Project Overview
Movements led by women with disabilities have often been excluded from mainstream and feminist movements, resulting in their advocacy efforts being seen solely as disability issues rather than being included in the broader women’s and feminist movements.
This exclusion has prevented EVAWG movements from tapping into resources, expertise, and collaboration that could bring substantive results in tackling violence against women and girls (VAWG) in the region.
COVAW’s United Nations Trust Fund to End Violence against Women(UNTF) funded project aims to ensure that women and girls with disabilities are increasingly at the center of EVAWG efforts, rather than at the margins. COVAW and Disabled Women in Africa (DIWA) will work together to catalyze this change by strengthening the capacity of women and girls with disabilities in Kenya, Rwanda, and Malawi on gender-based violence, supporting, the formation of a sub-regional network that brings together women with disability advocates from these countries towards collective advocacy, and the building bridges between these advocates, feminist organizations and gender equality movements, and the forums where their advocacy is conducted–all supported by practice-based research on violence against women and girls with disabilities in the sub-region and barriers and successes towards their inclusion in EVAWG movements. The project will demonstrate innovative, concrete action to advance the rights and dignity of women and girls with disabilities, including underrepresented groups such as refugees with disabilities who often face sexual violence, abuse, and physical assault during their journeys to escape conflict or economic hardship.