The Disability and World Bank Safeguards Campaign recently visited the National Union of Disabled Persons of Uganda (NUDIPU), the Campaign’s key partner in Africa, and also visited two World Bank funded projects in Uganda to see how persons with disabilities were affected by these projects. The Campaign held a training with approximately 30 people for NUDIPU and its member organization on the World Bank and key entry points for advocacy to ensure that the World Bank includes disability in its revised Safeguards policies and takes a more systematic approach mainstreaming disability across its operations. While in Uganda, the Campaign also met with Members of Parliament, World Bank staff, and the Ministry of Gender, Labor, and Social Development to discuss ways in which the World Bank can be more inclusive to persons with disabilities. The Campaign visited the Naminya Resettlement Area where many were resettled as a result of the Bujagali Dam to see how persons with disabilities were affected by this resettlement. The Campaign discovered that most children with disabilities were not in school due to schools being very far from the resettlement area or as a result of there being no teachers trained to teach children with disabilities. Finally, the Campaign visited Patiko Sub County in Gulu District to see first-hand the impact of the Northern Uganda Social Action Fund (NUSAF) II project, specifically the boreholes, on persons with disabilities. The boreholes were not accessible for persons using wheelchairs and persons with disabilities were not actively engaged in the design of the project.
NUDIPU is engaging in direct advocacy to the World Bank country office in Uganda to ensure that persons with disabilities are included in all phases of World Bank projects from consultation to design to implementation and monitoring. Part of this involved an informational radio spot the organization ran across Uganda raising awareness on the need for disability rights within the Safeguards Campaign (available for download here). Edson Ngirabakunzi, NUDIPU’s Executive Director, writes about the need for the World Bank to be more disability sensitive here.