Statement of the problem
The two-way link between poverty and disability creates a vicious cycle. Poor people are more at risk of acquiring a disability because of lack of access to good nutrition, health care, sanitation, as well as safe living and working conditions. Once this occurs, people face barriers to the education, employment, and public services that can help them escape poverty.
Disability rates in the population are higher among groups with lower educational level in the countries of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). On average, 19 per cent of less educated people have disabilities, compared to 11 per cent among the better educated.
Ninety per cent of children with disabilities in developing countries do not attend school, says UNESCO. Persons with disabilities are more likely to be victims of violence or rape, according to a 2004 British study, and less likely to obtain police intervention, legal protection or preventive care. Research indicates that violence against children with disabilities occurs at annual rates at least 1.7 times greater than for their peers without disabilities. Claims for disability benefits are surging in industrialized countries – up to 600 percent in some nations – encouraging governments, private companies and unions to search for ways to get disabled people back to work, according to the International Labour Organization (ILO).
Discriminatory practices continue to deny persons with disabilities, as well as workers who become disabled, access to work. Two-thirds of the unemployed respondents with disabilities said they would like to work but could not find jobs. An estimated 386 million of the world’s working-age people have some kind of disability, says the International Labour Organization (ILO). Unemployment among the persons with disabilities is as high as 80 per cent in some countries.
The situation in Ghana
Approximately 10% of Ghana’s 20 million citizens are persons with disability (PWD). Although their rights are guaranteed both by Ghana’s Constitution and by international conventions, in reality these provisions have offered them very little actual protection against discrimination. The poverty situation of persons with disability in Ghana is much more severe compared to non-disabled persons. Many of the PWDs actually languish in extreme poverty with a high degree of unemployment and underemployment. The Labour Act 2003 and Disability Act 2006 however have provisions that seek to address some of the issues that contribute to extreme poverty among PWDs. The Labour Act and its accompanying Labour Regulation 2007 call for the setting up of a disablement unit in each district to assist PWDs who need employment.
Ghana has recognised the rights of people with disabilities, thus guaranteeing their rightful place in society. But to turn these legal rights into a revolution in which diversity is fully accepted and lived, negative attitudes must be turned into constructive attitudes. Positive attitudes will ensure that social resources are invested in our communities for the attainment of institutions that are more inclusive and more democratic, so that our society will be prosperous.
It is in this regard that a number of NGOs are rising to the challenge to improve the lives of persons with disability, and our organization, Stichting Able Men, is one of those who seek to offer entrepreneurial skill training for the disabled and raise funds to equip them to start their own businesses and become economically well-grounded. Persons with disabilities have the right to be in control of directing the affairs of their lives. Contrary to the traditional practice whereby persons with disabilities were relegated to the background and handled by the community in a way that seems best to them, the new awakening projects the centrality of the person with disability.
This project seeks to reduce unemployment rates among the disabled and increase their economic viability.
Project goal / objectives
The goal of this project is to empower the disabled in society to achieve economic advancement.
The objectives of this project are:
- To decrease the rate of unemployment among the disabled.
- To increase the number of disabled entrepreneurs and improve the quality of their lives.
Strategies / activities
The following strategies are devised to ensure the achievement of our objectives. The corresponding activities are also duly outlined.
Capacity building
Through training sessions in sewing, bead-making, cane basketry and furniture making, among other crafts, the disabled are offered requisite vocational skills.
Yearly exhibitions will be held during which an auction sale of handiworks will be organised. Proceeds from the auction sale will be given to the graduating batch of trainees as capital for setting up on their own.
Though currently starting in Kumasi, we hope to spread our tentacles to other regions of Ghana within the next five years to enable more people with disabilities to access this opportunity of learning entrepreneurial skills.
From time to time, open fora will be organised to give the newly made entrepreneurs the opportunity to share their challenges as new entrepreneurs and also seek further knowledge in their respective vocations.
Stichting Able Men shall liaise with other NGO bodies in Ghana, Africa and around the world, by partaking in conferences, seminars and workshops that border on issues of disability, in order to be better equipped to advance the cause of this project.
Awareness raising
Stichting Able Men seeks to publicize its cause through information centers in rural communities, the mainstream media (radio, television, print media) as well as social media, in view of raising awareness of the opportunity available and giving more people with disabilities the chance to be trained and assisted to set up a business.
Organizational development
Research & development
Project results
The results of this project will ultimately improve societal life and promote national development. Training the disabled in society will yield a great output of ensuring each trainee acquires useful entrepreneurial skills. The outcome of this will be economic empowerment and the impact will be improved livelihood for the disabled and their dependent relatives as they gain financial independence.
Monitoring and evaluation
Although it is the responsibility of the donor to carry out monitoring and evaluation of the project, it usually seeks the plan from the implementing NGO about it.
Monitoring and evaluation enables a constant check on the activities and helps review the progress made at every step. Monitoring should be an integral part of project implementation; in fact, there should be an internal mechanism to monitor the results, risks, assumptions and performance regularly through meetings and submission of reports.
The Management Information System (MIS) is often used as a mechanism to undertake monitoring. The baseline information is critical to the monitoring process.
Involving external entities such as donors, government people, consultants etc. in monitoring would give a good opportunity to collect feedback, provide exposure to the work and also explore new options. Evaluation is carried out by an external agency during the mid-term or in the end part of the project.