Young Voices
24 November 2011
Months of lobbying by Swaziland Young Voices and the local Cheshire home has culminated in two national victories. First, the minister for sports and senior civil servants agreed that a Young Voices member could join the national sports board to ensure that people with disabilities are represented in sports nationwide. Then, on 31 August and 1 September, Young Voices members ran a training workshop on the government’s obligations and responsibilities under the Convention for approximately 30 parliamentarians. Supported by an external facilitator, the group had been invited to do the training by ministers and found themselves amazed at the ignorance they encountered among the parliamentarians. By the end, however, the parliamentarians were aware of the importance of a rights-based approach to disability and also promised to raise questions about disability within their debates and increase the number of motions adopted by the parliament on disability issues.
