About Us

A Very Brief History

In December 2010, a group of people came together at the Jasmine Centre, Cardiff, to discuss disability awareness within the Wales Africa Sector. Disability in Wales and Africa (DWA) was born with its original aim to encourage Welsh organisations to respond to disability issues through their African partners. In 2015 the message changed to encouraging these same organisations to engage with disabled people in Wales, but more particularly in Africa. For further information regarding these early years please read DWA Annual Reports. Two papers summarising the “History of DWA” are A Brief History of Disability in Wales and Africa and “Disability in Wales and Africa – The First Ten Years”.

The Present Activities:

DWA is now

  • A Disabled Persons Organisation (DPO) and a full member of Disability Wales.
  • Developing as a membership organisation and seeking charitable status.
  • Confirming its presence within Networks, such as
    • The Wales Africa Sector
    • The Disability and development Sector
    • The National and International Disability Movement

The Purpose

DWA identifies its roles as providing Campaigning, Training, Information and Support services within and, increasingly, beyond the Wales Africa sector. Fundamental to the approach of DWA has been that:

  • Disability and Development are both global issues.
  • Disabled people, and their representative organisations, need to be full, active, equal and participatory partners at all levels of the development process.
  • After social and economic contexts are stripped away, the problems disabled people face, the world over, are remarkably similar.
  • The promotion of global solidarity between disabled people, sharing their ideas, experiences, and expertise, between each other, as well as telling the stories to the non-disabled population.

Although DWA focuses on disabled people in Wales and Africa as its forum for promoting global solidarity and sharing, it is open to other similar initiatives which operate beyond.

Find Out More

Please visit Meet the DWA Team to find who currently serves on the organisation’s Management Committee. In addition, visit the DWA Membership and Supporters page. Search the remainder of this website to find out the Resources DWA offers, the Activities undertaken, and how to get involved in the work. If you would like further information about Disability in Wales and Africa, then please contact the DWA Secretary here.