At the sidelines of the National Disability Forum supported by UNFPA and UNICEF , in collaboration with the National Human Rights Commission with funding from the United Nations Global Disability Fund, Maimuna Secka tells the story of how women with disabilities fare in a society that often thinks very little of them.
Maimuna navigates life in a wheelchair with an admirable energy that extends far beyond physical barriers. As the National Treasurer of the Gambia Federation for the Disabled, Maimuna has become a voice of hope, leading an association of more than 200 women called “Jigane Cha Kanam,” meaning “Women at the forefront.”
This group engages in food production and other income-generating activities to sustain their families. For Maimuna, this work proves that women with disabilities can thrive when given the opportunities and space they need.
I may be disabled, but my brain is working — and I can do anything in life. My aim is to raise the Gambian flag higher than high.
Maimuna's story is also one of advocacy. She believes that people with disabilities deserve visibility, respect, and platforms to showcase their potential.
We should be spoken to and given space to contribute. In The Gambia, we are generally not discriminated against, but the structures around us often exclude us.
The challenges are real. Many health facilities lack ramps and accessible services, making it difficult for women with disabilities to get the care they need.
On sexual and reproductive health, Maimuna is outspoken:
All women, including women with disabilities, deserve the right to choose and make decisions about their bodies. But persons with disabilities often suffer twice as much as other women.
The issue of gender-based violence also weighs in heavily. “Being a woman first, I am vulnerable. And being a person with disabilities, I am even more vulnerable,” she explains. Her call to action is:
women must remain firm, report cases of violence, and receive the support they deserve.
To empower women with disabilities, Maimuna insists that investment is needed — from capacity building to disability-friendly structures and equipment. For her association, tools such as cold rooms and dehydrators would transform their food production work and improve their livelihoods.
Despite the hurdles, Maimuna continues to lead by example. Recently, she participated in a two-day National Disability Forum, which brought together officials, development partners, civil society organizations and persons with disabilities to chart a path toward inclusion and equality.
The Global Disability Fund, now in its second phase, goes far beyond this National Forum. Key milestones include the establishment of a women’s network of persons with disabilities, assessing gaps and improving access for survivors with disabilities to GBV services, and integrating persons with disabilities into climate change and disaster risk management. The project also places a strong emphasis on reaching rural communities through regional forums, ensuring that inclusion and participation extend to those most often left behind.
UNFPA, the Sexual Reproductive Health Agency through its UNFPA Disability Inclusion Strategy is working to promote meaningful, transformative and sustainable inclusion of persons with disabilities across all its programmes and operations, including humanitarian programmes, from headquarters to local communities. The mission of UNFPA is to “achieve universal access to sexual and reproductive health, realize reproductive rights, and reduce maternal mortality to accelerate progress on the agenda of the ICPD Programme of Action, to improve the lives of women, adolescents and youth, enabled by population dynamics, human rights and gender equality”. To attain this goal, it is important to effectively and systematically include persons with disabilities, especially women and young persons with disabilities in development, humanitarian, sustaining peace and peacebuilding settings.
Media contact: Fatoumatta Cham, Program Analyst Communications (fcham@unfpa.org)
