Advocacy in Action: Introducing SHEDisability Advocate Initiative.

SHEDisability Advocate Initiative (SHEDAI)

According to the UN Women (For all women and girls), Women and girls with disabilities continue to face multiple and intersecting forms of discrimination. When it comes to global normative standards for disability -inclusion, the United Nations Convention on the Right Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD), includes provisions and obligations related to gender equality. women with disabilities, are absent from policy tables, invisible in national budgets. To date however, normative standards have not been consistently translated into national and local gender-inclusive, disability-inclusion policies and corresponding budgets. The SHEDisability Advocate Initiative (SHEDAI), exist to change that, guided by CUAPWD’s unwavering conviction: Nothing Without Us.

CUAPWD in line with our mandate to improve the quality of life of persons with disabilities where the rights and dignities of persons with disabilities are respected, we have successfully achieved progress in our works of advocacy and inclusion of persons with disabilities into development initiatives at the community, ( CUAPWD has carried out projects example collaborate with health service provider to make service available, accessible and affordable to persons with disabilities and national level CUAPWD, in partnership with DRF/DRAF, are working together to see that SHEDAI goal which is advocate for the adoption of disability and gender-inclusive policies and budget in Cameroon in line with CRPD article 4(general obligations) and article 6 ( Women With Disabilities).

Objective 1: Building the Capacity to Advocate

Change begins from within. SHEDAI first invests in the people driving the movement equipping CUAPWD staff and leaders of Organizations of Persons with Disabilities (OPDs) with the tools, knowledge, and confidence to engage in evidence-based advocacy on disability-inclusive civic participation, accessibility reforms, and gender-responsive programming.
Develop internal accessibility guidelines and practical advocacy toolkits focused on civic participation, disability, and gender-inclusive planning and budgeting.
This pillar ensures that disability organizations no longer speak from the margins, but from a position of informed, strategic strength. A 3-day capacity-building workshop anchors this objective, bringing together 45 participants from across Cameroon’s disability movement.

Objective 2: Mobilizing Women with Disabilities as a National Force

SHEDAI recognizes that women have equal rights as others, and women with disabilities are not a single voice — they are a chorus waiting to be organized.

The initiative builds a coordinated national network of women advocates, equipping them to speak powerfully on civic participation, gender equality, accessible policies, and sexual and reproductive health rights (SRHR). This is not about speaking for them. It is about creating the space and structure for them to lead. A dedicated leadership and advocacy training for 30 women with disabilities anchors this pillar, designed to transform participants into confident public advocates.

Objective 3: Holding Government Accountable

Laws exist on paper. SHEDAI demands they live in practice.

By pushing for the enforcement of Cameroon’s National Gender Policy, Law 2010/002 on Disability, and the country’s commitments under the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD) through targeted advocacy and multi-stakeholder policy dialogue, SHEDAI places women with disabilities, inside the accountability conversation — tracking government promises, challenging inaction, and demanding disability- and gender-responsive budgets.