The Inclusive Africa Conference: Five takeaways for regional advocacy

By Samantha Sibanda, founder of Signs of Hope Zimbabwe (SOH), a grassroots disability organisation, and a member of the Equal Zimbabwe campaign.

During the Inclusive Africa Conference in Nairobi, more than 300 delegates and over 3,000 online participants from across the continent came together to shape the future of accessibility and inclusion.

Africa is home to an estimated 80 million people with disabilities, a figure representing a staggering proportion of the global disabled population. Behind this statistic also lies an acute continental crisis. Approximately 80-90% of African children with disabilities are excluded from formal education; systemic underfinancing affects national disability programming; and the majority of assistive technologies remain prohibitively expensive imports, designed without taking the African linguistic or socio-economic contexts into consideration. It is against this structural delay and system exclusion that platforms such as the Inclusive Africa Conference have become relevant.

Convened from 2-4 June 2026, the conference brought together delegates from more than 20 countries. The platform attracted global policymakers, corporate entities, international donors, organisations of people with disabilities and people with disabilities themselves. Supported by the Sightsavers Equal Zimbabwe movement, Signs of Hope Zimbabwe (SOH) participated directly in these critical proceedings.

The three-day agenda generated powerful discussions that challenged conventional approaches to disability. These are the five key takeaways from the sessions we attended.

1. Less talking, more action

There was a general consensus that Africa possesses robust legal frameworks and policies that look very good on paper, but implementation is still missing. Delegates agreed that the need for action to operationalise and enforce laws and policies is the most urgent issue. Political will and a positive mindset represent the most critical transition that must occur immediately if the lives of persons with disabilities are to change for the better.

2. If it’s not budgeted for, it’s funded by pity, not policy

The underfinancing of disability programmes was under the spotlight at the conference. People with disabilities continue to be an afterthought, parked in social welfare budget lines in most countries. The result: disability programmes are funded by pity. People with disabilities have become a target for hand me downs, and projects that come to an end with no sustainable financing, further entrenching the charity model.

Keynote speakers emphasised the need for the human rights model of disability. They emphasised that principles such as accessibility, reasonable accommodations and non-discrimination should be considered, and meaningful empowerment enabled for people with disabilities.

3. Unlock the purple economy

Closely tied to the charity model was the discussion that people with disabilities are participating in the economy only as beneficiaries of aid, causing states to lose billions of dollars in economic value to systemic exclusion. Forward-looking companies shared best practices, highlighting how embracing universal design and disability policies has yielded clear, quantifiable results.

4. There are no rivals in inclusion

The need for collaboration in ensuring an inclusive society cannot be overemphasised. For inclusion to be a reality, there is a need for multi-stakeholder/multi-sector partnerships bringing together banking, tech, governance and civic society rather than siloed organisational efforts. In an interesting submission, a panellist mentioned that although they provided the same services as another, they had felt the need for collaboration, sharing best practices in their sector, and wide consultations with the disability sector.

5. If  it’s not documented, it does not exist

Over the years, SOH has spoken about ‘disability silence’: the absence of disability data and the voices of people with disabilities in development processes, research, national statistics and mainstream reports. The silence is how discrimination and exclusion have been fuelled. Because of it, disability advocacy is often dismissed as passion, complaining or being emotional and oversensitive. The United Nations Report on Disability and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) also flagged this gap. Without disability-disaggregated data, we cannot accurately measure SDG progress for the disability community.

Documentation is critical and it will play a huge role in disability advocacy going forward. When Africa starts prioritising documentation, the story should shift from the ‘begging bowl’ to real empowerment and more meaningful collaborations with development partners. There must therefore be intentional investment in disability-disaggregated data collection across sectors. And when surveys and research are commissioned, disability indicators must be included; the lived experience of persons with disabilities amplified; self-representation promoted; and comprehensive statistics on the prevalence of disability made available. This will go a long way in promoting the rights of people with disabilities.

For a grassroots organisation such as SOH, attending the Inclusive Africa Conference (and representing the Equal Zimbabwe campaign) is a gamechanger. It will not only strengthen our advocacy in Zimbabwe, but also go a long way in aligning our issues with the broader disability community in Africa.