Disabled peoples organisations from regions four, six, and ten, were yesterday presented with several pieces of equipment to aid their sensitisation work in their communities.
At a simple ceremony at the secretariat of the National Commission on Disability (NCD), a television set, a camcorder, a tripod, a flip chart stand, a digital recorder, a DVD player and 63 blank DVDs were handed over to three groups.
Those receiving the donations were the Linden Supporting the Effort and Empowerment of Persons with Disability (Linseed) and the Region Four and Region Six Community Based Rehabilitation (CBR) groups. The aim of the donation to the selected groups, according to NCD Programme Manager Zoan Williams, is for the continuation of public sensitisation efforts in those communities. She said the donation was birthed
from a project called, ‘It’s About Ability’, and saw the compilation of a manual, with the same title, that will see those trained, using the manual during sensitisation campaigns. The project was funded by UNICEF, in collaboration with the NCD, Guyana Council of Organisations for Persons with Disability and the Guyana CBR Programme. She added that the hope is for positive change in the attitudes and behaviours of persons towards the disabled.
A document issued by the NCD stated that the main objective was to increase the number of advocates for persons with disabilities, as well as promote the change in attitudes and practices by a wide cross-section of the citizens of Guyana.
Shaunette Shipley of Linseed told Stabroek News that the donation was a welcomed one. She said it will see that group doing public sensitisation on a large scale. However she mentioned that her organisation needs a building to operate from, since the building it used was destroyed by fire in 2012, during Linden uprising.
CBR groups in regions two, three and nine are also recipients, but were not present at the handing over ceremony.
Co-ordinators of the workshop were Gregory Glasgow and Leon Walcott, while the main facilitators were Dr Janice Jackson, Geraldine Maison Halls and Montgomery Chester.
