The National President, Joint National Association of Persons With Disabilities (JONAPWD), Mrs. Ekaete Umoh has been nominated alongside other individuals for the prestigious Global Ford Fellowship, 2021.
The news was disclosed in a press statement released by the Ford Foundation.
The Ford Global Fellowship is a program of the Ford Foundation for accomplished global champions, civil society leaders, policy makers, social entrepreneurs, and pioneers of social movement around the world.
It is indeed remarkable that Madam Ekaete’s accomplishments was recognized in a rigorous selection process of more than 5000 nominations. Her impressive profile and numerous achievements in the disability and women movements in Nigeria stood her at vantage point for the fellowship.
Ekaete Umoh is the country director CBM Global Disability Inclusion. At CBM Global, Madam Ekaete leads a campaign to end the cycle of poverty and disability in Nigeria. As National President of the Joint National Association of Persons with Disabilities, she has been actively involved in passing of the national law protecting the rights of people with disabilities.
Umoh envisions a just society with equal opportunities for all where people with disabilities can access their rights and achieve their full potentials. She says: “We can’t address the world’s injustices without ensuring rights and opportunities for people with disabilities.”
The Ford Foundation has announced that this year’s Ford Global Fellows (The Foundation’s flagship global fellowship program with a $50 million investment supporting emerging leaders around the world) will double the number of fellows slated for the second year running, and with more representations from West Africa.
The move is an effort to provide more leaders the critical support they need in face of the Covid-19 pandemic.
The 48 new fellows will join the inaugural cohort launched in 2020. A Fellow will be included from Togo and Sierra Leone, and two from Nigeria. Together, the three cohorts will comprise 72 (of what will eventually be 240 Fellows over ten years) promising global leaders.