National Union of Disabilities Organizations in Rwanda (NUDOR)
With a membership of 13 affiliate organizations, one of NUDOR’s key objectives is to support its members to advocate for the full realization of the rights of persons with disabilities. NUDOR also provides leadership in monitoring the government’s implementation of legislation, policy and programs addressing persons with disabilities.
With DRF funding, NUDOR led the development of an alternative report and participation of persons with disabilities in the review of Rwanda by the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities in Geneva in 2018-19.
Through a national consultative meeting, NUDOR also led input into the Rwandan government commitments presented at the July 2018 Global Disability Summit (GDS). Rwanda made multiple commitments in all thematic areas.
DRF’s Commonwealth Leaves No One Behind grant is supporting NUDOR to follow up on the government commitment to revise the National Disability Law to align with the CRPD, as well as to advance data disaggregation by integrating Washington Group Questions into the next national census.
To launch this work, NUDOR convened a meeting in April 2019 with member organizations to develop strategies to monitor government’s implementation of the commitments. At the end of the meeting, a roadmap was officially submitted to the government through the National Council of Persons with Disabilities.
NUDOR will use the DRF/DRAF Grantee Convening in July 2019 to raise awareness among key stakeholders and to develop an advocacy strategy vis-à-vis the GDS commitments. A speaker will be invited to share lessons from the disability movement in Kenya and how they are using GDS commitments to leverage advancement of rights.
Lessons Learned
- Skills and knowledge gained during the CRPD review of Rwanda have proved useful in holding the government of Rwanda accountable to the commitments made at the GDS and vice-versa. One key lesson for NUDOR in this process is the importance of building partnerships to support their advocacy agenda. They have built partnerships with mainstream civil society organizations such as Human Rights First Rwanda Association, the Rwandan Law Reform Commission, academia, and various UN agencies.