Inclusive Budgeting & Accessibility
Disability Rights Fund (DRF) - funded project
Advocating for compliance with the National Disability Act in Nigeria and the Ekiti State Disability Law by realizing the rights of persons with disabilities to access to public facilities and services on an equal basis with others.
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Budgeting & Accessibility
Even though persons with disabilities accounts for 15% of the entire population of Nigeria ditto to Ekiti state according to World Bank Report and construction professionals being aware of disability standards in the design and construction of public and private facilities, they still do not construct public spaces to accommodate the needs of all users especially persons with disabilities by installing appropriate access facilities and this has been found to be as a result of low awareness on disability rights, lack of proper budgeting and planning and capacity gap on the part of PWDs to advocate for their rights. This neglect or discrimination limits them from fully achieving their daily goals and aspirations.
unfettered access to physical structures and information......
Making our society accessible
What We Did
DINABI Nigeria with funding from Disability Rights Fund (DRF) among other things:
- Carried out an accessibility audit of public facilities and services in Ekiti
- Recommended solutions towards achieving access for persons with disabilities
- Trained persons with disabilities in Ekiti State on the budget cycle
- Reviewed the 2023 Ekiti State budget, and mobilized PWDs to track implementation
- Carried out advocacy visits to key stakeholders and duty bearers.
- Created awareness on the rights of persons with disabilities through the media to garner public support.
- Provided Technical support to government MDAs on accessibility and disability-specific issues on request at no cost.
Our Advocacy Ask
- Creation and Increased disability-specific budget lines towards accessibility. (in progress)
- Procurement/Construction of Ramps, handrails and other accessibility aids in offices of government, Schools, hospitals etc. (achieved)
- Training of Key staff of line MDAs on Basic Sign Language (achieved)
- Employment/Deployment of Sign Language interpreter in at least Three key hospitals in Ekiti state, Ekiti State University Teaching Hospital (EKSUTH), Ekiti State Television (EKTV) for news and Public functions. (achieved)
- Design of public documents e.g Budget, Laws and Policies in braille format (in progress)
- Increased disability specific budgetary allocation (achieved)
Part (II) Section 3-8 of the Discrimination Against Persons with Disability (Prohibition) Act 2018 and same part and sections in the Ekiti State Disability Law 2020 clearly made provisions for accessibility for persons with disability but duty bearers still fail to adhered to it. This include unfettered access to physical structures, access to information such as information in braille format for the visually impaired and sign language interpreter in public places and functions and broadcast media such as television stations.
It has however been observed that every good policy on any issues of importance requires an inclusive and participatory budget to perform optimally and effectively. For every government offices, schools, hospitals etc to be fully inclusive and accessible, it requires an inclusive and participatory budget line to be fully implemented ditto to recruitment of sign language interpreters into television station, health facilities and other public functions.
This has led to poverty, limited access to health facilities leading to aggravated illnesses, limited access to school premises resulting in low enrolment of students in our schools as well as increased number of out-of-school children with disabilities, inability to access decent buildings for accommodation or shops for the self-employed etc.
It is in view of this that the Disability Rights Fund (DRF) decided to support DINABI Nigeria towards advocating for compliance with the National Disability Act in Nigeria and the Ekiti State Disability Law by realizing the rights of persons with disabilities to access to public facilities and services on an equal basis with others.