Raising awareness of inclusive crafts: building capacity and self-sufficiency of communication within the Charity SAFOD and the Countries of SA.

The aim of this follow-on proposal is to enhance the awareness of people within the countries of Southern Africa to the opportunities for inclusive arts and crafts through a Assistive Technology exhibition being organised in Namibia for April 2019 to publicise the Crafts abilities network outcomes; and, make people with disabilities as well as the general public aware of and celebrate the work in inclusive arts crafts and design from the ten Countries in which the Southern Africa Federation of the Disabled (SAFOD), who help 50,000 people in local communities. The project will deliver information and raise awareness among the 66 Million people who live in Southern Africa of Inclusive crafts and available Assistive Technology (AT) resources.

An AHRC sponsored network activity (Arts and crafts abilities, ref: AH/R004307/1) that involved disabled arts and craftspeople from the Southern Africa federation of the disabled (SAFOD) and those from the UK highlighted a number of aspects to be celebrated and challenges to be addressed:

1) The needs of disabled artists and crafts people are very similar in the UK and Southern Africa, for able-bodied and disabled alike;
2) The need to identify a market for their artefacts that will pay a fair price for their work;
3) making it easier to produce artefacts;
4) Training of new disabled artists and craftspeople;
5) Celebrating the quality of ideas and concepts produced, as well as the heritage crafts used to create products and works of art;
6) Ways of reframing society's viewpoint of them (as 'no-person' disabled and in some cases because they are female) and viewing their work more inclusively; and,
7) Exploiting the many opportunities to share knowledge, skills and ideas through dialogue using different communication formats and technologies.

Through a celebration of the quality and diversity of inclusive crafts being produced it is hoped to begin to change perceptions about disabled and female members of communities in Southern Africa and their value within their Society. The delegates from SAFOD preferred the term disabled people over people living with a disability or similar terms and so this is the term used throughout the proposal.

The proposed exhibition in Namibia will continue the theme of cultural exchange and raising awareness of inclusive crafts. The exhibitions will be accompanied by a catalogue of artefacts and products produced, which will also include everyday living assistive technologies (AT products) and where to obtain them. The AT products and resources support an existing online project that identifies these resources AT-Info-Map, (https://assistivetechmap.org/). During the exhibition Dr Tim Whitehead will present more detail of the outcomes of the previous network event and promote resources for Inclusive crafts, including those accessible from the Crafts Council in the UK.

The catalogue will have a pre-paid reply card to request further information about any of the topics highlighted. Those using the request card will be able to ask to be notified of any new events or work through a range of communication options; and, become members of SAFOD. This will facilitate future dialogue with a wider audience about a wider range of issues relating to disability assistive technology and inclusivity. The project will lead a pathway to the overarching aim of reframing society's view of disability and disabled people.

This follow-on proposal has two functions in terms of impact for the 66 million people living in Southern Africa:

1) Enhance awareness of available resources and opportunities for disabled people, using the example of inclusive arts and crafts; and,
2) Facilitate knowledge transfer relating to communication tools and resources to build capacity and self-sufficiency in the SAFOD Charity to enable them to more effectively connect with their membership.

1) Raising awareness of opportunities for disabled people, through the examples of inclusive arts and crafts; sign-posting to resources and equipment, targeting different audiences within society is provided by:

a) The printed catalogue and associated web sites will help membership of SAFOD across the ten Countries of Southern Africa (Angola, Botswana, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Swaziland, Zimbabwe and Zambia) to access the same information via different formats. The online feedback and request option and pre-paid postcard will enable individuals and groups to ask for more information specific to their needs, even though the distances may be large between the available resources.
b) Providing inspirational examples of skills and creativity, along with the artist or crafts person's story, will facilitate the raising of exceptions of disabled people for themselves and change perceptions of the potential a disabled person has within the community in which they live.
c) The exhibition and printed publicity materials, supported by the online website will provide a platform for artists and craftspeople to sell their wares on an international market.
d) Making the artefacts more accessible, will raise the profile of individuals in their communities and internationally.

2) The transfer of skills knowledge and a different way of thinking about the world provides a number of opportunities for disabled people in Southern Africa:

a) Obtain training and knowledge that would be too expensive to access in their home communities.
b) Providing specific training to SAFOD staff (some of whom will be disabled) will enable them to be more self-sufficient when publicising events, sign-posting to resources for SAFOD membership.
c) Being more capable in web design, graphic design and print technology will enable SAFOD staff to better support other members and the local community with high-quality printed and online resources, with the potential to earn additional funds for the Charity through commercial contracts.
d) The development of a 'print team' and resource is the first steps towards the setting up of the first community interest company (CIC) or co-operative within the SAFOD Charity, run predominantly by disabled people. The intention is to develop a template for CIC's and or co-operative businesses that may be used across Southern Africa by SAFOD and affiliates.