The Secretariat of the African Decade of Persons with Disabilities (SADPD) offices opened in Cape Town in 2004 and since its inception rapid progress has been made. With the support of Sida (Sweden), the offices were equipped, staff hired, and the first major initiatives were undertaken. In 2005 the DSI (Denmark) came on board as an additional donor, and work started in Ethiopia, Kenya, Mozambique, Rwanda and Senegal.

Since then the Secretariat’s work has spread throughout the region of West Africa and we now have African Decade activities in Mauritania, Guinea and Mali. Work has also been initiated in the southern African countries Namibia and Tanzania, and plans have been made for South Africa. SADPD seeks to extend and broaden the scope of its work to directly include and involve more of the 53 African countries over the next five years.