For the benefit of boys and girls living with disabilities, ZPCHA is implementing the Disability Inclusive Parenting Model in five districts of Zimbabwe as part of its official collaborative efforts to support actors in the fields of health, education, social development, and social protection services.
At the Domboramwari Centre in Epworth, the Zimbabwe Parents for Handicapped Children Association conducted a training course for leaders of support groups in advocacy. The workshop took place over two days, on November 29 and 30. Participants were chosen from Domboramwari, Overspill, Solani, and Chinamano, the four Epworth support groups. The ZPHCA field officer, M&E officer, volunteers, and representatives from UNICEF Zimbabwe and the Department of Social Development were among the facilitators.
The M&E officer from ZPHCA gave opening remarks to kick off the class, and each participant had a chance to identify themselves. Providing advocacy abilities and advocacy messaging skills to help group leaders were the goals of the advocacy training.
Promoting official cooperation between actors in the fields of health, education, social development, and social protection services to implement the Disability Inclusive Parenting Model in five districts of Zimbabwe for the benefit of disabled boys and girls is the project’s focus. The workshop was attended by forty-two people, all of them were female. Key advocacy issues were covered in their training. The training covered topics such as the definition of advocacy, its significance, essential advocacy techniques and strategies, and more.
The attendees were excited to learn about important advocacy issues that directly impact their children who have disabilities. The first meeting with the department of social development, which provided a wealth of information on the rights of disabled children, brought up a number of important concerns that parents of disabled children are facing, including those related to education, housing, the establishment of daycare centres, and access to reasonably priced transportation. The purpose of the project is to empower parents to advocate for their children, so the skills they acquired in the session were crucial.
Parents were attentive and mastered the advocacy discourse well and are now ready to create advocacy messages and give feedback to ZPHCA as they prepare to face duty bearers and stakeholders who they will target in their advocacy efforts.
The activity played a vital role in moulding the conversation surrounding parent advocacy among support group facilitators. They were given more authority regarding strategy, message development, and effective message delivery. A variety of strategies were employed, such as writing letters, having conversations with those in positions of responsibility, and speaking up at community and local authority gatherings and workshops.
Parents welcomed the advocacy training which strengthened their strive towards improving the welfare and livelihood of children with disabilities through capacity building for advocacy. In order to prepare for the advocacy with duty bearers, going forward, support group leaders should create advocacy messaging within their own groups and provide ZPHCA with input. To encourage coalition formation and cooperation for efficient lobbying among the support groups, a WhatsApp platform group will be established.
