CRS Organizes Workshop On Disability Inclusion 

By: Fatou Krubally

Catholic Relief Services (CRS) and its national partners on Monday convened a major stakeholder workshop at Ocean Bay Hotel to review progress and challenges under a 30-month European Union–funded project designed to strengthen disability inclusion across The Gambia.

The initiative, titled Disability Inclusive Pathways: Empowering Children with Disabilities Through Education, Technology and Play, targets children living with disabilities, with a particular focus on inclusive schooling, community awareness and social participation.

Welcoming participants, Project Manager Saidina Alieu Jarjou said the programme is being implemented in partnership with the Gambia Federation of the Disabled (GFD), the National Organisation for Disabled and Orphans (NODO), and Special Olympics The Gambia. He noted that the project covers 12 schools across the West Coast Region, Kanifing Municipality and the North Bank Region, where activities such as gender and disability audits, accessibility assessments and training for health workers have already taken place.

Jarjou highlighted those 120 frontline health workers from hospitals in Kanifing, Brikama and Farafenni have received training to better identify and assess children with impairments at the community level. The project has also supported inclusive sports competitions led by Special Olympics, monthly radio discussions on disability rights, and a nationwide caravan that reached more than 50,000 people with messages on inclusion and the importance of education for children with disabilities.

Representing Special Olympics, Programme Manager Catherine Moray reaffirmed the organization’s commitment to helping communities “remove barriers and create spaces for participation, dignity and empowerment.” She welcomed the workshop as an important platform to deepen collaboration.

Sainey Camara of the Gambia Federation of the Disabled used his remarks to underline the long-standing global push for disability rights, from the UN’s early principles on equal opportunity to the adoption of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. He reminded participants that The Gambia has ratified both the UN Convention and the AU Protocol, and domesticated them through the Persons with Disabilities Act of 2021.

“Disability can happen to anybody, anywhere, anytime,” he said, urging institutions to treat inclusion as a shared responsibility and not a charity gesture. He also stressed the need for sustainability beyond the project’s lifespan, saying progress “cannot be achieved without the full involvement of parents, schools, communities and policymakers.”

Participants included representatives from OPDs, civil society, government institutions and academia. The meeting featured legal briefings, discussions on children’s rights, and a session dedicated to identifying challenges and next steps for strengthening disability-inclusive systems in the country.

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 By: Fatou Krubally Catholic Relief Services (CRS) and its national partners on Monday convened a major stakeholder workshop at Ocean…
The post CRS Organizes Workshop On Disability Inclusion  appeared first on .