COVID-19: Leave no one behind

July 17, 2020

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To mitigate the impact of the Coronavirus pandemic toward the most vulnerable groups, UNDP Guinea-Bissau has been supporting the Federation of the Association of Defense and Promotion of the People with Disability through a project that aims at creating a favorable environment to people with disabilities during the pandemic and strengthen their inclusion in the COVID-19 response and long-term development.

Most specifically, the project aims at (i) supporting people with disabilities to meet their basic and daily needs providing them access to food, hygiene products and protective equipment for a period of at least two months during the state of emergency, (ii) adapt the communications tools to raise awareness on the impact of the COVID-19 in the most vulnerable groups and ensure that they respect the preventive measures to avoid the propagation of the virus, (iii) create conditions to ensure access to testing and treatment for COVID-19 in Bissau and three regions (north, south and East) of the country and (iv) improve information related to people with disabilities through data mapping and collection.

As part of this project, a training of journalists on the needs of people with disabilities during COVID-19 was organized on July 9th, aiming at ensuring that the journalistic pieces produced are inclusive and adapted to the needs of people with disability so they can have access to relevant information related to COVID-19 as the rest of the population.

The training of journalists was the first activity of the initiative and counted with the presence of 20 journalists of 12 national and 8 regional press organs.

The Federation of the Association of Defense and Promotion of the People with Disability is a national association that is part of the civil society network and strives to defend the rights of the people with disability. The Federation gathers more than 25 associations nationwide and covers all types of disabilities (albinos, auditive, physical/motor, intellectual/mental, visual).

This initiative is aligned with United Nations roadmap in general and UNDP’s one in particular to leave no one behind through the implementation of inclusive initiatives most specifically in the current context of the global COVID-19 pandemic that has deepen the inequalities.