Objectives

Project Aims and Alignment with Decolonial Disability Research

Global South-CONNECT is a collaborative research initiative that seeks to reimagine knowledge, activism and solidarity through the lived experiences of young women and girls with disabilities across the Global South

Our project aims to:

• Explore how young women and girls with disabilities identify, engage and sustain networks of learning and activism within their communities and across Southern spaces
• Examine the tensions, challenges, and strategies shaping their movements for disability justice and inclusion
• Document and amplify cultural, historical and creative knowledges that sustain collective activism
• Co-create transformative practices and partnerships that advance equity interdependence, and collective well-bring

Anchored in decolonial disability studies and building on our previous ENGAGE project, Global South-CONNECT rejects extractive research models in favour of co-production, relational accountability and epistemic justice. The project foregrounds disabled women and girls as knowledge producers whose lived experiences challenge colonial, patriarchal and ableist systems

Through this approach, Global South-CONNECT contributes to a growing body of decolonial disability research that illuminates how Southern activists and communities create new pathways for inclusive social transformation. It is not simply a study about communities, but a partnership with the, one that values lived knowledge as a form of theory, resistance, and world-making

Key Themes

Each of our project’s key themes represents an interconnected strand of our broader vision for decolonial and inclusive change. Together, they shape how the research unfolds and how knowledge is shared across contexts and communities:

• Decolonial Disability Justice: resisting colonial and ableist hierarchies that marginalized disabled bodies and knowledges
• Youth Leadership: centring the voices, agency and creativity and expertise of young women and girls with disabilities
• Knowledge Mobilization: sharing insights through community collaborations, exhibitions, and digital archives to strengthen inclusion and advocacy
• Transnational Solidarity: connecting local and global networks for mutual learning and collective action
• Creative Storytelling and Art-Making as Knowledge: using participatory arts, digital media, and oral histories to reclaim narratives and visibility
• Intersectionality and Care: understanding disability through the interwoven lenses of gender, race, class and coloniality

Together, these themes reflect Global South-CONNECT’s commitment to creating research that is by, for and with disabled communities, fostering spaces of connection, creativity and collective transformation across Southern contexts