Equal access to social protection programmes in Africa

The European Bridging the Gap (BTG) project, led by FIIAPP participated in the online conference “Dialogue on Social Protection Policies in Africa: a new path towards inclusion of persons with disabilities to trigger and reinforce the policy dialogue on inclusive social protection in Africa based on useful practices across the continent ”. 

The first day featured a technical seminar while the second was spent on a policy meeting between representatives of African public institutions, organisations of people with disabilities, European Union delegations and international cooperation actors such as the organisers: Bridging the Gap, the UNPRPD-ILO-UNICEF project, the African Disability Forum (ADF) and the International Disability Alliance (IDA). 

At the opening of the technical seminar, Alexandre Cote and Taylor Spadafora, specialist in disability and social protection and expert in social policy at UNICEF respectively, stated that this group is more likely to suffer from poverty and discrimination and to encounter significant barriers, meaning that it is more vulnerable to the crisis. They also highlighted the importance of social protection for people with disabilities and of guaranteeing social protection schemes adapted to the type of support required by each person. 

Issues such as policy planning, income support, inclusive health care and access to community assistance, education and livelihoods were addressed during the seminar.  

At the policy conference, representatives of different countries and international organisations shared strategies and explored solutions to strengthen their commitment to inclusive social protection as a key component of an inclusive policy framework that facilitates active citizenship, social inclusion and community participation.  

The conference ended with a call to action to all African nations, technical and financial partners, and development agencies to recognise the impact of structural marginalisation and disability-related inequality; promoting inclusive social protection schemes; as well as guaranteeing these plans are able to respond to the diversity of the disability movement, including women and children with disabilities, elderly people disabilities and people with disabilities with greater support needs and in humanitarian emergencies.