The network is made up of the leading African organisations who share a common vision of a ‘world in which no child with a disability is left behind.’ These are organisations who were founded in and based in Africa, and who work specifically on improving the lives of children with disabilities.

How we are doing things differently

Why we need the network

Broaden our impact

Principally we want to do more. We are really proud of our partnership model and it has been a strong driver of our success over recent years. But we believe we can achieve greater impact as a wider network of likeminded organisations across Africa.

Positing ourselves

This will be the leading network working solely to improve the lives of children with disabilities in Africa. We will bring together expertise from the best African NGOs to lead the conversation on what works for children with disabilities in development planning.

Changing landscape

There have been significant social shifts in our area of work that requires us to respond. The anti-racism movement, alongside dialogues about unequal power dynamics and outdated, colonial approaches to development brings with it a need to be self-critical and a responsibility to adapt to new ways of working.

Listening to our partners

Our partners told us they wanted to do things differently. They want to take the lead and make decisions about how we support and allocate our funds. They wanted to challenge extractive reporting and to have direct relationships with donors. They believed they were stronger together. So, we listened.

Steps to 2030

This is a journey that will begin with the incubation of a new network model within our current structure, allowing a supportive environment for the network to learn and grow. Once up and running, the network will have greater decision making power over the organisation and decide how we prioritise our activities.

At the same time, we will be expanding to new regions, confirming our presence in Southern Africa as well as expanding into West Africa, as we look to form a wider network across the continent.

Value for money

Investing in the inclusion of children with disabilities is fundamentally about upholding and defending human rights, but it also makes economic sense.

The exclusion of children with disabilities is costly. It limits the opportunity of nearly 240 million children with disabilities globally from contributing to national and global income, it impoverishes and increases the economic burden on families, and it increases reliance on costly social welfare spending. In contrast, investing in children with disabilities creates diverse societies and leads to more productive and profitable economies, whilst offering benefits for all children.

The cost of inaction or failure to invest in children with disabilities is a real threat to value for money. The various ways in which the inclusion of children generates economic growth means investing in children with disabilities is worth every penny.