At launch of National Solidarity & Social Entrepreneurship Week: Minister calls for concerted action to facilitate inclusion of persons with disabilities.

The launch of the awareness, advocacy and social mobilisation campaign for disability which was under the theme: “Disability and Inclusion”, took place on Wednesday January 10.

In her speech during the launch the campaign, Minister Irène Nguene highlighted progress made by the government in terms of institutional, technical, operational and infrastructural framework. 

She went on to echo the ratification of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and age exemption for persons with disabilities in public competitive exams

“This year we are focusing on disability and inclusion, that why we initiated some activities like this awareness campaign, bringing together all the stakeholders around that question, there are also a number of workshops to train social workers,” the minister said. 

The stakeholders in Cameroon are exchanging knowledge with some experts from the Higher Institute of Inclusive Education in France and learning best practices on how best to manage issues of disability. 

According to the Minister of Social Affairs, the welfare of persons with disabilities and their contribution the growth of the country, preoccupies government and its partners.

“There is much that has been done by the state but this expertise is coming from elsewhere will better arm them [social workers]. That is why during this week, experts who are coming from abroad will train social workers and other actors who intervene in this chain to be able to have a mastery of better management of our target population [PWDs],” the minister added.

“We shall also share best practices with our foreign partners and gets what works for them which we can also adopt in our context,” the government official told reporters.

During the week, stakeholders in the sector will also be discussing issues such as accessibility in public buildings, health of PWDs, inclusive education among others.

Other activities scheduled within the framework of the National Solidarity and Social Entrepreneurship Week, include the holding of a round table conference to discuss the question of statistics of persons with disability and what is being done to better their situation.

A strategic meeting for the eventual putting in place of a National Solidarity Fund and the launch of a multi-year program for the creation of communal social cooperatives for the socioeconomic insertion and self-employment of groups of socially vulnerable is also in view. 

By the time the National Solidarity and Social Entrepreneurship wraps up on January 17, some 100 PWDs selected from the North West, West, East and Centre regions and who have been trained in various field will receive support. 

Minister Irene Nguene underlined that after the launch in Yaounde, the campaign will be extended to all 10 regions of the country.

“…we are talking inclusion, from here, we are going to the Regions because the persons who will be trained here will in turn train other social workers on field so that people should understand what the real needs of PWDs are and what should be done to improve their wellbeing…,” she said. 

The launch of the National Solidarity and Social Entrepreneurship Week held in the presence of the Minister of Women Empowerment and Family, Prof Marie Therese Abena Ondoa. 

PWDs salute gov’t effort, demand more

Speaking on behalf of PWDs, the Director of the Club of Rehabilitated Young Blind People of Cameroon, Dr Coco Bertin said they were grateful for efforts made so by the state to improve their wellbeing. He, however, added that they are still in need of more. 

“We want to draw the attention of government and the whole population on the needs of people with disabilities in our country. We already have 350 inclusive schools that government has created but we want them to be really inclusive. There are several PWDs who have been trained but are in need of socio-professional integration,” Dr Bertin said.