Across Southern Africa, disability rights are often written into law — but rarely enforced. Most SADC member states have ratified the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD). Many have national disability policies. Yet in practice, persons with disabilities remain excluded from the systems and services those laws are meant to protect.

SA-IPLJ exists to close that gap. The programme works to embed disability rights into national and regional laws, policies, and frameworks — and to hold governments to account for the commitments they have made.

The work happens at two levels. At the national level, SAFOD supports OPDs to engage with governments on law reform, policy review, and inclusive budgeting. At the regional level, SAFOD leads the campaign for a binding SADC Disability Protocol — the most significant advocacy effort in the organisation’s history.

That campaign began in 2016 with desk research reviewing how SADC’s existing instruments addressed disability. A zero-draft Protocol was introduced at SAFOD’s first regional roundtable in 2017. The work has built steadily since then, through stakeholder forums, country consultations, and direct engagement with SADC leadership. In 2021, the SADC Chairperson, President Lazarus Chakwera, gave a public commitment to support the establishment of a SADC Desk Office on disability mainstreaming.

Key activities under SA-IPLJ have included:

• Development and validation of a Policy and Stakeholder Influence Strategy to guide SAFOD’s regional advocacy from 2021 to 2025.
• A three-year stakeholder influence plan, developed in 2023, to drive adoption of the Draft Protocol by SADC leadership.
• A public webinar in 2022 reaching 86 participants, raising awareness of the campaign and gathering inputs into the draft.
• The 2022 Regional Disability Roundtable Forum in Johannesburg, under the theme “Leaving No One Behind,” which assessed progress on disability mainstreaming and built momentum for the Protocol.
• A dedicated Protocol seminar in 2023 to map strategic advocacy actions and sharpen the roadmap.
• The 2026 Consultative Regional Roundtable Forum in Johannesburg, which brought together stakeholders from across SADC to review and advance the Draft Protocol.