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OPD Partnership Task Group – Reshaping equity in OPD – INGO collaboration

Background

On 2 December 2025, the International Disability and Development Consortium (IDDC), through its Task Group on OPD Partnership, hosted a webinar on the topic of Reshaping Equity in OPD-iNGO Collaboration.

The session featured:

  • An opening note by Frederick Ouko (Co-Chief & Transformation Executive Director, ADD International; IDDC Board Member)
  • A framing presentation by Chisom Udeze (Economist, Strategist, DEI Expert)
  • A panel discussion with five representatives from Uganda-based OPDs (Organisations of Persons with Disabilities):
    • Miiro Michael (Country Representative, DHF Uganda)
    • Apollo Mukasa (Executive Director, Uganda National Action on Physical Disability – UNAPD)
    • Christine Kekirungi (Executive Director, Uganda Cerebral Palsy Network Association)
    • Faruk Kiiza (Programme Officer, SNUPA)
    • David Nangosi (Programme Officer, Human Rights, NUDIPU)

Recording

Transcript “Reshaping Equity in OPD-INGO Collaboration”

Practical Action Points from the Discussion

This quick report distills one practical, actionable takeaway from each speaker — designed to be immediately applied in daily work of OPDs, NGOs and iNGOs. These insights, drawn from lived experience and frontline collaboration, offer clear steps to shift power, center inclusion, and build truly equitable partnerships.

Whether you’re in an OPD, iNGO, or intermediary role — start tomorrow. Pick one. Apply it. Repeat.
True Equity is built through practice.

  • Chisom Udeze

OPDs should initiate courageous, clear conversations with iNGOs about power, budget allocation, and decision-making — asking direct questions like “What percentage of the budget goes directly to us?” and “How do we share power?

  • Miiro Michael

Intermediaries and iNGOs should treat OPDs as full partners — not charity cases — by integrating them into mainstream programs, not siloed “disability projects,” and ensuring their voices shape program design and implementation.

  • Apollo Mukasa

Start every OPD-iNGO collaboration with co-creation. Sit together as equal partners to design the project, define roles, indicators, and MOUs — ensuring local context and lived experience guide the work.

  • Christine Kekirungi

iNGOs must shift from implementers to facilitators — creating safe spaces for OPDs to set their own priorities, lead monitoring, and own outcomes, rather than imposing top-down agendas.

  • Faruk Kiiza

iNGOs should treat OPDs as long-term partners — not one-off grantees — by investing in capacity building and offering tiered, accessible funding (e.g., smaller grants for small OPDs, district-level audits accepted).

  • David Nangosi

iNGOs entering a country should be linked by national OPD umbrellas to grassroots and intersectional OPDs — including refugee, rural, and marginalized disability groups — via sub-granting and structured coordination.