Remember now that the AfriNEAD 2014 symposium is from the 3rd – 5th of November 2014 at Lake Malawi in Mangochi in Malawi. The AfriNEAD c coordinator, Hillary and myself have just returned from a very successful trip to Malawi. We are fortunate for this symposium to be steered by the Honorable Minister Rachel Kachaje, Mr Mussa Chiwaula the new Director for SAFOD, CBM and Dr Alister Munthali the Director for Centre for Social Research and his Local Organizing Committee; these are generally nice people who also are staunch disability advocates and activists.
We went up to meet with different stakeholders, the organizing committee as well as to review the venue and the Sand ‘n Sun hotel on the shores of Lake Malawi. Kindly note that Alister and the Malawi AfriNEAD 2014 symposium organizing committee extended the closing date for the call for abstracts and early registration to end July – see package below:
- Call for Abstracts – Afrinead Symposium in Malawi 3-5 November 2014
- Country working groups
- HEDSA Registration2014
- Registration form – Malawi Symposium
The issue of Country Working Groups (see attached information about AfriNEAD) does need focus and preparations should be made by countries with regard to champions of countries that will lead the coordination of disability research for their countries.
These country champions and disability researchers will need to further outline how this research has been translated into policy and practice and how this is impacting change in the lives of people with disabilities. We will be writing to countries that have sent people to the symposium to start developing a focus on this important issue that will give clarity with regard to disability status at country level. The development and consolidation of country working groups assist AfriNEAD network participants to have a clear focus with regard to disability research in their own countries.
In our visit to Malawi we were also received by the Minister of the Elderly and Disabled Rachel Kachaje see below with a number of her colleagues.
Please download the afrinead poster. Please would you pass in on to others who might like to be informed of the Symposium as well as you printing it and displaying it in a prominent place.