In a recent conversation, Rosario Galarza, Senior Officer Intersectionalities and Cross-Movement Collaboration at the International Disability Alliance (IDA), shared her remarkable journey in the disability movement across national, regional and international levels. In July 2024, Rosario participated in UN's High-level Political Forum (HLPF) on Sustainable Development 2024, where she spoke at a panel discussion on "Keeping the SDGs Promise: Pathways for Acceleration."
Rosario was elected the representative of women with disabilities in Peru for the Latin American Blind Union (ULAC) in 1998, a pivotal moment that marked her foray into the disability rights movement. Her first significant exposure came through an invitation to the forum of Latin American Blind Women in Venezuela. “After this event, I decided to create an organization, Comisión de Damas Invidentes del Perú (CODIP), to fight discrimination faced by women with visual impairments and promote their inclusion in the society.”
Setting up CODIP was a formative experience for her leadership in the disability movement in Latin America. Her leadership roles within ULAC, including as the Andean region coordinator, Gender Secretary, and later as the Secretary of Education, solidified her influence and advocacy across Latin America. She further expanded her impact while working with the International Council for Education of People with Visual Impairments (ICEVI) Latin America from 2016 to 2020. In 2015, she participated in the Bridge CRPD-SDGs Latin America Module 1 pilot in Medellin, Colombia as a representative of CODIP. This experience grew into a long-term collaboration with IDA. Her diverse experience led to her current role in advancing inclusive development and strengthening OPDs' capacities to engage in these processes.
Fostering Inclusive Facilitation on a Global Scale
Photo description: Rosario conducting her CRPD workshop in Honduras in June 2016. That year, Honduras was preparing their CRPD alternative report, and she was invited to conduct a workshop for OPDs representatives. It was her first workshop since joining RIADIS through the IDA fellowship.
While Rosario's participation in Bridge CRPD-SDGs in Latin America helped in building her own capacities, she was also positively influenced by participating in IDA's Latin American Conference, which was held in parallel. “Through this conference, IDA strengthened its support for its members and members’ member organizations and significantly influenced the disability movement across the region,” she explained. This appealed to her own personal desire to support movement building towards advancing an inclusive and intersectional development agenda, as well as strengthening the capacities of Organizations of Persons with Disabilities (OPDs) to engage in these processes.
In 2016, Rosario's role as an IDA fellow enabled her to support Latin American Network of Non-Governmental Organizations of Persons with Disabilities and their Families (RIADIS) directly. As their Human Rights Officer, she played a pivotal role in assisting OPDs in the preparation of CRPD shadow reports and developing training materials on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). “The ongoing support from RIADIS has been instrumental in fostering collaboration and capacity building,” she added.
Reflecting on her current role at IDA, Rosario explained how it has allowed her to leverage her extensive experience and key learnings. One of the most valuable lessons she applies in her current role is the “importance of acknowledging diversity and designing inclusive facilitation”. “The Bridge CRPD-SDGs training program, in particular, played a crucial role in shaping my approach to training and advocacy, equipping me with techniques to effectively engage persons with disabilities,” she shared.
In the last decade, Rosario has facilitated several Bridge CRPD-SDGs cycles, including in Bolivia, Central America, Lusophone Africa. Rosario explained how inclusive facilitation takes on different forms with each cycle. “Each training is unique and offers different opportunities for learning. In Mozambique, I facilitated the training in Portuguese by applying my basic knowledge in the language and felt that the attendees understood me well. The facilitation team was diverse and co-facilitating the workshop with a diverse facilitation team, including an autistic person, was an enriching experience.” Despite initial challenges, her decision to facilitate sessions in Portuguese resonated with participants, fostering a more engaging and inclusive environment.
Description of the photo: Rosario co-facilitating a session on UN monitoring mechanisms at the Bridge CRPD-SDGs Portuguese Speaking African Nations in Mozambique, 2023.
Championing Intersectionality
Rosario's leadership in intersectional approaches to her work has been marked by significant milestones both at IDA and RIADIS. “I conducted my first workshop with indigenous persons with disabilities in 2017 in Cuba and I created a small network with all the attendees of the workshop,” adding that the network continues to thrive. Rosario feels a strong connection with the movement of indigenous persons with disabilities, having seen firsthand the barriers that they experience in her home country. Her role as the focal point for persons with disabilities within the civil society coordination mechanism for the 2030 Agenda of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) provided a platform to engage with diverse communities, including LGBTIQ+, people living with HIV and AIDS, migrants, youth, and older adults. At IDA, Rosario has focused on strengthening cross-community collaboration, and continues to work with youth, women, and indigenous persons with disabilities.
Strengthening coalition-building
Rosario's involvement in engaging OPDs around the development agenda has been instrumental in driving progress on the SDGs. She has played a key role in encouraging OPDs to participate in Voluntary National Review (VNR) processes and contributed to SDGs parallel reports. “I directly supported the SDG reports of Colombia, Peru, and the regional report of RIADIS. Later, when I joined the IDA secretariat, I supported the preparation of reports for five Latin American countries, one Asian country, and four African countries, including two Portuguese-speaking nations,” she explained.
Description of the photo: Rosario conducting her first workshop with indigenous persons with disabilities at the RIADIS conference and general assembly in Cuba, 2017
When asked about one of her most memorable experiences, Rosario shared a story from Guatemala that highlighted the power of coalition-building. For the first time, OPDs in Guatemala came together in a unified effort, collaborating with the entity responsible for preparing the mainstream national civil society parallel report on SDGs as part of the country’s VNR. This collective effort underscored the importance of inclusive participation in shaping national policies and frameworks.
Celebrating Milestones: A Career of Impact
Rosario's career is marked by numerous highlights, all of which reinforce her dedication to disability advocacy, cross movement mobilization, and building sustainable practices for capacity building among her colleagues. From her fellowship with JICA in 2004 where, for the first time, she spent time with persons from different disability constituencies to her award from the Ministry of Women in Peru in 2008, which led to the founding of the Blind Ladies Commission of Peru (CODIP), to training and mentoring over 80 participants during Bridge CRPD-SDGs cycles, and facilitating IDA's youth committee, she has achieved many significant milestones.
Description of the photo: Left: Rosario receiving an award on stage during the International Women's Day event organized by the Ministry of Women in Peru on March 8, 2008. Right: Rosario holding her framed "Orden al Mérito de la Mujer 2008" award, wearing a medal around her neck, and smiling at the camera. Description of the photo: Rosario awarded in merit on International Women's Day by the Ministry of Women in Peru in 2008.
CODIP recently celebrated its 26th anniversary. CODIP’s founding focus was on the inclusion, visibility and advocacy of blind and visually impaired women. Through the years, CODIP’s reach, and impact have grown to include all women with disabilities for training workshops and projects.
Rosario's impact on the disability movement is a testament to the power of collaboration, diversity, and intersectionality. Her work has advanced the rights of persons with disabilities in Latin America and set a global standard for truly inclusive and sustainable movement building.
