Strengthening Services for People with Disabilities (SN0007)

What is the public issue that the commitment will address? Senegal has made remarkable progress in addressing the rights of persons with disabilities, particularly in application of the Social Orientation Act No. 2010-15 of 6 July 2010, on the promotion and protection of the rights of persons with disabilities. Indeed, the Government has put in place a number of social measures that strengthen the care of the specific needs of people with disabilities. These include the "Equal Opportunities Card", the national Universal Health Coverage programme and the national Family Security Scholarship programme. However, due to the level of prevalence of disability (5.9% according to the ANSD's 2013 general population census report), it appears necessary to strengthen the application of public policies defined in favour of people with disabilities. In particular, these include: • the provision of health, education, transport and public space infrastructures adapted to the situation of people with disabilities • the care and support of the needs of people with disabilities through the recruitment and training of specialized staff.

What are the objectives of the commitment? The main objective of this commitment is to increase access to basic social services for people with disabilities. Specifically, the aim is to • increase by 20% the number of disabled people allotted with the Equal Opportunities Card; • improve access to public services for people with disabilities.

How would the commitment contribute to solving the public issue? The commitment will contribute to improving the mainstreaming of disability in the design and implementation of public policies. It will also contribute to reducing inequalities in terms of access to basic social services.

Why is this commitment relevant to the OGP values? This commitment refers mainly to the values and principles of equity, equality and participation.

Further Information The existence of the following documents should be taken into account • the National Strategy for Gender Equity and Equality; • the ANSD report on the mapping of basic social services.

Important activity with a verifiable deliverable Agenda Start Closure 1 Conduct a baseline study on the situation of people with disabilities January 2022 March 2022 2. Follow up on the measure on access to the civil service for people with disabilities (15%) January 2022 December 2023 3. Advocate for the adoption of the implementation texts of the social orientation law January 2022 March 2022 4. Popularize the application texts of the social orientation law January 2022 March 2022 5. Organize the Presidential Council on Disability April 2022 December2022 6. Set up the High Authority for Equal Opportunities January 2023 March 2023 7. Create a call centre for listening, advice and guidance for the disabled January 2023 March 2023 8. Set up a Support Fund for people with disabilities January 2022 December 2023

Action Plan Review

Commitment 7: Increasing Access to Basic Social Services for People with Disabilities

Results Report

Commitment 7. Increasing Access to Basic Social Services for People with Disabilities

The main objective of this commitment was to increase access to basic social services for people with disabilities. Specifically, the aim was to (i) increase by 20% the number of disabled people allotted the Equal Opportunities Card and (ii) improve access to public services for people with disabilities. While this commitment addressed an important issue, it did not have a connection to open government.

The Ministry of Health notes 15 implementing texts for the Social Orientation Law were drafted, with four enacted. Signed decrees include to establish departments to process Equal Opportunity Card applications and for special education, approving a community-based rehabilitation program, and setting conditions for student graduation. Draft decrees related to the commitment milestones include decrees to establish a fund for disabled people, establishing the composition and mandate of a high council for the promotion and protection of the rights of persons with disabilities, and establishing the conditions for recruiting persons with disabilities in public and private organizations. These decrees were not signed into law at the time of writing. [17]

The milestone to provide 20% of the disabled population with an equal opportunity card was not achieved, as financial constraints limited production. [18] The Ministry of Health reported to the OGP Steering Committee in April 2023 that 9% of beneficiaries had received equal opportunity cards. [19] In March 2022, organizations for people living with disabilities ^[20] highlighted the minimal provision of cards, estimating that there were “between one million and three million people living with disabilities”, whereas the State had only provided 70,000 cards to people living with disabilities. This statement was also confirmed [21] by the Director of the Promotion and Protection of People with Disabilities at the Ministry of Health and Social Action at a press conference in January 2023.

The remaining activities were not completed because this government program was not budgeted for. [22] No evidence of implementation was available in Senegal’s OGP repository and the IRM researcher did not receive a response to their request to reach the implementer during the research process. [23] Although some progress was made towards implementing the Social Orientation Law, these activities did not contribute to opening government to citizens and therefore did not achieve notable early results by the end of the action plan period.

[17] Information provided by the Senegal OGP National Technical Committee to IRM during the prepublication review period, April 2024.

[18] Abdoulaye Ndiaye, civil society member, Article-19, OGP MSF Co-Chair, interviewed by the IRM researcher by WhatsApp call and email on October 26, 2023.

[19] Information provided by the Senegal OGP National Technical Committee to IRM during the prepublication review period. April 2024.

[20] “Equal opportunities card: Associations of people with disabilities denounce "an impressive gap of 96.5%" in the supply.” 2022. Seneweb. https://www.seneweb.com/news/Societe/carte-d-egalite-des-chances-des-associat_n_375885.html

[21] “Senegal: Official highlights State actions on behalf of persons with disabilities.” AllAfrica. 2023. https://fr.allafrica.com/stories/202301270434.html

[22] Abdoulaye Ndiaye, civil society member, Article-19, OGP MSF Co-Chair, interviewed by the IRM researcher by WhatsApp call and email on October 26, 2023.

[23] The IRM researcher requested information from the OGP Point of Contact for Senegal by email on October 6, 2023 but was not able to get in touch with the commitment holder for more details. See: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1XXENwBevmkKquFRxsK8iDcsJF6MRZKAB