By Solomon Gumah
Tamale, Feb 19, GNA – A year-long project that aims at advocating and promoting the rights of persons living with disabilities (PwDs) against Sexual and Gender-based Violence (SGBV) has been launched in Tamale.
The project dubbed: “End Violence and Abuse”, targets young women and adolescent girls living with disabilities in three districts, namely Kpandai, Sagnarigu and Wulensi in the Northern Region.
It seeks to empower PwDs to speak out on issues affecting them, especially on their reproductive health rights.
It is being implemented by the Centre for Research and Development Alternatives (CREDA) in partnership with Norsaac, both NGOs, under VCP Experimental Global Fund Projects with funding support from Oxfam in Ghana.
The launch brought together regional representatives of the Ghana Federation of Disability Organizations (GFD), the Young Persons with Disabilities (YPwDs) Department of Gender, the Department of Social Welfare and the Northern Regional Youth Network.
Mr Abukari Iddrisu, Programme Manager at CREDA, speaking during the launch, said the project was to build advocacy and influence the skills of beneficiaries to effectively engage duty-bearers to implement policies and programmes that guaranteed their well-being.
He said the project was also to increase public awareness of SGBV and safety guidelines related to young women and adolescent girls in the region.
He said it would also strengthen law enforcement agencies to take up their mandate on safeguarding the rights of PwDs.
Mrs Abubakari Nimatu, Northern Regional President of GFD, said the implementation of the project would help address some of the challenges confronting the health needs of PwDs in the region.
She urged all stakeholders to support the project to ensure its success.
Mrs Bushira Alhassan, Acting Northern Regional Director, Department of Gender, urged PwDs to improve on their mobilisation strategies and commitment to their groups to enable them to take advantage of the various interventions by the government and other NGOs.
Miss Hamza Hanifatu Gomda, President of the Northern Regional Youth Network, commended CREDA and its partners for the project, saying it would help complement the efforts of the network in supporting the development of the youth, especially PwDs.
GNA