VOICE GHANA has received a grant of US$ 99,759.00 from the Open Society Initiative for West Africa - OSIWA to implement a two year advocacy project for marginalized and socially excluded people with disabilities from 10 districts in the Volta Region.

The beneficiary districts are: Akatsi South, Akatsi North, Ketu North, Ketu South, Nkwanta South, Nkwanta North, Krachi East, North Dayi, Ho West and Central Tongu Districts.

The project will support and arm the beneficiary persons with disabilities from 20 Disability Self-help Groups in the target districts, with skills to start participating in their District Assemblies’ (DAs) Public Hearing sessions including Town Hall meetings. This will offer them the opportunity to demand benefits from provisions of public goods and services as well as community development programmes.

The project will also engage the target District Assemblies and sign Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with them to integrate development priorities of persons with disabilities that will be compiled within the project, into their Medium Term Development Plans and Consolidated Budgets.

The key project partners include:

1. The Volta Regional Coordinating Council - VRCC
2. The beneficiary District Assemblies
3. Member of Parliament from the beneficiary districts including the Volta Regional House of Chiefs
4. Traditional Authorities through their Councils in the target districts
5. Department of Social Welfare Offices in the beneficiary districts
6. Local Governance Network
7. The Media

As we all know, there was a political shift towards decentralization in Ghana since 1988 with decision making and resource allocation deployed from central to local assemblies through the District Assemblies, as stipulated in the Local Government Act of 1993 (Act 462) and other local government policy and legislative frameworks. This shift offers greater opportunities for every citizen including PWDs to influence local development and decision making processes but this is not the case for persons with disabilities in the target districts.

Further, the 1992 Constitution of The Republic of Ghana, (Articles 29 and 37(2) (b), the Persons with Disability Act, 2006, Act (715) and Article 29 of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities provide the legal frameworks to enable persons with disabilities exercise their civil, political, social, economic and cultural rights on an equal basis with others. Again, this is not the case for persons with disabilities in the target districts, and this is what the project sought to address.

Singed:

Francis Asong

Director, VOICE GHANA