Skills Development Centre for People with Disability, Providing skills and jobs for the disabled. (A Proposal)

Project Abstract

A skills Development center SDCD is to be established for the disabled in a suburb of Ghana by Disop Social Foundation a non governmental organization located in Tema. This is to assist the people in the area where due to their conditions of being physically challenged have the problem of associating themselves with the public and there by hiding in their homes and becoming burdens to their relatives with few gathering the courage of sitting by the road side as beggar of food and money and others relying on children to aid them to the road side or to an outskirts to find their means of livelihood since they lack walking aids such as wheelchairs, walking sticks and other aids for the physically challenged.

The SDCD will focus on providing skills development to the Disabled which will enable them unearth their talent. The centre will have ultra modern workshops, a hostel facility, and staff apartment all at the cost of about $ 115 thousand ( US dollars). The centre will train in vacations such as IT, sewing, shoe making, beads making etc. it is expected that these skills if acquired through the SDCD program will have meaningful impact in their lives.

The SDCD situated in this area would utilize the services of competent architects and building contractor with similar experience such as EMEFS Constrictions and TRASACO Construction. After completion, national service personnel from the universities together with experts from the department of social welfare and the education services and the ministry of health will be employed to support the effort of the organizations. The community or local people will be involve in the labor work and provision of local materials for building the centre so that inmates will really have the sense of honor. We therefore request that you support the program financially or materially so that by 2010 shelter as well as vocations is provided for the physically challenged in the eastern region.

Major obstacles that face people with disability in their survival in the developing world include lack of employable skills, shelter and high level of inferiority complex. Which our rural areas and towns are not exception, since most of these people are kept in caves, hats, rooms and hardly are they exposed as a result of their physical state confining them at one place and most of these disabled people end up dying at a high rate but not noticed due to Isolation and poverty, poor shelter, lack of care and attention among others.

This project is aimed at serving about 2000 disabled people within the region of operation including those find themselves on street begging for arms apparently against their wish but are being compelled to since they get their ‘daily bread ‘through that means. This turn out to be their life style since that is the only option for survival. Another unfortunate thing is that it is becoming a professional business for the people who aid them to beg for arms, creating uncomfortable lifestyles for them since their conditions have made then to forget about themselves and awareness of the fact that they have certain talents and hidden skills within them and can make something meaningful out of their lives.

Dating from the resent survey done from the department of social welfare research shows that there are about 20% out of the total population who are disable and out of these percentage there are about 10% - 15% of them in the rural areas. A little over 4% out of these officially know 20% are also in the rural areas whose conditions are seen as taboos by their relatives therefore are kept in rooms. Others see disabilities as a misdemeanor and against their tradition and so keep disabled people in deserted places in the communities. About 1% die out of the total population and the causes of their death are traced to be avoidable if appropriate care and attention were given.

The construction of the skills Development center SDCD will be done in three phases thus the housing, logistics and the human phase. The housing phase involves building of infrastructure and the main buildings which includes ten classroom blocks which will be divided into workshops, theory rooms and a store room. In addition there will be a hostel, an administration block and recreational grounds. The logistics phase incorporate facilities and equipments for the workshops and the human phase encompass staffing and recruitment of inmates from the various villages and towns to the centre for training.

The centre is being established for the disabled in the suburb of Ghana, where due to their conditions of being physically challenged have the problem of associating themselves with the public and there by hiding in their homes making them a burden to their relatives with a few gathering the courage of sitting by the road side as beggars of food and money with other relying on children to aid them to the road side or to an outskirt since they lack walking aids such as wheel chairs, walking sticks, arm stretchers etc. The SDCD will focus on providing skills development to the Disabled to unearth their talent through counseling and grouping them into various fields of interest and giving them the appropriate training in the various vocations.

It is expected that through the provision of vital information to the disabled, it will impact their lives directly and positively. SDCD situated here would utilized the service of national service personnel from the universities together with experts from the department of social welfare and the education services and the ministry of health will be employed to support the effort of the organizations The community or local people will be involve in the labor work and provision of local materials for building the centre so that inmates will really have the sense of honor and alleviate the high level of inferiority complex and put their acquired skills into profitable use which can give them some level of income form their new vocations.

To effectively enhance the project various methods would be deployed. To really get the information to them their opinion leaders and the natives will actively involve through communal labor and educate on the benefits of the project to the community through the appropriate medium. Part of the project will awarded as contract to the best construction company.

a) The creation of SDCD will be rehabilitation center for people with disability. The center will be staffed by experts, and staff from the social welfare and ministry of education.

b) The Development, recruitment and training programs will be supervised by qualified staff by all standards and services of students from department for special schools for the disabled as volunteers for the vocational and skills training.

c) Main recruitment of the Disabled would be done by the director of the center through advocacy programs in the rural areas as well as one-on one home visitation so as to reach them on personal basis. A recruitment form will be filled which will provide detail information of every inmate, it will also spell out the rules, regulations and benefits that will be derived from SDCD since it’s to bring a source of hope and livelihood.

1. To help eliminate the plight of people with disabilities in our towns and villages who are isolated and live in caves, hats and dilapidated buildings and those who are on the streets by providing them with shelter (SDCD).

2. To counsel and help them identify their inherent talents and capabilities and not to feel that their present condition is limiting factor for them not to pursue any achievable goals in live.

3. To unearth their individual talent within them through vocational skills training which can empower them to be independent and active as a result
Of the income they will generate from the sales of the product they make
From the vocational skills training.

4. To provide certain basic necessities of life such as of food, clothing and shelter.

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