The empowerment of self-help organizations for persons with disabilities in Kawempe Division, Kampala District

Abstract

This dissertation articulates measures to the deteriorating condition among PWDs which is predominantly caused by being left behind in all spheres of life. The current research especially according to Omona, Asiimwe, & State, (2017) indicates that disability and development gap exist even in countries where strict policies are in place to support inclusion and equity. While there are variants across all countries and all fields, evidence suggests that as socioeconomic development increases, this gap as well increases hence adults and children with disabilities are thus at risk of being left behind in education, healthcare, employment and social protection in comparison to their non-disabled peers. Therefore, it is upon this background that the researcher devoted resources to see how the development gap can be reduced through empowerment of Self-Help Organizations (SHOs) in advocacy and lobbying, capacity building, policy participation, and networking and collaboration for PWDs to improve their welfare in Uganda. The researcher used 30 respondents who were selected through purposive sampling. Then the research employed phenomenology philosophy with inductive reasoning through interpretevism research paradigm. The cross-sectional study was carried out in Kawempe Division of Kampala District for one (1) month – 1st to 30th November, 2022. The analysis of data was done manually through four main stages (Decontextualization, Recontextualization, Categorisation, and Compilation). The researcher discovered that the failure to effective management of SHOs was due to ignorance, discrimination, resources, generalization, negative attitudes, system advocacy, disability disunity and irresponsible stakeholders. Therefore, these discrepancies have to be solved in order for SHOs to advocate for PWD welfare.