Strengthening the Capacity of Humanitarian Actors in Disability Inclusion in Uganda
Category
Capacity Building IASC-Guidelines Pilot Countries
© Michael Byamukama / HI
In an effort to build and strengthen the capacities of international, national and local humanitarian protection sector actors in Uganda, our HI Uganda team organised a fourth (16–18 April 2024) and fifth (13–15 May 2024) Inclusive Humanitarian Action Training and Review, Adapt Action & Learning Laboratory (RAAL Lab). This methodology allows training participants to review, develop, learn jointly, and adapt the existing assessment tools to align them with the recommendations of the IASC Guidelines on Inclusion of Persons with Disabilities in Humanitarian Action.
The three-day training targeted senior staff from the Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability and Learning (MEAL) and Protection Programme staff who have the capacity to influence change in designing and implementing inclusive programmes within their respective organisations.
Using the modules of the Disability Reference Group on Introduction to Disability-Inclusive Humanitarian Action, the participants were strengthened in their skills.
As observed by one of the participants:
This training has expanded my understanding of disability. I thought disability is about the crutches, wheelchair…. But I have discovered that this is beyond the things we see people with disabilities use…
Another trainee also noted:
This training has been very helpful to us and for me. I was very scared of the big book but this training has unpacked the Guidelines and I plan to go back and discover more from my private reading….
On the third day, the participants were taken through a RAAL Lab, a session which provided an opportunity to review identified tools from protection partners. This exercised the participants to review used tools to identify gaps in disability inclusion and to make recommendations to their organisations. The following anecdote illustrates the experience of one of the participants:
This is very exciting session but it is hectic. You have to look at parameter by parameter. This requires time and expertise. HI should introduce this in the Protection Working Groups for members to comprehend. Secondly, this exercise is very technical and MEAL staff should be at the centre of its implementation. We hope that HI provides another opportunity to more MEAL staff from our organisations.
On the whole, the participants were very satisfied with the training, but however expressed the limited time given to the sessions. One of the participants concluded:
The training has been very good and enriching but the time was very limited. Before, you start to enjoy the training, it is coming to an end. You are left yearning for the guidance from the facilitators.
In the end, the participants came up with recommendations on how to improve disability inclusion in their organisations through continuous capacity building of their staff and ongoing refresher training for those already trained.
Text by Oscar WALUKHU WAKOOLI / HI Uganda
Photos by Michael Byamukama / HI Uganda