The United Republic of Tanzania’s National Policy on Disability

Abstract

In the spirit of international cooperation and to advance human rights, many nations have signed and ratified the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UN CRPD). Ratification, however, differs from implementation, as the current analysis of the disability policy of the United Republic of Tanzania reflects. Here, the authors have accepted the Tanzanian Minister for Labour, Youth Development, and Sports’ invitation for local and international communities to rally to ensure that the desired outcomes of the NPD are realized. They examine Tanzania’s National Policy on Disability (NPD) using a policy analysis framework that has identified 18 core concepts of disability policy. They compare and contrast Tanzania’s NPD with this framework and conclude that the core concept of accountability is absent from the NPD. The authors then propose accountability techniques that might assist Tanzania to fulfill its firm and early commitment to the UN CRPD.