Lusaka’s Mkango Golf View Hotel was a hive of activity on 3-4 November 2022,as NAD hosted up to 31 CBID district networks Coordinators drawn from 15 CBID districts across all the 10 provinces of Zambia. The watershed meeting provided an opportunity for NAD and CBID Coordinators to share experiences as well as explore opportunities for growing and strengthening CBID networks in Zambia. Interestingly after 2 days of informative and productive engagement, the meeting produced concrete and feasible ideas for;
1.Growing membership from various community sectors
2.Improving and strengthening collaboration, coordination and advocacy strategies among CBID district networks, their partners and stakeholders
3.Establishing a national CBID coordinating secretariat
Participants expressed profound gratitude to NAD for hosting an important meeting of this nature, which was also attended by NAD consultant on CBID Christine Cornick from UK, Senior Social Welfare Officer in charge of disability in the Ministry of Community Development and Social Services Ms. Shishe Mwale. There were other notable people in attendance who included Zambia Federation of Disability Organisations (ZAFOD)board President who doubles as Livingstone CBID network Coordinator Ms. Musola Kaseketi and CBID Programme Officer from Cheshire Homes Society of Zambia Ms. Patience Kanguma. When asked about how they found the meeting some participants had this to say;
“The meeting was generally impressive and a lot of things were discussed”
” I was so excited to physically meet Christine at the national meeting of the Coordinators. I was motivated to hear that Zambian CBID networks were some of the best in the whole World ”
” Mr Mupotola (Eddie) has been great ”
In closing the participants recommended that NAD should consider increasing meeting days from 2 to 3 days to facilitate for more sessions and discussions.Documented resolutions from the meeting have since been shared with all the Coordinators for review and follow up.
