The East Africa Disability Fund focusses on enabling disabled people to improve their livelihoods, for projects based in Tanzania and Uganda. This approach follows a detailed strategy review and is based on extensive evaluation and feedback on our previous programme.
According to the United Nations disability report, globally it is estimated that 1 in 7 of the world's population is disabled, 80 per cent of whom live in developing countries. We believe that access to livelihood opportunities will reduce the level of poverty faced by disabled people and will increase their active contribution within their communities, challenging stigma. The East Africa Disability Fund aims to complement the post-2015 Sustainable Development Goals.
We are currently refreshing our strategy, with a key area of work expected to be a focus on a small number of strategic grants in 2019/20. Strategic grants are large grants (£1-2 million over 2-5 years) that may be provided to one organisation with partners or a consortium of different organisations, working together to contribute to longer-term change for people with disabilities in Uganda, and Tanzania (which includes Zanzibar). These grants should target different aspects of economic empowerment, addressing root causes of vulnerability and poverty, challenging or changing how things are done. Local people and organisations should be at the heart of project development and delivery. Grants will be flexible, focused on learning and adapt over time as the context and issues evolve.
We are currently inviting expressions of interest from organisations who wish to be a lead partner in this process.