The Mwinikuubu Disabled Women's Association (MDWA), a Wa-based NGO, has called on the Government to make the position of the two per cent share of the District Assemblies' Common Fund reserved for physically challenged persons clear to them since all attempts to access it has proved futile in some of the districts.
The association, which is made up of women with various physical impairments who are engaged in income generating activities to support themselves and their families, said all efforts they made to seek assistance from this facility in the Wa Municipality for example, has not yielded any positive results.
Members of the Association expressed these sentiments at a meeting organized by the Association and sponsored by the Business Sector Advocacy Challenge Fund (BUSAC) to dialogue with officials of the Business Advisory Centre (BAC) of the National Board for Small Scale Industries on entrepreneurial training opportunities for disabled women.
Madam Zenabu Dauda, President of the Association said for the past three years it had become increasingly difficult for their members to operate successful businesses as a result of lack of basic business management skills and a proposal sent to the NBSSI for that purpose was yet to be approved.
"There are instances where we the members of the association had to go out and source funds from benevolent organizations in order to contract NBSSI to organize training for our members, when we are aware that the government releases funds on quarterly basis for NBSSI to provide training for various business associations", she pointed out.
Mr. Gabriel Fiatu, Head of the BAC of the NBSSI in the Upper West Region said their training programmes were demand-driven and assured the association that their proposal was being considered and therefore called for mutual interaction to determine which of the training programmes would benefit them.
Mr. Denis Puorideme, BUSAC Fund Service Provider said, being disabled did not mean inability and urged them to make use of any opportunity available to them in order to lead independent lives.
He encouraged them to dialogue with relevant authorities and make follow-ups to get what they wanted since good things did not come easily without any efforts at accessing them.