© Aden Ismail/ HI
On 12th and 17th October 2022, HI’s Somalia Team organized kick-off workshops in Hargeisa and in Mogadishu, attended by twenty-eight protection cluster partners, including national non-governmental organizations (NNGOs), international non-governmental organizations (INGOs), organizations of persons with disabilities (OPDs) and United Nations agencies (UN).
The main objective of the workshops was to launch the Phase 3 – Leave No One Behind! project in both locations, and to further present and introduce the project to interested organizations as well as to co-create a way forward on project implementation.
The project will focus in particular on the operationalization and localization of the Inter-Agency Standing Committee (IASC) Guidelines on Inclusion of Persons with Disabilities in Humanitarian Action working closely with the protection cluster, partners and organizations of persons with disabilities (OPDs) as key stakeholders.
In Mogadishu, the chairperson of the umbrella body of OPDs – Somali Disability Network (SDN) – expressed his sincere welcome of the project and elaborated more on the barriers faced by persons with disabilities in humanitarian action. He also encouraged all partners present to participate in this project as it will support more inclusive humanitarian programming.
“I am very happy to welcome the Leave no one behind! project – we believe as OPDs that HI is doing a great job on inclusion of persons with disabilities in humanitarian action. I am very happy to see OPDs and humanitarian actors in the same forum today. This gives us an appetite for meaningfully participation and empowerment”
Abdullahi Hassan Hussin, SDN chairperson Mogadishu
During the kick-off meeting, participatory discussions took place between the LNOB project team and participants. Different partners expressed their interest to the project.
“This project is very beneficial to humanitarian actors for the inclusion of persons with disabilities in our services. I am very happy to represent my organization in this forum and commit to participate in all project forums to become an inclusion champion, and to cascade this capacity further within my organization. As protection cluster co-lead we will also advocate to create awareness to cluster forums on the inclusion of persons with disabilities”
Siciid Hassan, Danish Refugee Council (DRC) Protection Project Manager
In Hargeisa, partners present also expressed willingness to be a part of this project, and to work even more closely with organizations of persons with disabilities and to ensure meaningful engagement.
