID-19 Response Strategy, a rights-based plan for inclusive responses. SAFOD and its national affiliates then used the Strategy to campaign for COVID-19 programming that reached disabled people, not just the general public.
Why this campaign matters
When the pandemic hit, persons with disabilities were among the first to be left out. The barriers were practical and they were urgent.
- Public health information rarely came in sign language, Braille, or easy-to-read formats.
- Face masks stopped deaf people from reading the lips of carers and health workers.
- Social distancing and isolation were impossible for people who need daily physical support.
- Lockdowns cut off incomes, food, transport, and medicines for many disabled people.
- Persons with disabilities were largely missing from national response planning.
The research that started it
SAFOD set out to document what the pandemic really meant for disabled people. The study used interviews, focus group discussions, and document analysis across SADC, with community case studies in Botswana, Lesotho, and Namibia.
The finding was clear. COVID-19 did not create new problems so much as deepen old ones. Poverty, weak social protection, lost work, and poor access to services all grew worse. The evidence gave the campaign its direction and its urgency.
Read the research report ↗"Nothing about us, without us."
The guiding principle of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with DisabilitiesThe COVID-19 Response Strategy
The research fed directly into SAFOD's COVID-19 Response Strategy. The Strategy set out how SAFOD, its affiliates, and partners would respond to the crisis across the region. Its main goal was to help national affiliates and stakeholders build inclusive response plans that reduce both infection and impact among persons with disabilities.
The Strategy is a rights-based, people-centred plan, guided throughout by the UNCRPD. It treats itself as a living document, updated as new evidence comes in from the ground. It rests on six strategic approaches.
Advocacy
Grounding all work in research and evidence to push for the rights of persons with disabilities.
Participation and awareness
Using simple participatory methods so disabled people shape the solutions that affect them.
Partnerships and alliances
Working with governments, SADC, and partners to reach further than SAFOD could alone.
Capacity of affiliates
Building the skills of national affiliates to inform and protect their communities.
Capacity of media
Training journalists to report on how inclusive national COVID-19 plans really are.
Technology
Delivering training, dialogue, and information online to keep staff and partners safe.
The seven objectives
1 Generate and use evidence
2 Influence SADC and member states
3 Strengthen affiliates
4 Raise awareness
5 Mainstream disability into health
6 Diversify funding
7 Strengthen governance
Building the skills to respond
A central part of the campaign was a regional capacity building workshop for SAFOD's national affiliates. The two-day online workshop ran on 12 and 13 October 2020. It gave affiliates the tools to turn the Response Strategy into action in their own countries.
Facilitated by Malebogo Molefhe, an award-winning disability rights activist, who led affiliates through the two-day programme.
Reaching wider stakeholders
The campaign also used webinars to reach beyond the disability movement. These online sessions brought together affiliates, governments, development partners, and the public to share the research and press for inclusive COVID-19 programming.
The campaign in action: Mozambique
Affiliates took the campaign into their own countries. In Mozambique, FAMOD built on SAFOD's work to drive an inclusive national response.
Part of FAMOD's COVID-19 work, delivered through its affiliates in Mozambique.
Coordination
FAMOD set up technical and national platforms to track the inclusion of disabled people.
Leadership
It led a new Disability Working Group under the UN Protection Cluster.
Results
It secured a Ministry of Health bylaw with disability inclusion guidelines for all health sectors.
Part of SA-PIAH
This campaign sits within SAFOD's Southern Africa Programme on Inclusive Access to Health (SA-PIAH). The programme works to make health systems across Southern Africa more accessible to persons with disabilities. It tackles barriers in four areas: physical access to facilities, the attitudes of health workers, the design of health information, and the policies that govern service delivery.
Explore the campaign documents
Read the evidence and the plan that shaped this work.