Project Description
The National Coalition Project is for a continuation of UNAPD and coalition partner’s efforts on adoption and enforcement of the Act and Bye laws and building the social movement in Rwanda in line with article 9 of UNCRPD (Accessibility).
Our National Coalition Project is to build partnerships with Kampala City Council Authority (KCCA), Makerere University, Uganda Martyrs University and Mukono Action on Physical Disability to effectively work with identified stakeholders relevant in legal enforcement to operationalize the Building Control Act 2013 and its National Building Codes/Regulations and spread the social movement in Rwanda in line with Accessibility Standards. Such stakeholders include; Uganda Human Rights Commission (UHRC), Equal Opportunities Commission (EOC), Uganda Law Society (ULS), and Public Interest Law Clinic (PILAC).
The activities of the previous work of the coalition (2017-2018) has been aimed at advocating for the implementation of the Building Control Act 2013 and specifically by advocating for accessibility standards to be part of the National Building Codes/Regulations. This has been achieved by completion of the regulations inclusive of accessibility standards and the commencement of the Act by the Ministry of Works and Transport.After the completion of the National Building Codes/Regulations of the Building Control Act, was followed by the commencement of the Building Control Act by Ministry of Works in April, 2018. This therefore calls for efforts by the national coalition towards enforcement for implementation of the National Building Codes, but most specifically adoption of the Accessibility indicators of the National Building Codes by the construction industry. This will lead to an improved accessible physical environment for PWDs in line with article 9 of CRPD and SDG11.
The spread of the accessibility advocacy social movement across the Ugandan Border to Rwanda is one strategy of national coalition to move beyond the box and share the success stories, best practices and strategies to Rwanda in an effort of building the social movement on accessibility in East African Region.