CAN as an organization was born out of the resolutions of the first Africa CBR conference, which took place in Uganda in 2001 at the Uganda National Institute of Special Education (UNISE).
At this conference, members felt that there were four areas for action:
(a) to initiate the formation of national CBR Associations;
(b) to improve the capacity for sharing information about good CBR practice
(c) to review CBR training programmes in order to promote their synchronization;
(d) to organize regular CBR conferences in Africa, starting with one in 2004.
Subsequently these members met to form an organization that would promote the sharing of information on CBR practice and other pertinent issues in this field. It was agreed CAN would support CBR initiatives to document and share information on good practices.
Since its founding conference in 2001, CAN has organized CBR Africa conferences held in Malawi in 2004, South Africa in 2007, Nigeria in 2010, Kenya in 2014, Zambia in 2018, and back to Uganda in 2024 and has produced and disseminated CBR books covering proceedings of the conferences.
It has also facilitated 17 writing workshops in different African countries where CBR workers, including persons with disabilities, have been trained in documentation and their articles published in a book and on the CAN website. CAN has also compiled a CBR directory for Africa, which currently features 3869 members from 97 countries.
CAN initially had five Executive Committee members.
This structure was later reconstituted as the International Advisory Board (IAB), comprising five representatives from the five regions of Africa, along with four additional members, bringing the total to nine. This restructuring was adopted following a resolution by the General Assembly during the 7th CBR/CBID Africa Conference held in 2024. The current board includes representatives from Zambia, Cameroon, Egypt, Niger, Uganda, and Kenya.
The UK based CP Trust has been CAN’s major donor throughout its history and has played a vital role in the achievements of CAN to date. CAN are extremely grateful to the CP Trust for their significant support.
