28 July, 2023: Advocacy Forum-Nepal (AF) and the National Network of Disabled Conflict Victims (NNDCV) organized a roundtable discussion in Kathmandu on 19 July 2023.
The roundtable marked the culmination of the project ‘Performing/Informing Rights’, led by the Essex Law School, University of Essex, spanning three countries – SriLanka, Nepal, and the UK.
Bringing together government officials, NGO staff, activists, academics, and people with disabilities, the roundtable kicked off the discussion on creative approaches to promote change for people with disabilities in Nepal.
A training resource was also launched during the roundtable.
Over the past months, AF and NNDCV worked hand-in-hand with colleagues from Sri Lanka and the UK to craft the innovative training resource. This resource combines dance and rights education for people with disabilities with little legal knowledge of the Right to Information (RTI). It further empowers them to confidently submit RTI requests to gain access to vital social protection schemes.
Victims unveiled the impact of these exercises and how they used RTI applications to seek information from the Ministry of Home Affairs and the Ministry of Women, Children, and Senior Citizens on the actual number and programmes of conflict victims in the country. NNDCV members shared the challenges encountered while filing their RTI requests and discussed how to navigate them.
