On 17th and 18th March 2022, Gede participated in a 2-day workshop organised by CBM Global and aimed at strengthening the capacity of leaders of Organisations of People with Disabilities (OPDs) for a project called SUCCEED.
SUCCEED (SUpport, Comprehensive Care and Empowerment for people with psychosocial Disabilities). The SUCCEED project is a research association involving 5 countries namely Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Malawi and Zimbabwe, and is coordinated by the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM). SUCCEED will build on principles of co-production and South-South partnership to create regional centres of excellence in research, capacity-building, and outreach on psychosocial disabilities. This programme will involve developing and testing new models of Community-Based Rehabilitation for people with psychosis using the principle of working closely with people with lived experience of psychosis in participating West and Southeast African field sites.
The workshop was held at Catholic Secretariat in Durumi, Abuja. Among organisations present were Gede Foundation (GF), Mentally Aware Nigeria Initiative (MANI), Joint National Association of People With Disabilities (JONAPWD), She Writes Woman (SWW) and others.
On day 1, participants were welcomed by Ekaette Umoh, the Country Directory for CBM Global. They then went ahead to share experiences about their collective work as well as exploring challenges and opportunities in Mental Health and Psychosocial disabilities in Nigeria. Some of the challenges shared included;
Harmful cultural and religious practices faced by people with disabilities including psychosocial disabilities.
Harmful clauses in laws and policies for example, the Lunacy Act and other discriminatory clauses.
Poor mental health awareness and data
Accessibility to affordable and appropriate mental health services
Poor mental health financing
Institutional/human rights abuse.
Participants also shared opportunities among which were;
WHO enhancing mental health efforts post COVID
Increased advocacy
On day 2, the facilitators, Michael Njenga and Philip Ode shifted the focus to human rights, Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD, with focus on Article 12 and Article 25) and WHO Quality Rights.
Going forward, CBM, Gede and other organisations involved have pledged to work on priority areas (areas such as accessibility to comprehensive care and support, advocacy and policy change) of persons with psychosocial disabilities. This will ensure a holistic approach, keeping in mind other aspects of persons with psychosocial disabilities such as human rights; for example, the right to choice, the right to participate (nothing about us, without us).
