International Humanitarian Agencies identify Strategies of Disability Mainstreaming in their Response Interventions
“Humanitarian organisations usually exclude persons with disabilities from their interventions intentionally. However, they can mainstream disability in their actions if they intentionally start assessing and meeting the needs of persons with disabilities,” says Chick Sama, Coordinator of the Coordinating Unit of Associations of Persons with Disabilities (CUAPWD) in the North West Region.
Chick Sama was speaking while presenting the challenges faced by persons with disabilities in the current humanitarian crisis in the English-speaking part of Cameroon in a meeting to strengthen disability inclusion in Humanitarian response in the North West Region. The meeting took place on February 25, 2022 at the Baptist Center Nkwen, and attended by representatives of some seven international Humanitarian Agencies intervening in the crisis in the North West Region of Cameroon.
According to the Coordinator of the CUAPWD, persons with disabilities are excluded from humanitarian activities because of barriers including inability to access venues and information about humanitarian activities in their communities. He noted that Humanitarian organisations can mainstream disabilities in their activities if they liaise with leaders of organisations of persons with disabilities at design and during implementation of their interventions. He also called on Humanitarian actors to work with other service providers to gain technical experience towards disability inclusion and to respect both International and National legal frameworks promoting and protecting the rights of persons with disabilities.
Earlier, in his opening remarks, the CBC Health Services Director, Prof. Tih Pius appreciated the efforts and sacrifices of the different international NGOs and UN agencies for their presence in the Northwest Region to see to it that affected populations receive the much-needed support to cope with the challenges coming as a result of the crisis. He told them that the aim of the meting was to reflect on a collaborative approach for the strengthening of disability mainstreaming in humanitarian response in the Northwest Region. The DHS implored them to follow up presentations and discussions during the meeting to adopt ways forward to improve inclusion in their humanitarian response interventions as these shall be used as a guide for further follow up.
Presenting the results of an Assessment on Disability Inclusion in Humanitarian Organisations in the Northwest Region conducted for the DIHA Project by the Bamenda Coordinating Center for Studies in Disability and Rehabilitation (BCCSDR), Mr. Ajonga Emmanuel revealed among others the following gaps in disability inclusion;
- Inadequate knowledge on disability mainstreaming and little training on inclusion
- Limited capacity to assess risks faced by persons with disabilities during crisis
- Inadequate skills on inclusive project management Cycle
- Insufficient and poor-quality disability disaggregated data
- Disability is not mainstreamed across sectors
- Inadequate engagement with organisations of persons with disabilities by most humanitarian organizations during project cycle
- Limitedaccessible Information and services to all persons with disabilities.
Brainstorming on ways forward to close the above gaps, the humanitarian organisations identified training of humanitarian organisations on disability inclusion at organizational and cluster levels, and updating their tools to capture disability disaggregated data as strategies. They also realized that making information accessible to persons with disabilities, intentionally targeting persons with disabilities and mainstreaming disabilities across all sectors will enhance disability inclusion in their interventions. After these reflections, Mr. Ajonga also presented recommendations made after the assessment.
They agreed to go back and designate disability focal persons who shall constitute a disability technical working group through which they shall share experiences and fostering disability inclusion in their interventions.
At the end of the workshop, the Project Coordinator thanked the participants for their active participation and told them that the recommendations arrived at plus those made by BCCSDR will be harmonized and used to provide technical assistance to humanitarian organisations in the days ahead.
The CBC Health Services DIHA Project is aimed at facilitating disability inclusive humanitarian assistance in the North West Region, thanks to support from the German Federal Foreign Office through the Christian Blind Mission (CBM).