Persons with disabilities face some of the highest rates of poverty in Southern Africa. Discrimination shuts them out of formal employment. Inaccessible workplaces, limited skills training, and no access to credit or markets make self-employment just as hard. For women and youth with disabilities, those barriers are even sharper.

SA-DEEP works to change that. The programme promotes skills training, enterprise development, and market access for persons with disabilities — with a focus on those who face the greatest exclusion.

The most visible work under SA-DEEP is the arts and crafts project in Kgatleng District, Botswana, implemented in partnership with Loughborough University. The project targets 13 craftspeople with disabilities, working through the Kgatleng Disabled People’s Association (KDPA) in Mochudi. It started as a five-month pilot and has grown into a sustained initiative.

A key output of the project is a multi-purpose hall constructed in Mochudi — a physical hub where craftspeople can work, train, exchange knowledge, and develop their businesses. From the same project, SAFOD built two digital platforms to connect local craftspeople with buyers beyond Southern Africa:

• Crafts Abilities (www.craftsabilities.org) — a website that profiles each craftsperson and their work, telling their story and showcasing their products.
• Itirele (www.itirele.org) — an e-commerce platform that markets handmade artefacts to international buyers. Itirele means “make it yourself” in Setswana, reflecting the spirit of the project.

A regional webinar on economic empowerment was also hosted to share lessons, challenges, and good practices with OPDs and partners across the region.

Beyond the arts and crafts project, SAFOD has actively sought funding to scale economic empowerment for women with disabilities across the region. A proposal submitted to the African Development Bank, in partnership with BOFOD and LNFOD, sought to promote the inclusion of women with disabilities in entrepreneurship in Botswana and Lesotho. SAFOD also responded to a call from the Gupta Family Foundation, proposing a project to support young women and women with disabilities in Kgatleng District to build self-reliance through enterprise training, access to machinery and raw materials, and documented case studies for future learning.

A needs assessment study was commissioned to understand what the 13 craftspeople require to grow their businesses — covering aspirations, challenges, and opportunities. That evidence now shapes how the project is delivered.

SA-DEEP is not just about income. It is about dignity, independence, and the right of persons with disabilities to participate fully in economic life. The programme shows that, given the right tools and connections, people can build enterprises that sustain them — and tell their own story to the world.