SayPro 2025 Global Accessibility Awareness Day (GAAD) Speech

By Tsakani Rikhotso, Chief Learning & Monitoring Officer, SayPro

Good [morning/afternoon], everyone.

It is both an honor and a responsibility to speak with you today as we observe Global Accessibility Awareness Day 2025.

At SayPro, accessibility is more than a principle—it is a practice. It is something we learn, monitor, refine, and embed into everything we do. As Chief Learning & Monitoring Officer, I am proud to say: accessibility is not an afterthought in our learning systems—it is at the core of how we grow.

Let’s be clear: an inclusive organization doesn’t happen by chance. It happens by choice, by learning, and by accountability.

Over the past year, SayPro has deepened its learning and evaluation framework to ensure that every learner, every staff member, and every stakeholder can access knowledge equitably—regardless of ability, background, or role.

Here’s what that looked like in practice:

• We conducted a comprehensive accessibility audit of all our learning platforms, training content, and digital resources—and redesigned where needed to ensure universal access.
• We rolled out mandatory training on inclusive facilitation and digital accessibility across all departments, reaching over 95% of our workforce.
• And through our Monitoring & Evaluation systems, we’ve begun tracking accessibility and inclusion as core performance indicators, alongside traditional impact metrics.

Because at SayPro, we believe: what gets measured, gets improved.

So, what’s next? I’m excited to share three strategic priorities that will guide our accessibility journey in 2025 and beyond:

1. Accessible Learning by Design
   All new SayPro training materials—whether in-person, virtual, or self-paced—will follow universal design principles from day one, ensuring everyone can participate and thrive.
2. Feedback Loops that Work for All
   We’re enhancing our monitoring tools to ensure feedback mechanisms are fully accessible—across languages, devices, and abilities—so that every voice can be heard and acted upon.
3. Inclusion as a Learning Outcome
   We are embedding accessibility into our learning assessments and program evaluations. Because we can’t call something a “success” if it only worked for some.

GAAD is not just a reminder—it’s a reset. A moment to reflect not only on how far we’ve come, but on how much further we must go to ensure that learning is inclusive, data is equitable, and progress is shared.

To all our partners, teams, and learners: thank you for helping us stay accountable, curious, and committed.

At SayPro, we believe that accessibility is a journey of continuous learning. And we will never stop asking the question: Who might we be leaving behind? And more importantly: What must we do to bring them in?

Thank you—and let’s keep building systems where every learner, every voice, and every perspective matters.