Origin of TanzaNEAD

There have been limited research evidence on disability in Tanzania. Yet, the available evidence is of poor quality. Further, questions are being raised regarding type and strength of research methods and challenges of translating research evidence through policy and practice. These  gaps have triggered off the  establishment of Tanzania Network for Evidence-to-Action in Disability (TanzaNEAD) as a network of individual member organizations with stake in disability researches working together with other stakeholders and adopting the African Network for Evidence-to-Action in Disability (AfriNEAD) concept locally to establish the state of disability issues and areas that need  strategic interventions in Tanzania. The stakeholders include people with disabilities, academic disability researchers, government, private sector/business and civil society. 

History of TanzaNEAD

The Organization
The Tanzania Disability Research Country Working Group (TDRCWG) is a country based working group of disability researchers working together with other stakeholders (people with disabilities, academic disability researchers, government, business and civil society) and adopting the AfriNEAD concept locally to establish the state of disability issues in the countries and identify areas that need interventions.

The TDRCWG was born at KCBRP in 2018 through AfriNEAD 5th Tri-Annual Conference held in Ghana and got registered on 02 March 2022 as a non-governmental organization through registration number 00NGO/R/2948 with TanzaNEAD as a legal name to work at a National Level to establish a disability status in mainland and Island of Tanzania. The long form of TanzaNEAD is Tanzanian Network for Evidence-To- Action in Disability

The aim of the TanzaNEAD is a to be a significant contributor and facilitator around disability research  evidence in Tanzania through facilitating knowledge translation, drawing from a broad presentation of stakeholders, developing TanzaNEAD research products, facilitating and coordinate research dialogues, and sharing best evidence to action practice guidelines. Therefore, TanzaNEAD is hereby established to regularly conduct and collate country specific research on disability to enable the relevant stakeholders to grasp the state of disability issues in Tanzania. TanzaNEAD will also act as a vehicle for facilitating the translation of disability research into policy and practice. Its strategy is to ensure that research on disability is translated  into meaningful evidence-based advocacy, practice, products and policy to ensure equal opportunities and realization of human rights by persons with disabilities.