Citizenship and political participation

We believe everyone has the right to take part in key decision-making, including elections, so they can influence policies that affect their lives.

Leonie presents at her university, where she is president of the Association of Students with Disabilities. © Sightsavers/Manuella Sali

In many countries, governance systems are not inclusive, meaning women and men with disabilities are often excluded from participating on an equal basis. In many cases, they are even denied the right to vote.

We support people with disabilities to participate in decision-making processes at all levels: globally, nationally and locally. We advocate for public policies to be more inclusive for people with disabilities, and work in partnership with disability organisations to ensure people with disabilities can make their voices heard.

Inclusive local development

Civic and political participation in development initiatives will better ensure that local services are disability inclusive and consider the needs of people with disabilities. Some of the local governments where we’re working have now agreed to systematically consult with organisations of people with disabilities.

Our work in Cameroon and Senegal has contributed to more than 204 women and men with disabilities either being elected as local councillors, parliamentarians, senators or official representatives in local working groups, or being included on political party lists in a position eligible for election for the first time.

Barriers to political participation

Our research shows that people with disabilities are often excluded from African political life due to a lack of education and financial resources, stigma, and inaccessible buildings and legal frameworks.

Read the blog

Inclusive elections

We’re promoting inclusive elections in Cameroon and Senegal. We want to ensure people can enter polling booths and cast their votes independently, have political parties represent disability issues and encourage people with disabilities to participate as candidates. We also want voters to be provided with accessible information, such as party manifestos, so they can vote. In Cameroon, our work has helped to increase in the number of people with disabilities who are registered to vote, from 8,000 in 2011 to 40,000 in 2022.

In Pakistan, we worked with the government to make Parliament House accessible for people with disabilities. Watch our video to find out more about our work

40,000

people with disabilities registered to vote in 2022

Citizenship

We support people with disabilities to obtain official documents such as birth certificates, ID cards, voter cards and disability cards, which are often a prerequisite to political participation. In Senegal and Cameroon, almost 3,500 people with disabilities have received documentation through our project. We are also exploring ways to ensure people with disabilities, particularly women and girls, are more included in other forms of civil society, such as youth movements.

Watch the video below to see how we’re fighting for better political engagement of women with disabilities in Senegal.

Reports and reviews

Sightsavers’ social inclusion strategy (2021)

This strategy sets out how we will contribute to the inclusion and empowerment of people with disabilities – globally, and in our programming countries – through our programmatic, research and influencing work. View the strategy

Disability-inclusive elections in Africa: a qualitative systematic review

A systematic review aiming to identify, appraise and combine available evidence to understand what practices have already taken place in African countries to support the political participation of people with disabilities, and what effect they have had at local and national levels. View the review [pdf]

Further resources

We’ve developed a range of resources including videos, guides and leaflets through our political participation work in Cameroon and Senegal. View the resources

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