Progress on paper and progress on the ground are not always the same thing. A project can look fine in a report and still be falling short where it matters most — in communities where persons with disabilities face real disaster risk every day.

That is why SAFOD brought everyone into one room.

On 19 and 20 September 2024, SAFOD held its two-day Regional All-Partner Meeting in Johannesburg. The meeting brought together OPDs, government officials, implementing partners, and CBM representatives from Malawi, Zimbabwe, and Zambia.

Who attended?

The meeting targeted 15 participants. These included five SAFOD staff from Botswana, three OPD representatives from each country, one implementing partner per country, and one government representative per country. CBM, a key funder of the DiDRR project, also sent representatives.

This was not a reporting exercise. It was a working meeting — designed to surface real challenges and agree on how to fix them.

What happened on Day One?

Partners presented their progress on the DiDRR project. They also raised challenges honestly — both technical and financial. This kind of open exchange is rare. It takes trust to name problems in front of funders. The fact that it happened is a sign of how seriously partners take this work.

CBM used the session to understand what needed to change to keep the project on track.

What happened on Day Two?

Day two centred on a panel discussion under the theme: Promoting exchange on inclusive disaster risk reduction between project partners, governmental and non-governmental actors in Malawi, Zimbabwe, and Zambia.

Government and OPD representatives sat on the same panel. They spoke to the same challenges. That kind of dialogue — between those who write policy and those who live with its consequences — is exactly what disability-inclusive DRR requires.

Why this meeting mattered

Multi-country projects are hard to manage. Partners work in different contexts, under different constraints, with different capacities. Without regular, honest stocktaking, small problems become big ones.

This meeting gave the DiDRR project a chance to course-correct. It strengthened relationships across sectors and borders. It reminded everyone involved that the goal is not to run a project — it is to ensure that persons with disabilities are included in disaster planning at every level.

That work continues.

To learn more about SAFOD’s disability-inclusive disaster risk reduction work, visit safod.net.