Leave No Woman Behind: Join us at NGO CSW66 Forum, March 2022!

Event 1 : Women with disabilities engage: Successful practices for economic empowerment

Date: March 16, 2022 6:00 am EDT March 17 2022 6:00 am EDT, Dakar 10 am, Bujumbura 11 am, Nairobi 1 pm

Register at this link

Length: 1 hour + Q&A, Free admission, spoken English, French & CART provided

Speakers:

• Adelaïde Nyigina, African Disability Forum
• Dieynaba Diallo, Wildaf Senegal
• Nadia Uwimana, COOFH TERIMBERE
• Noella Ndayikeza, UPHB Burundi
• Wairimu Munyinyi-Wahome, COVAW

Event description:

Women with disabilities living in regions where opportunities for work are scarce have to develop alternative solutions to reach economic autonomy. Whether for micro-business or cooperatives, capital available for women with disabilities is very limited; barriers to sustainable businesses are numerous. Opportunities to develop economic literacy are rarely accessible. Still organizations of women with disabilities and feminist organizations have been successfully engaging in promoting entrepreneurship for the most disadvantaged women. Our event will bring together women-led organizations from Burundi, Kenya, and Senegal; they will discuss practical solutions for sustainable businesses for less advantaged women in both formal and informal settlements. Key findings of a study on the economic exclusion of women using a disability+ intersectional lens will be shared. The experience of an agricultural cooperative of women with disabilities in Burundi will allow to demonstrate how economic autonomy positively impacts all aspects of their life.

Event 2: Intersectionality in practice in women’s empowerment projects:A How-To Guide

March 17 2022 6:00 am EDT, Dakar 10 am, Abuja 11 am, Nairobi 1 pm

Register at this link

Length: 1 hour + Q&A, Free admission, spoken English, French & CART provided

Speakers:

• Grace Jerry, Inclusive Friends Association
• Wairimu Munyinyi-Wahome, COVAW
• Sophie Pecourt, Humanity&Inclusion - MIW

Event description:

Because identities are diverse, discriminations are multiple, and intersectional, academics and policy-makers have been progressively bringing intersectional approaches to the agenda – giving space for the experiences of those facing discrimination based on age, (dis)ability, ethnicity, gender identities among other factors. Still, the effective use of intersectionality in projects implemented by women-led civil society organizations has shown to be challenging, due to the lack of practical guidance. Therefore projects targeting women with disabilities lack efficiency by considering them as an homogeneous group, overlooking their diversities. And efforts to improve economic empowerment of women overlook disability as a key discrimination factor. Our event will present the How-to guide: Intersectionality in practice, co-developed by MIW and partner organizations. IFA Nigeria and COVAW Kenya shall illustrate how the guide helped them analyze the realities of women with and without disabilities in their diversities and inform programming in economic empowerment using an intersectional lens.