A non-governmental organization, Northern Nomadic Disabled Persons Organization (NONDO), has rolled out plans to link people with disabilities (PWDs) to empowerment opportunities in government and donor agencies to improve their livelihoods.
Through sensitization and awareness creation of opportunities from government agencies such as the county revolving fund, the uwezo and youth funds, the women enterprise fund and the Inua Jamii programs, the NGO is seeking to help the PWDs with information and ease the process for them to access the services.
Speaking in Garissa today during a meeting that brought together a section of these agencies and the people living with disabilities in the county, NONDOs team leader in Garissa Fatuma Mohamed said that most PWDs were hit hard by the Covid-19 pandemic and that they saw a need to help them recover by connecting them to information on funding and government tenders.
Fatuma revealed that there has been a gap in disseminating information to people with disabilities th
us locking them out from applying for opportunities that could improve their lives and called for more media sensitization to reach all of them.
‘We realized that when COVID-19 hit, the most affected people were PWDs and their livelihoods were affected. So we thought that there could be government interventions and we sought to find out how the PWDs could find these opportunities,’ Fatuma said.
‘We found out there were barriers which were keeping PWDs from these opportunities and today we have brought together the government officials of the relevant agencies to better explain to the PWDs how better to access these openings and we are glad that the information is now out and the people will be well guided,’ she added.
Fatuma further asked officials to always help the PWDs seeking services with the technicalities of the forms, especially those seeking funding or tenders to boost their income.
Garissa County CECM for Gender, Culture, Youth and Sports Hawa Abdi Sahal said that the county administration in su
pport of PWDs had created a whole directorate headed by a Chief Officer for people with disability affairs which will help in empowering them.
The CECM further revealed that the PWDs in the county have been receiving wheelchairs, and business startup tools such as tailoring machines, salon and haircut kits to help them run business and generate an income.
A section of the PWDs we spoke to during the session was satisfied with the information shared and promised to form groups to access the financing through the government affirmative action programs funding.
Source: Kenya News Agency