The Disability Rights Advocacy Fund supports strategic initiatives to promote cross movement collaboration and regional DPO networking to advance the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.
These initiatives seek to include persons with disabilities in other social movements, including those of women, youth and Indigenous Peoples, and to strengthen partnership among organizations of persons with disabilities regionally.
The “Advancing Inclusive Development and Human Rights for All Persons with Disabilities” provides grants and technical advice to support persons with disabilities at regional, national, and global levels to advocate for changes in policies, legislation, and programs.
DRAF has supported the UN Special Rapporteur on the rights of persons with disabilities (UNSR) with DFAT funds since 2016. The UNSR, Catalina Devandas Aguilas, has served as the Special Rapporteur since December 2014, promoting the rights of persons with disabilities around the world. (2016-2020)
DRAF made its first grant to initiate the Indigenous Persons with Disabilities Global Network through the International Disability Alliance in 2012.
With consistent funding from DRAF for seven years, the network promoted the human rights of Indigenous persons with disabilities by raising awareness of their situation within both the Indigenous and disability rights movements. (2012-2018)
DRAF, with UK Aid funding, provided a grant to the Centre for Disability, Law and Policy to conduct research on the prevalence, context, and causes of disability-specific deprivations of liberty occurring across the globe, as well as alternatives to deprivation of liberty. The project is led by the National University of Ireland, Galway and the Centre, and the research will feed into a report from the UN Special Rapporteur for persons with disabilities. (2018)
The African Disability Forum is the continental members organization of DPOs in Africa and aims to strengthen regional disability advocacy by unifying the voices of its members and building their organizational capacities. DRAF supported the Forum to develop a strategic plan through sub-regional consultative workshops. (2017)
In September 2016, with the support of DFAT (Australian Government) and the Pacific Disability Forum, six women with disabilities from the Pacific joined 1,800 other women to participate in AWID’s (Association of Women in Development) International Forum in Brazil. Nellie Caleb of the Disability Promotion and Advocacy Association in Vanuatu and co-chair of the Pacific Disability Forum echoed the sentiment of all the participants, “AWID inspired us to start the work to strengthen alliances with other women’s groups in the broader women’s movement.” (2016)
The ASEAN Disability Forum (ADF) is a regional advocacy network of DPOs from the 10 ASEAN member states: Brunei, Cambodia, INdonesia, Laos, Malaysis, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam. ADF’s aim is to represent the disability movement in the region and provide opportunities for DPOs to build their advocacy and organizational capacities. Since 2014, DRAF funding has established ADF as the ‘go to’ organization for disability rights advocacy in the Southeast Asia region. (2014-2017)
The African Youth with Disabilities Network aimed to achieve equal opportunities and enjoyment of rights for youth with disabilities in Africa by influencing regional laws, policies, and programs. The network envisioned an inclusive and barrier free society where all youth with disabilities exercise their rights, live with dignity, independence, and as equal and full participants in all spheres of life. DRAF supported the secretariat and a meeting of the youth network from nine African countries to deliberate on a strategy. (2012)