Four Years of Transformation and Policy Impact
Ministry-led implementation review meeting with MMDAs to track progress reporting – in the picture are staff at the Gender Ministry
Ghana Somubi Dwumadie has over the last 4 years provided support through our technical assistance (TA) model to the Government of Ghana to support the development of responsive and strong disability and mental health governance systems. Our programme start in 2020 quickly coincided with COVID-19. The COVID-19 pandemic exposed our ‘infant’ programme to the gaps within the disability and mental health policy environment. We found little or no data to explore and measure the intricate effects of the pandemic on people with disabilities, including people with mental health conditions, who were in many cases visibly missing from relief packages and emergency response initiatives.
Ghana Somubi Dwumadie embraced the challenge by identifying opportunities in this difficult situation. We redefined our programme design with a key strategy that evolved around user-led approaches. We were guided by the needs and priorities of people with disabilities or mental health conditions - the ‘users’ - and modelled our TA to include meaningful consultation and engagement led by the users themselves.
Since 2020 we have worked to bring people with disabilities themselves to lead and work with senior Government officials, to drive inclusive policy-shaping for change. Ghana Somubi Dwumadie has considered continuous inclusion and meaningful participation at every step on the way, by using participatory approaches and sharing of the real issues from the users’ point of view. For example, we created change through policy by facilitating a user-led, evidence-based and participatory review of the District Assembly Common Fund (DACF) guidelines for management and disbursement of the disability fund. We provided leadership through our TA model and facilitated meaningful participation and paid for all costs related to accessibility like sign language interpretation, transportation and accommodation that ensured the involvement of people with disabilities in reviewing the guidelines.
Our programme also created space for policy dialogue with senior government officials. We did this by ensuring reasonable accommodation and accessibility for all persons with disabilities involved in the process. For all the engagements, sign language interpretations were provided, physical and built-up meeting venues were carefully identified and selected for easy accessibility. People with mental health conditions were not left out but were equally represented by themselves and in some cases by representatives of Mental Health Society of Ghana.
We have worked to build stronger disability inclusiveness by supporting Ghana Federation of Disability Organisations and Organisations of Persons with Disabilities, including self-help groups, to lead on policy engagements on services that directly affect and impact them. We have empowered them to create awareness on the rights of people with disabilities themselves; and through that they have been able to convince policy makers to prioritise inclusivity.
A cross-section of District Planning Officers aligning their disability actions and activities with the Disability Commitments along the 7 key thematic areas.
Our successes and achievements hinge on inclusiveness, participatory and collaborative approaches, constructive stakeholder engagements, our technical oversight through strategic catch-ups and flexible informal meetings with key stakeholders including government staff. Dissemination and knowledge sharing, supporting people to collaborate and work together has resulted in high-level buy-in and ownership of the process. Within the life span of our programme implementation we have successfully adopted practical advocacy practices and actions by using mental health and disability gaps as evidence for increased awareness.
We have worked to connect and link people with disabilities to policy change-makers. We have built strong networks of disability inclusion champions from among government senior officials to advocate, lead and drive the Implementation of the global disability commitments as an integral part of the national development framework. We worked to bring the issues of mental health and disability to life for recognition and prioritisation. Within 4 years we have successfully linked Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection directly to Metropolitan, Municipal and District Planning officers, and created cordial space for them to sit together and harmonise integrated social support activities into development plans for people with disabilities in Ghana.
In 4 years, we have worked with key stakeholders to transform the disability and mental health environment in Ghana. The use of both user-led and policy-centered approaches with evidence-driven strategies have yielded unprecedented results and positive shifts in policy towards inclusivity. There is now stronger collaboration, more inclusive participation and coordination mechanisms to drive disability inclusive development in Ghana.
Ghana Somubi Dwumadie has leveraged existing, positive drivers of change, building on existing disability governance structures within public and non-state institutions, and supported positive shifts in community attitudes and political attitudes towards transformation and policy change.
You can read more about our approach in our learning product on user-led and policy level