© Joseph
HI’s South Sudan team held a project closure workshop on 11th December 2024, at Juba Regency hotel, South Sudan, to reflect on and celebrate the successes of Phase 3.
The workshop brought together in total 20 stakeholders, including the Ministry of Gender, Child and Social Welfare, National and International Organizations, and Organizations of Persons with Disabilities. The workshop provided space to reflect achievements, learnings and future challenges.
The key project successes identified included:
- the establishment of a technical support group mechanism for disability inclusion,
- capacity strengthening of 73 protection actors,
- formation and capacity building of 43 inclusion focal points,
- review and adaptation of 12 assessment tools which are disability-inclusive, and
- increased uptake and utilization of IASC Guidelines on Inclusion by protection partners.
Key changes realized by the partners after participating in project activities were:
- recruitment of four persons with disabilities in their organizations,
- engagement of OPD’s during 2023 Protection Analysis Framework and Protection Analysis Update,
- increased collaboration with existing OPDs by most protection actors, and
- disaggregating data by age, gender, and disability as well as incorporation of Washington Group of Questions in the assessment tools.
However, some gaps still remain, such as enhancing disability inclusion at the cluster and coordination level and integrating disability Inclusion at HNRP (Humanitarian Needs and Response Plan), strengthening the capacity of technical support group members to enhance their expertise on disability inclusion, and strengthening Organizations of Persons with Disabilities capacity. Therefore it is crucial to continue the activities started by the phase 3.
Conclusively, the project team disseminated 18 copies of IASC Guidelines and 30 copies of RAAL-lab practical guides to inclusion focal points including Ministry of Gender Child and Social Welfare to ensure continuous utilization of the guidelines. The team also shared information on our E-Learning and materials developed during the current phase.
The representative from the Ministry of Gender Child and Social Welfare emphasized the positive changes and concluded:
‘‘We are thrilled with the changes brough about by this project especially to the protection cluster partners, we would wish this project to continue and expand to other clusters and states for wider coverage and addressing the existing gaps”.
Text and photo by Obale Musa, HI South Sudan