National Council for Persons with Disabilities- UG

We participated in Humanity and Inclusion’s Leave No One Behind Project Closeout workshop.

The workshop was held to reflect on the key highlights and achievements from three years of implementation, particularly focusing on Phase 3 in Uganda. This phase emphasized operationalizing the Inter-Agency Service Guidelines aimed at fostering inclusion in humanitarian settings.

Workshop Objectives:
- Share insights and outcomes from the project, with particular emphasis on sustainability.
- Discuss strategies to maintain and enhance the gains accomplished.
- Advance advocacy efforts and strengthen partnerships.
- Explore opportunities for Humanity & Inclusion's (HI) expansion within the development sector.

Key Remarks:
Ms. Emily Adiambo, the Assistant Commissioner for Persons with Disabilities and the Elderly, delivered the opening remarks. She welcomed participants and highlighted the upcoming national celebration for the International Day for Persons with Disabilities.

In her address, Ms. Adiambo underscored the project's significance and the necessity of sustainability, particularly given Uganda’s large population of refugees, many of whom are persons with disabilities and thus most vulnerable. She raised important questions regarding the preparedness of service providers to meet the needs of persons with disabilities in refugee contexts.

She emphasized that inclusion is vital; people with disabilities exist within the broader community and should be integrated into everyday life and social settings. Ms. Adiambo informed attendees that the government has revised the national disability policy, now embedding humanitarian responses effectively.

She expressed her support for HI's expansion into other developmental areas, noting that the government relies on their collaboration in crucial aspects such as:
- Livelihood and household income enhancement
- Improved rehabilitation services, especially for children with moderate disabilities
- Employability initiatives for students with disabilities
- Strengthened social protection measures

Subsequent presentations highlighted the next steps for project expansion and provided participants with an opportunity to discuss how they could enhance disability inclusion in their areas of work in the community.

📢 The Electoral Commission will conduct a nationwide exercise to identify and map Persons with Disabilities (PWDs) on the National Voters Register from 4th-13th November 2024. This will help make the 2025/26 elections more inclusive and accessible for all. Let’s support this important initiative!


Details: ec.or.ug/node/726

The Electoral Commission met with the Chairperson of the Council to discuss the forthcoming update of the voters register for persons with disabilities and the structures of the Council that could be used to ensure that persons with disabilities are well represented in the election process. Part of the discussion included the demystification of disability for the Electoral Commission, publicity measures to be used to reach voters with disabilities at the grassroots and how the Council can support the forthcoming voters registration. All representatives of persons with disabilities at national and district level are encouraged to spread the messages of the election processes to their respective constituencies and encourage their members to participate in the voter registration processes.

We attended a stakeholders’ engagement organised by NUDIPU to share progress, challenges and seek recommendations to sustain the Inclusive ICTs or ICTs for Persons with Disabilities project.

Some of the achievements shared included the development of a national digital observatory designed to register Persons with Disabilities countrywide, service providers and ease access to job opportunities, capacity building of over 5000 Persons with Disabilities in ICTs and assistive technologies, production of research papers among others.

The Inclusive ICTs for Persons with Disabilities project promoted innovation around ICTs and ICTs as an alternative career path for Persons with Disabilities.

We participated in a workshop designed for OPDs to define their roles and responsibilities for phase 4 of Humanity and Inclusion’s Leave No One Behind Project.

OPDs with crucial areas of need in capacity building to better understand the pillars of the Inter-Agency Standing Committee Guidelines for the Inclusion of Persons with Disabilities in Humanitarian action and programming. for Organisations of Persons with Disabilities.

The ideas generated from the workshop are to be refined and implemented in phase 4 of the Leave No One Behind Project which aims to mainstream disability in global and local humanitarian action.

We participated in the high level political parties and organisations dialogue on democratic governance, peace and conflict mitigation ahead of the 2025/26 general elections organised by the Uganda Electoral Commission and National Consultative Forum.

The aim was to promote dialogue among political actors to engage constructively ahead of the election period and dig deeper towards mitigating the electoral violence that has been escalating unchecked.

Several key elements were discussed including the Electoral Commission’s roadmap for the election period. During the plenary session, the EC shared that they intend to recruit Sign Language Interpreters across the country, intend to map out Persons with Disabilities on the register to establish the numbers and develop an action strategy to support their participation in the election process.

A code of conduct for Political Parties and Organisations (Amendment) Act 2020 has been developed as a result of a court ruling and was introduced during the event.

We participated in the validation meeting for the research titled “Exploring the Impact of ICT and Digitalisation Legal & Policy Frameworks on Inclusive Development in Uganda”, conducted by GIZ in partnership with Toro Dev. The research was conducted in two cities and two districts of Uganda focusing on marginalised groups. Findings revealed that there’s an unawareness of the existing laws, inadequate public consultation during legislative processes of digital laws, politicisation of the cyber/digital laws, exclusionary language, among others.

Hon. Nakadama Lukia 3rd DPM|MWP together with Hon. Dominic Gidudu Mafwabi State Minister of State for Elderly Affairs and Hon. Asamo Hellen Grace, Minister of State for Disability Affairs have officially launched the Community Based Disability Inclusive Development (CBDID) Strategy 2025-2035 during the CBR/CBID Africa Confrence that is still underway at Imperial Resort Beach Hotel Entebbe.

Tomorrow at 8 am on SALT TV, Miiro Michael will be speaking about the 7th CBR/CBID conference taking place this week. Tune in 🥳

Today, we held a productive meeting with National Identification and Registration Authority and Union of Disabled Persons of Uganda regarding the employment and registration process for Persons with Disabilities in the upcoming mass enrolment.

Key takeaways from the meeting include;

- A total of 155 individuals identifying as Persons with Disabilities submitted applications.

- Out of these, 61 applicants received recommendations from the Council, and 42 were recommended for employment opportunities.

- NIRA has introduced enhanced identification methods to facilitate the acquisition of National Identification Numbers (NINs) for Persons with Disabilities, building on the previous enrolment experience. The new methods include:
- Facial recognition
- Iris recognition
- Special photographic recognition

The enrolment process is scheduled to commence on October 19th for online registration and on October 29th in the field.

We appreciate the collaborative efforts in this initiative and look forward to its successful implementation.

The primary aim was to empower the National Council for Persons with Disabilities to better monitor the grant's progress, usage, and the challenges encountered during implementation. Underscoring the commitment of the Council to enhance the livelihoods of Persons with Disabilities by ensuring that the grant reaches its intended beneficiaries and delivers meaningful outcomes.

https://ncpd.go.ug/index.php/aricle/developing-theory-change-national-special-grant

Developing a Theory of Change for the National Special Grant | National Council for Persons With Disabilities Developing a Theory of Change for the National Special Grant 28 August 2024 Ms. Mtise guides a small group of participants during the group work session at the workshop A two-day Theory of Change (TOC) workshop was held from May 7th to 8th, 2024, at the Sports View Hotel, Kireka, facilitated by the....

We participated in the Disability Inclusive Data Processing Workshop, which centered on the collection of high-quality, relevant data from individuals with disabilities. The workshop highlighted effective strategies for Organizations of Persons with Disabilities (OPDs) to engage with government bodies to enhance disability-specific data collection efforts. We were also introduced to an innovative, accessible survey data collection tool designed to ensure the full participation of persons with disabilities, thanks to its user-friendly accessibility features. The insights and key points discussed during the workshop will be shared with UBOS to support further advocacy initiatives.