The African Network for Evidence-to-Action on Disability (AfriNEAD) exists to ensure that research contributes to a better quality of life for people with disabilities in Africa.

AfriNEAD facilitates networking among researchers, persons with disability, government representatives, business and civil society within the African region as well as with international communities. To effectively realise the rights of persons with disabilities, these stakeholders need to collaborate in the area of disability research.

Dear Friends and Colleagues,

I am delighted to welcome you to the third AfriNEAD symposium 2011. It feels like yesterday that we were inaugurating AfriNEAD 2007. Now we have two symposia under our belt. The first focused on research evidence and how much this had managed to realise the rights of disabled people in Africa thus far. This was an introspective and reflective step that challenged us all – a huge undertaking indeed, and a lot of time was spent challenging each other. We also wanted to unite different stakeholders because we believe that each stakeholder carries knowledge which is essential to enhance disability research evidence. We questioned ourselves with regard to: How should disability research evidence be explored? And what exactly should be explored? And of course, we developed a deeper understanding that disabled people themselves should be the ones guiding us as to what the critical questions to ask are, so as to focus us all on the really important issues.

That’s why the second symposium focussed on the ABCs of research evidence-to-action: putting the UNCRPD principles into action for rights-based change. The UNCRPD ABC rights-based principles gave us a tool for dealing with the challenges we were facing in the first symposium. The five ABC principles of the UNCRPD toolkit serve as a useful checklist against which to measure ourselves on our use of a rights-based approach on disability research.

It is with the deepest sense of loss and sadness that the AfriNEAD family has heard of the passing of Mr Alexander Mwanza Phiri on Wednesday 11 May 2011. Mr Phiri had been in hospital and had been on the road to recovery when he had a relapse and just had to let go. We are deeply thankful for the life and worldwide impact of Mr Phiri and his pivotal role in the establishment of AfriNEAD. We will miss his wise counsel, his infectious fighting spirit, his sense of humour and his friendship. Our prayers are with his family, his friends and the SAFOD family - may his soul rest in peace.

Dear AfriNEAD family

On behalf on the Phiri family, i would like to thank your for keeping us in your prayers during this tough time we have been through. Your words are kind and are greatly appreciated. Indeed my father was a great man and his work and wise words that he gave to everyone will always be in our hearts.

Thank you once again.

Memory Phiri
Daughter