SAFOD Advocacy Training | Johannesburg, South Africa | 16–18 September 2024
When a disaster strikes, persons with disabilities are often among the hardest hit. Evacuation plans ignore them. Early warning systems do not reach them. Relief efforts pass them by. This is not an accident. It is the result of policies that were written without them in mind.
That is exactly the gap SAFOD set out to close in September 2024.
From 16 to 18 September 2024, SAFOD held a three-day training in Johannesburg, South Africa. The aim was to build the skills of Organisations of Persons with Disabilities (OPDs) to plan, run, monitor, and review advocacy campaigns on disability inclusion in disaster risk reduction (DRR) and climate change.
Who was in the room?
Fourteen participants took part — three from each OPD in Malawi, Zimbabwe, and Zambia, plus five SAFOD staff. A consultant was brought in to lead the sessions.
These were not delegates attending a conference. They were activists and organisation leaders who go back to their communities and do the work.
What did they learn?
The training covered a range of advocacy tools, including media advocacy, and ways to engage government and other stakeholders when pushing for inclusive DRR policies and plans.
By the end of the three days, participants had not only sharpened their knowledge — they had produced advocacy campaigns, developed key messages, and built advocacy plans to guide their work going forward.
That is a real output. Not a report. Not a communiqué. A plan they can act on.
Why this matters
Disaster risk reduction is too often treated as a technical issue. In practice, it is a rights issue. When persons with disabilities are left out of DRR planning, they pay for that exclusion with their safety and their lives.
SAFOD’s DiDRR project spans three countries and brings together OPDs, government actors, and implementing partners to shift that reality. The September training was one step in a longer journey — building the capacity of OPDs so they can hold their governments to account.
Looking ahead
Skills training alone does not change policy. But it gives people the tools to demand change. The OPDs that attended this training left Johannesburg better equipped to make that case — in their communities, with their governments, and at regional level.
Disability inclusion in disaster planning is not optional. It is a legal obligation under the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. SAFOD will keep pushing until that obligation is met.
To learn more about SAFOD’s work on disability-inclusive disaster risk reduction, visit safod.net.