Tsepang

Tsepang is the co-founder and director of Beyond Measure Inclusive Community Trust, a disability organisation in Zimbabwe. As a graduate in local governance and management, his work is focused on development and political access.

“I want to ensure that people with disabilities play a meaningful role in governance. This can be achieved through improving access to information and community mass mobilisation. For instance, I was the lead campaigner for the Persons with Disabilities Bill and during the countrywide consultations here in Zimbabwe, I organised people and ensured they had adequate and necessary information.

“I also look at how local authorities are responding to the needs and interests of people with disabilities in their service delivery. One of the challenges facing people with disabilities in Zimbabwe is inaccessible infrastructure, especially in schools. Most schools do not have disability resource centres with adaptable and accessible equipment so many students are not learning in a conducive environment. There is also a shortage of skilled personnel in the education sector due to economic issues and qualified teachers migrating overseas. These skilled personnel are crucial for the delivery of education.

“My message, especially to duty bearers, is that development can never be holistic and fully realised until people with disabilities have a meaningful role. This is part of the Sustainable Development Agenda 2030 to ‘leave no one behind’. This is why some interventions do not result in a country or community fully developing because one person is always left behind.

“My hope for the future is to see a society where people with disabilities initiate and lead developmental initiatives in the economic sector or political sphere. It is only when this is achieved that we can safely say that people with disabilities are meaningfully participating and championing development.”