The UNFPA Zambia country office has made strides towards its commitment to implement the United Nations Disability Inclusion Strategy (UNDIS). In an effort to actualise and accelerate the implementation of UNDIS and mainstream disability inclusion in programming, the office combined its mid year performance review with a three day disability inclusion training. The combined meeting themed “Mid Year Review with a Disability Inclusion Lens” for all staff and implementing partners. In alignment with global commitments such as the Sustainable Development Goals and the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities the meeting aimed at reviewing the progress of the 2024 annual work plans, strengthen the capacity of staff and implementing partners on disability inclusion and plan with a disability inclusive approach for the remaining half of 2024, including the ongoing UNFPA humanitarian response interventions.
To promote and uphold the value of collaboration and cross learning the facilitators were drawn from UNFPA HQ, UNFPA East and Southern Africa Regional Office, the UN Resident Coordinator's Office and the Zambia Human Rights Commission. These included Virpi Mesiäislehto, Maria Bakaroudis, Moses Chubili and Human Rights Commissioner Christine Chama.
During the training, Moses and Christine who both carry experiences of disability shared some of the challenges they have encountered;
Notably four main models of disability were defined as: the Charity Model; the Medical Model; the Social Model and the Human Rights Model. The training emphasized the need to fully adopt and implement the Human Rights Model. This is inline with the adoption of the United Nations General Assembly Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD). Zambia was party to the groundbreaking treaty on December 13, 2006 that recognized the inherent dignity and worth of individuals with disabilities, acknowledging their rights to equality, autonomy, and participation in society that marked a pivotal moment in human rights history.
“......In Zambia we have used more of the charity model when talking of disability actually even up to now the majority of society still view disability from the charity model approach. This is a personal experience. I walk into a health facility accompanied by someone. The health personnel won't ask me if I am the one who is not feeling well but they will ask the person I am with. How is she? What's wrong with her? There is already that pityness that comes with it. And I wonder, why is she feeling sorry for me? But I understand that we are yet to transition as a country......” Commissioner Chama.
Statistics on disability are limited and outdated in Zambia, the 2015 Zambia National Disability Survey estimated that approximately 7.7 percent of people in Zambia have a disability. Zambia has included the Washington group of questions on disability in the 2022 national census..
UNFPA Zambia has been making efforts towards disability mainstreaming in its SRH information and service provision. UNFPA supported the Ministry of Health developing a Module for Basic Sign language in integrated SRH/HIV/GBV service provision. The module is part of the nursing and midwifery curricula, and supported the orientation of 20 Clinical instructors and midwifery nurses/tutors in basic sign language from 26 training institutions.
Some of the resolutions from the training included mainstreaming disability inclusion in programming through ensuring that persons with disabilities have access to SRH information and services in both sign language and braille; enhance engagement with organisations of persons with disabilities to better understand their challenges and how best they can be addressed; sensitizing decision makers in infrastructure development to ensure physical accessibility and reasonable accommodation in health centres, such as accommodative maternity wards for expectant mothers; and ensuring good practices on disability disaggregated data collection in national surveys to inform decision making on priority areas for disability inclusion investments.
To maximise on the presence of our ESARO and HQ experts and to ensure that progress towards involvement of persons with disabilities in decision making is actualised, UNFPA in collaboration with the Human Rights Commission (HRC) and Zambia Agency of Persons (ZAPD) with Disabilities held a panel discussion themed “Catalysing Action for Gender Transformative and Disability Inclusive Drought Response” on 30th August 2024, in Lusaka. The discussion was attended mainly by (organisations of) persons with disabilities who stressed the importance of consulting persons with disabilities, and prioritised their submissions on what more is needed to ensure no one is left behind, more so, in the ongoing drought response.
For example, it was noted that for emergency response interventions, there is need to consider provision of sexual reproductive health services and menstrual hygiene interventions such as provision of sanitary towels for women and girls with disabilities. Another area that was recommended for deliberate consideration for inclusion in crisis response was the need for emergency cash transfers to persons with disabilities to come hand in hand with financial literacy strengthening interventions, and the disbursements should be made in accessible locations. Making sunscreen affordable and accessible to persons with albinism by the government as an ongoing disability inclusive intervention is to protect them from sunburn related skin complications.
The HRC Chairperson Pamela Sambo highlighted that the enactments of the Persons with Disabilities Act No.6 of 2012 which domesticates the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and the establishment of the Zambia Agency of Persons with Disabilities a review and amendments of discriminatory provisions in laws such as the mental health act and the penal code are commendable efforts. She however noted that more needs to be done in order to address the numerous challenges that persons with disabilities continue to face such as inadequate access to social services including health care due to limited specialised services that consider the unique needs and special care of persons with disabilities.
UNFPA Zambia country Representative Seth Broekman reaffirmed UNFPA Zambia’s commitment and said that UNFPA Zambia will measure progress on disability inclusion commitments at the end of the year and use findings to inform 2025 programme planning with its partners.
