Stephen Adom with PWDs beneficiaries
The Ho Municipal Assembly has supported 76 persons with disabilities (PWDs) with financial assistance and capital items under the 37th disbursement of the Persons with Disability Common Fund.
The beneficiaries received support in four key areas: income-generating activities, education, healthcare and organisational development, aimed at improving their livelihoods and promoting social inclusion.
Some beneficiaries received capital items, including freezers, fufu-pounding machines, sewing machines, poly tanks and laptops, while others were given cash to establish or expand their businesses.
Chairman of the Municipal Common Fund Management Committee, Mr. Alexander Korsi Akpo, urged beneficiaries to put the items and financial assistance to their intended use to ensure that the intervention achieved its objective of promoting economic independence among PWDs.
He cautioned beneficiaries against selling or abandoning the items, stressing that the support was intended to create opportunities for them to become self-reliant rather than encourage dependency. He also urged PWDs to desist from street begging and take advantage of opportunities provided through the Common Fund and other social protection programmes.
Mr. Akpo expressed appreciation to the government for increasing the allocation to PWDs from three per cent to five per cent of the District Assemblies Common Fund. However, he said the five per cent allocation remained inadequate to meet the growing needs of PWDs and appealed for additional support from private institutions, civil society organisations, philanthropists and development partners.
He called for a shift from small-scale interventions towards capital-intensive and sustainable projects capable of creating employment and generating long-term income for PWDs and their organisations. He cited ventures such as poultry farming and the revival of the former chalk factory as potential initiatives that could create jobs and improve the economic well-being of PWDs.
The Ho Municipal Chief Executive, Mr. Stephen Adom, said the increase in the PWD allocation from three per cent to five per cent formed part of government’s efforts to improve the livelihoods of PWDs and promote social inclusion. He urged beneficiaries to use the items productively and cautioned them against selling them.
Mr. Adom disclosed that the Assembly had established a monitoring committee to follow up on beneficiaries and ensure that the funds and items provided were used for their intended purposes. He said the mechanism would enable the Assembly to assess the impact of the intervention and ensure that future support reached persons who needed it most, while government continued to support the education of children with disabilities.
From Daniel K. Orlando, Ho
