List of SAFOD Programmes

SA-IPLJ: Inclusive Policies, Legislation and Justice

SAFOD programme

Disability rights legislation: the SA-IPLJ programme

Disability rights exist on paper across Southern Africa. SA-IPLJ works to make them real in law, in policy and in practice.

SAFOD presenting a draft regional disability protocol at a meeting on disability rights legislation.
IN THE PICTURE: SAFOD presenting a draft regional disability protocol at a consultative meeting. It is part of our work on inclusive policies, legislation and justice across Southern Africa.

Disability rights legislation is only useful when governments enforce it. Most SADC member states have ratified the CRPD and adopted national disability policies. Yet persons with disabilities remain excluded from the systems those laws protect. SA-IPLJ exists to close that gap. It embeds disability rights into laws and frameworks and holds governments to account.

SA-IPLJ is one of our programmes. It works with our national affiliates in all 16 member states.

Two levels of disability rights work

National

We support OPDs to engage governments on law reform, policy review and inclusive budgeting.

Regional

We lead the campaign for a binding SADC Disability Protocol. It is the most significant advocacy effort in SAFOD's history.

The Protocol campaign for disability rights legislation

A decade in the making

  • 2016Desk research reviewed how SADC's existing instruments addressed disability rights.
  • 2017A zero-draft Protocol was introduced at SAFOD's first regional roundtable.
  • 2021SADC Chairperson President Lazarus Chakwera publicly committed to support a SADC Desk Office on disability mainstreaming.
  • 2023A three-year stakeholder influence plan was developed to drive adoption by SADC leadership.
  • 2026Stakeholders from across SADC met at a Consultative Regional Roundtable Forum in Johannesburg to review and advance the Draft Protocol.

Read more about our campaign for the SADC Disability Protocol.

Key activities

  • Development and validation of a Policy and Stakeholder Influence Strategy to guide SAFOD's regional advocacy from 2021 to 2025.
  • A public webinar in 2022 reaching 86 participants. It raised awareness of the campaign and gathered inputs into the draft.
  • The 2022 Regional Disability Roundtable Forum in Johannesburg, under the theme "Leaving No One Behind". It assessed progress on disability mainstreaming and built momentum for the Protocol.
  • A dedicated Protocol seminar in 2023 to map strategic advocacy actions and sharpen the roadmap.
  • The 2026 Consultative Regional Roundtable Forum in Johannesburg, which brought together stakeholders from across SADC to review and advance the Draft Protocol and disability rights legislation.

Why this matters

A binding SADC Disability Protocol would legally oblige member states to mainstream disability across all regional frameworks and pieces of disability rights legislatio, from trade and health to education and justice. No such instrument exists in the region today.

Related work

Our governance project trained affiliates on UNCRPD monitoring. Our work follows the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. Read our publications, see our campaigns, or contact SAFOD.

Rights written into law mean nothing without enforcement. SA-IPLJ is built on the belief that change needs both the right frameworks and steady pressure on governments to act on them.

SA-IPLJ: Inclusive Policies, Legislation and Justice

We advocate for disability rights in national and regional legislative and policy frameworks, including the SADC Disability protocol.

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SA-DEEP: Disability Economic Empowerment and Entrepreneurship.

We promote skills training, entrepreneurship, and market access, with a focus on women and youth.

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