Country / Where did you grow up:
Accra, Ghana

Academic qualifications:
Post Graduate Diploma in Organisation Development – University of Cape Coast, Ghana / OCIC, UK;
BA (Hons.) Population & Family Life (Upper Second Class) - University of Cape Coast, Ghana

Experience:

I am an advocate of people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (PWIDDs) in Ghana, Africa and at the global level. I have experienced several positions of leadership that gives me a unique opportunity of influence in my work of advocating for PWIDDs and their families. I currently chair the board of Inclusion Africa and serve on the councils of Inclusion International as Africa’s representative as well as Africa Platform for Social Protection, responsible for Special Interest Groups. Additionally, I am on the boards of the Africa Dementia Support Services, Autism Society of West Africa, Ghana Federation of Disability Organisations, African Disability Alliance, Special Olympics Ghana, Inclusion Ghana and the Ghana Civil Society Platform for Social Protection. I have been very instrumental in shaping the disability movement in Ghana. I was a key part of the advocacy committee of the Ghana Federation of Disability Organisations that pushed for Ghana’s ratification of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD) in 2012.

I am currently part of the technical committee inaugurated by Ghana’s Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection, reviewing Ghana’s Disability Act of 2006 making it compliant to the UNCRPD. I am a core member of Ghana’s Inclusive Education Implementation Steering Committee ensuring that the implementation plan, standards and guidelines drafted for the implementation of Inclusive Education is being followed. In 2017, I co-chaired Ghana’s policy and system capacity team that did a whole system Education Sector Analysis.

I have a broad knowledge and practical work experience in disability rights, having been one of the members of the working group from the African decade for persons with disabilities (now African Disability Alliance) that advocated for and reviewed the Draft Protocol on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities in Africa before it was adopted by the African Union in January 2018. I have enjoyed every opportunity to reach out and support people with intellectual and developmental disabilities and their families.

Academic fields of interest:
Intellectual Disability, Inclusive Education, Rights-Based Social Protection, Access to Justice, Sexual and Reproductive Health, and Social Inclusion

Position prior to the programme:
National Co-ordinator, Inclusion Ghana

jeleel55@yahoo.com