Southern Africa Federation of the Disabled (SAFOD)

Call for Expression of Interest to Host Side Events

The Southern Africa Federation of the Disabled (SOFOD) will organize a three-and-half day "Regional Disability Round Table Forum" which will bring together SAFOD Affiliates, Disability Researchers & Academicians, Government representatives, the Private Sector, Key Founders of SAFOD, International Development Partners, and other Strategic Partners, to be held from 20th to 24th June 2017, at Holiday Inn Airport, Johannesburg, South Africa. The overall aim of this epic forum is to create a stakeholders’ forum to reflect and re-evaluate the work of SAFOD and the disability movement in general over the past three decades within the region, as well as interrogate the future direction. The theme for the forum will be: “Reflecting on 30 years of Disability Advocacy & Activism in Southern Africa.”
 
During the first three days of the forum, there will be side events in the evenings targeting some of the participants attending the main forum which will be organized by some of SAFOD’s partners who will want to take advantage of the presence of different stakeholders attending the forum to reach out to them with different disability-related agendas. The side events will strictly be on any subject related to disability and inclusive development. Through these side events, there are definitely far-reaching advantages for both SAFOD and our partners.
 
Firstly, this is probably one the smartest and most cost-effective ways of using resources for our partners who are interested in reaching out to various stakeholders to promote their respective (but shared) agendas. How? They will not have to transport the people from different countries in region to one place or to accommodate them.  Even where the participants have to transport themselves, this strategy will still help to free our partners from the burden of logistics to ensure that participants from different countries converge at one place, for an event that has to take one or two hours only. 
 
Secondly, partners are more likely to find the right target audience for their agenda if they are to target stakeholders working in the disability sector within the region, as the main forum will bring together SAFOD Affiliates, Disability Researchers & Academicians, Government representatives the Private Sector, Key Founders of SAFOD, International Development Partners, and various other Strategic Partners. Killing Many Birds with just One Stone!
 
All that our partners need to do, therefore, is to contact SAFOD Secretariat and send an Express Interest (EOI) to host one of the side events, stating the nature of the event they want to host, and the issues/agenda they want to raise during the event. EOI may either be submitted by email on info@disabilityroundtable.org and copy mchiwaula@safod.net or simply click here to submit online. 
 
Except for transporting participants, partners will, however, need to meet all other logistics related to the event which they want to organize. Expenses will include the hiring of the room in which the event will take place at Holiday Inn Airport. This will be mandatory. The charges may vary though depending on the size of the room, and the choice of the room will be determined by the number of participants being targeted by the partner(s) for each event. 
 
Click on this screenshot to access our online donation system!
Optional expenses may include translation from English to Portuguese, snacks for the participants, and reading and writing materials.
 
Once an EOI has been received by the SAFOD Secretariat, it will be forwarded to the Steering Committee of the Forum for further review and selection. After a partner has been selected, they must confirm to the SAFOD Secretariat within seven days of being notified by (a) writing SAFOD a confirmation letter, and (b) paying an administrative contribution of US$1,600 (this is exclusive of the logistical hotel expenses mentioned above that the partner must meet).
 
The admin contribution shall contribute towards expenses related to the promotion/marketing of the side events within SAFOD network; allowances for the volunteers during the entire Forum; meals and transport for Steering Committee members who will be reviewing and selecting the side events, just to mention a few. Contributions may be made as follows:
 
(1) By sending cheque/money order to SAFOD (you can find our address on the donation page here)
 
(2) Through Bank/Swift Transfer (you can also find our bank account details on the same donation page here), or
 
(3) Through our online donation system using credit card. The online donation system can be accessed here.  
 
If you are using the online donation system, please remember to specify the "Purpose of Donation/Contributions" by selecting from a range of options "Conference Contribution (for institutions) as shown in the screenshot here, so that we are able to trace and verify your contribution easily. 
 
After the selected partner confirms and pays admin contribution to SAFOD, the latter will constantly remain in touch to finalize the other logistical requirements with the hotel based on the number of participants being sought. The partner may either choose to pay directly to the hotel or through SAFOD. Most importantly, SAFOD will include the event on the separate program for side events and then market the side events to all potential participants of the Disability Round Table Forum. 
 
The side events will be marketed on the SAFOD website, the Forum's website, other independent websites, email lists, social media networks, among others. If there will be any promotional materials already produced by the partner, SAFOD will facilitate and ensure that these are well promoted through its well-established media and communication channels.