World Council of Churches (WCC) Ecumenical Disability Advocates Network organized a three-day training workshop with church leaders to design action plans for their work in the next two years. This work will focus on the domestication and implementation of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities in Nairobi.
The meeting gathered 25 leaders from the Anglican Church of Kenya, the Presbyterian Church of East Africa, and the Reformed Church in Zimbabwe.
Tackling Disability Rights at Its Roots
The leaders engaged in Bible studies and theological reflections, assembled in groups, and explored African churches' case studies. The aim was to give them a theological, legal, and practical tool to enable them to champion for disability rights in work, employment, and climate change adaptation.
Dr Samuel Kabue, former executive secretary of the WCC ED Advocates Network, told the training that the UN Convention, adopted in 2006, has since received a lot of attention, nearing universal ratification by the UN member states.
At the same time, he cautioned that the convention does not create new rights but provides a framework for persons with disabilities to enjoy the same rights as other people.
“Its purpose is to elaborate in detail the rights of persons with disabilities and set out a code of implementation,” said Kabue.
“To ensure that the convention is implemented, there is a need for continuous oversight. This oversight requires the involvement of all stakeholders, including the church and other faith-based organizations.”
Action Plans Help Make Churches Inclusive
Kabue encouraged churches, civil society, and faith-based organizations to join organizations of persons with disabilities in the preparation of the parallel report or even to have their own reports, alongside those of states that have ratified the convention.
Several leaders unveiled action plans such as holding training workshops on inclusion and awareness creation; clergy and laity orientation on the conventions provisions, adopting a disability inclusive climate change strategy and explaining theological statements, sustainable agriculture, food security and disability.
Rev. Zadock Oluoch, vicar at St Augustine Madaraka, a parish of the Anglican Church’s All Saints Cathedral Diocese, said the church has taken a turn to think more deeply about how to engage persons with disabilities.
“Having listened to different denominations, churches present here, and organizations and hearing the things they are doing, I realize there is a need for partnerships,” said the cleric. “We are beginning to think about how we can partner so that we avoid duplication.”
Joyce Matara, acting director of the National Association of Societies for Care of the Handicapped, Zimbabwe, said churches needed to act quickly to ensure that persons with disabilities get education to move them out of poverty, enable formal employment, and empower them to contest for leadership.
“The organization of persons with disabilities can play a key role in ensuring churches are inclusive. There is also a need for awareness of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities provision and other conventions like the African disability protocol,” said Matara.
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World Council of Churches website
This story shows the impact of the Interdenominational Cooperation Fund—one of seven apportionment funds of The United Methodist Church—to foster unity and shared witness among Christians worldwide. Through this fund, the Church participates in ecumenical partnerships, interfaith dialogues, and collaborative ministries that extend the reach of the Gospel. Together, we model Christ’s prayer that all may be one.
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