Entrants's Name: Farai Mukuta

Country: Zimbabwe

Field: Disabilities

Innovation - idea: The initiative thrives on reawakening, stoking and stroking the age-old African ethic of 'UBUNTU', which is founded on the values of caring, sharing, mutual respect,equity and assuming responsibility for the welfare of others, to change society's negative attitudes towards disability and people with disabilities (PWDs)and facilitate their inclusion in society. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ubuntu

Innovation - why it is pioneering: UBUNTU exemplifies the human rights based approach to disability issues but is valued and respected more for being inherently African and homegrown and therefore succeeds where the human rights approach would be viewed as externally imposed. Societies adopt innovations that they can own and identify with.

http://www.ohchr.org/english/issues/disability/

Strategy - how it achieves impact: The stigma and discrimination that has so alienated PWDs is a result of ignorance, misconceptions and prejudice - factors attributable to information deficits. Cognisant that information is power, we have made the provision of target specific information the cornerstone of our activities. All this is done within the framework of UBUNTU. To PWDs, the focus is on empowering them through the provision of information designed to instil a sense of personal value and significance, self-representation, the feeling of mutual support, and a view of the world that generates hope. Heightening society's awareness of issues affecting PWDs is achieved through sustained multi-media approaches and other mechanisms to ensure that information is accessed by the widest possible audience. Strategic provision of vital information to decision makers to enable them to make disability friendly policies, laws, and budget allocations is also prioritised. www.nascoh.org.zw

Strategy - growth plans: The organisation runs a vibrant bimonthly electronic Disability Update which offers coverage and in-depth analysis of salient disability issues. The bulletin, which is sent to over 800 e-mail addressees including regional and international disability organisations, NGOs, media houses, and policy makers, has elicited a lot of positive feedback from all recipients. We have made the provision of information in accessible formats for the visually and hearing impaired a high priority at the workshops, seminars and other events. A running weekly radio programme and facilitated TV interviews allow PWDs to air their experiences and demystify disability. The imperatives of a rights based approach to disability are brought home to parliamentarians through regular meetings, seminars, direct mailing, disability newsletters and media articles. Mass mobilisation and mainstreaming of the human rights based approach are the next phase of the initiative.

www.nascoh.org.zw

Impact to date: The organisation's lobby and advocacy efforts have resulted in a number of outcomes. These include the enactment of the Disabled Persons Act in 1992; auditing and amendment of the Act; the setting up of the Disability Fund in 2003 to assist disability entrepreneurship; the formation of the National Disability Board (90% of the current board members are recommendations from NASCOH); the setting up of a Mental Health policy in 2005; successfully lobbied for a 10% quota of government's education assistance to be channelled to children with disabilities and for PWDs to receive a monthly grant through the Public Assistance Fund. In Dec 2006, the organisation won an Award from USAID for advocating successfully for the introduction of HIV/AIDS interventions among PWDs. NASCOH's growing profile has resulted in the formation of a number of organisations wishing to claim the same space but none have been able to attain the impact or stature of NASCOH. www.nascoh.org.zw

Future impact: The human rights approach to disability issues will have become an integral part of the country's existing human rights frameworks and citizen support will have fully crystallised in favour of the human rights approach to disability. A National Policy on Disability will be in place and this will greatly facilitate the inclusion of PWDs in every aspect of society and add impetus for the equalisation of opportunities for PWDs. This will also ensure enhanced access to critical activity areas such as employment, education, information, health, accommodation, recreation and the environment. It has to be borne in mind that the UBUNTU that NASCOH is pioneering is not an end in itself but serves as a prelude for the smooth introduction and mainstreaming of the human rights based approach to disability, which might suffer from negative perception if introduced haphazardly. www.nascoh.org.zw

Sustainability - resource base: In addition to our countrywide membership base of 53 organisations, we have a pool of 80 volunteers (10 in each of the country's 8 provinces) who are members of our Regional Advocacy Committees and carry out advocacy work in these regions. We partner with various human rights organisations and other regional disability organisations to ensure the integration of disability issues into existing human rights mechanisms. An active member of the local National Association of Non Governmental Organisations (NANGO), which has a total of 1 000 NGOs under its umbrella, we also partner with the member organisations of NANGO in mainstreaming disability issues. Funding is through international donor organisations, although we also engage in fundraising activities and receive nominal subscription fees from our member organisations.www.nascoh.org.zw

Major challenge for the field: The stigmatisation and discrimination visited upon PWDs by society is a flagrant, yet insidious, assault on the humanity and dignity of the individual, a relentless violence that is often overlooked and tacitly reinforced in all societies. This is a volatile situation which, if not checked, has the potential of morphing into downright ill treatment of people with disabilities.

Contact Information:

Name: Mr Farai Mukuta - Executive Director
Mailing address: Farai G Mukuta , Executive Director, National Association of Societies for the Care of the Handicapped (NASCOH), 11 Peebles Road, P O Box 10504, Eastlea, Harare, Zimbabwe, E-mail: nascoh@zol.co.zw, Website. www.nascoh.org.zw
Country: Zimbabwe
Email: nascoh@zol.co.zw
Tel: +2634776683, +2634746967, 26311862072
Fax: +2634776683
Website: www.nascoh.org.zw

Bio: The National Association of Societies for the Care of the Handicapped (NASCOH) is the umbrella body of 53 organisations of and for people with disabilities in Zimbabwe, representing the mentally and physically challenged, the visually and hearing impaired, and those with conditions like epilepsy and down syndrome. The number of PWDs in Zimbabwe is estimated at 1,3million , which is about 10% of the population. NASCOH's raison d'etre is to empower the disabled persons and to ensure their active participation in political, economic, social and cultural life in a way that is respectful and accommodating of their difference. NASCOH's role is to lobby and advocate for the formulation and implementation of a disability friendly legislation; coordinate the activities of the member organizations; assist and capacity build member organizations; and conduct research, proffer advice, and disseminate information on disability issues. The UBUNTU initiative was incepted in 1990. Additionally, NASCOH has been able to influence the gazetting of regulations suspending duty on vehicles imported by PWDs which are 10 years old or less with effect from 1 August 2006. It has also achieved the following in the HIV/AIDS arena: a. In 2002, commissioned the production of the first ever national sign language video on basic HIV and AIDS information. b. As part of efforts to make HIV/AIDS information available to PWDs, NASCOH has produced and distributed 2 different brochures on HIV/AIDS targeting PWDs in general. c. Produced 2 different brochures in Braille for the visually impaired. d. The organisation is making concerted efforts to have PWDs included in the National HIV/AIDS Policy. e. Incorporated HIV and AIDS awareness issues in all its programmes and has inputted into the production of the sign language dictionary. www.nascoh.org.zw