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Stakeholders within the disability fraternity have called on government to strengthen its commitment towards empowering vulnerable groups of people such as women and girls with disabilities as well as ensure inclusiveness and equality at all levels of society.
The call is to ensure the realization of the aspirations of the ‘’Leave No One Behind’’ principle in the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and Agenda 2063.
The proponents also demanded of government to ensure enabling and inclusive environment in education institutions to support access by people with disabilities through the design and development of educational infrastructures and equipment.
They also asked government to enact, strengthen and implement laws and policies that address key barriers to access and completion of education especially for young girls.
The government must “Promote life-long inclusive and quality education for all; including marginalized and vulnerable groups especially girls and WWDs.”
These were contained in a statement issued at the end of a two-day workshop recently held in Accra for women with disabilities under the Ghana Federation of Disability Organizations (GFD).
The Event was put together by the GFD and the Africa and Global Partners of the ‘Leave No One Behind’ project namely Global Call to Action against Poverty (GCAP), Amasbis from Mali and Polycom from Kenya and supported by Voice.
Reading the statement, the President of the GFD, Mrs Mawunyo Yakor- Dagbah said, “we highly appreciate and are encouraged by the government of Ghana’s commitment to voluntarily present a national status report on progress of implementation of the 2030 Agenda for sustainable development (SDGs) this year at the HLPF in New York from 16th-18th July 2019.”
She indicated that guided by the principle of ‘’Leave No one behind’’, there is the need to question the progress Ghana has made in terms of three key areas including Political participation, Social protection and Employment which directly relates to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs 10, 8, 4) under review this year at the HLPF, with more focus on Goal 10-which covers reducing inequalities within and among countries.
As part of the key demand on the Government regarding political participation, Mrs Dagbah called for a meaningful participation of marginalized and vulnerable groups through the implementation of legal instruments and policies, that promote the rights of Women with disabilities, while urging political parties to provide financial support to Women With Disabilities(WWDs) Who want to rise up on the political ladder.
She suggested that the Ministry of Gender Children and Social Protection, “should offer a position for appointment of a WWD to cabinet position. Government appointees to the district assembly should be like how other people were elected, there should be a policy, a law guiding that appointment of women with disabilities to the local government system.”
In the area of Social Protection she stressed among other things the need for total inclusiveness in all aspects of life.
By Mohammed Suleman
