Leave No One Behind (LNOB4) ProjectΒ
On July 17, 2025, CUAPWD launched its landmark initiative, the Leave No One Behind (LNOB4) project. This project is much more than an initiative. It is a commitment to ensuring that no person with a disability is excluded from humanitarian efforts.
In partnership with CBM, the LNOB4 project is designed to create lasting change. We are focusing on two key areas:
- Data Collection: Gathering essential disability-disaggregated data to provide a clearer picture of needs.
- Empowering Leaders: Training leaders of Organizations of Persons with Disabilities (OPD) to advocate effectively for the rights and services their communities need.
The project’s ultimate goal is to champion the implementation of the four “must-do” actions of the IASC guidelines, making inclusion a core part of the entire humanitarian system.
CUAPWDβs General Coordinator, Chick Sama, proudly announced that CUAPWD is among the first organizations of its kind worldwide to undertake this vital work. He added that CUAPWD already has vital data on at least 12,000 persons with disabilities in the Northwest Region, and its goal is to significantly increase this number before the end of this project in 2027.
CUAPWDβs message was clear and inspiring: “We are all part of the project, and to ensure that no one is left behind, we all need to work together.”
The event was a huge success, attended by government dignitaries (a representative of the Public Independent Conciliator, the Commissioner for Health and Social Affairs for the North West Regional Assembly, Regional Secretary for Cameroon Human Rights Commission), National and International Humanitarian Organizations, journalists, OPD leaders, cluster representatives, and persons with disabilities
Interviews
Chick Sama, CUAPWD General Coordinator
On the importance of the project:
“As the name goes, ‘Leave No One Behind.’ It simply tells us that we want everybody to be part of the humanitarian setting… The importance of this project comes to leverage what our humanitarian actors have been doing in order to accommodate persons with disabilities, but also to ensure that persons with disabilities take their responsibilities in seeing that all persons with disabilities are part of the entire humanitarian system.”
On how the project will capture the needs of persons with disabilities:
“We plan to do needs assessments… so that we can go down on the field and capture the particular needs of persons with disabilities, furnish these needs to the humanitarian actors and the state, and then we are sure that after doing this, they can consciously respond to those needs.”
Regional Delegate for Social Affairs, Nkwate Rebecca
The Regional Delegate praised the project for signifying a new role for persons with disabilities in the region, noting that they have “evolved from beneficiaries of development projects to participants in development, real actors in development.” The Delegate also affirmed the government’s commitment.
On how the delegation will accompany CUAPWD in realizing the project
“We have always been there for them to give them the technical know-how, to guide them on what it takes to carry out projects in the region… In some places, we also have to help them, even introduce them to other government services and other humanitarian actors in the field, so that they will be eased and received in their projects.”
Board Chair of CUAPWD, Nogning Armelle
On the challenges faced by persons with disabilities and the change brought by CUAPWD:
“There have been many challenges that persons with disability have faced, especially in the context of the socio-political crisis in the Northwest Region… with the coming of CUAPWD and the restructuring of CUAPWD, a lot of advocacy has been done. A lot of capacity building has been done on empowering leaders of persons with disability to do advocacy on those challenges that we have mentioned… we are seeing positive changes.”
A special thank you to the Regional Delegate for Social Affairs for officially launching the project, which demonstrates the government’s support for disability inclusion. We also extend our gratitude to CBCHSΒ for being part of building CUAPWD all these years.
It was an inspiring day, filled with smiling faces and a shared commitment to fully include persons with disabilities in all humanitarian efforts. Together, we will make this project a resounding success.
