The purpose of this project, titled “Transnational Capacity Building Project for Deaf Associations”, is to strengthen the organisational capacities of the National Associations of the Deaf in Togo, Niger, Mali, and Cote d’Ivoire, and the WFD Regional Secretariat of West and Central Africa (WCARS) based on the lessons learnt from the eight-year long project partnership between GNAD and DDL improving the capacity of GNAD to advocate for deaf people’s rights in Ghana. The project is also building on the lessons learnt from the inception phase of this project carried out 2016-17 and the previous WFD Deaf Human Rights and Capacity Building Training Project in Western and Central Africa 2009-2012. The long-term goal of the project is to increase the organisational capacities of the four National Associations of the Deaf so that they are able to advocate for the human rights of the deaf people, to participate fully in the disability movement in the countries, that the deaf people in the four countries have access to skilled SLIs, and finally that the four National Associations of the Deaf are serving as a role model for the other deaf associations in the Western and Central Africa.
The second phase is primarily focusing on capacity building of the participating deaf associations. The specific areas of intervention are strengthening the organisations’ bases, structures, and leaderships. The modus operandi is the ToT model with two trainers from each of the four countries. Furthermore, there will be developed a learning platform (both online and offline) to support the work of the trainers and the associations in disseminating the knowledge to the board members at both national and local levels. There will also be basic advocacy work including access to Sign Language (SL), i.e. rights to SL, research and knowledge about SL, and basic SL interpreter training. Finally, the WCARS is expected to play a pivotal role in promoting the transnational knowledge and experience sharing.
During the inception phase, Octagon analyses of the four national associations of the deaf and the WCARS have been carried out. The analyses are guiding the capacity building work in this phase, and are forming a baseline for the evaluation of the progress of the capacity building.
The project is funded by the Danish International Development Agency (DANIDA) through Disabled Peoples Organisations Denmark (DPOD).