The Gender Minister was joined by the Hon. Dr. Emmanuel Marfo, MP for Oforikrom and the Vice Chair of the recently inaugurated Disability Caucus in Parliament and Mr. Joseph Atsu Homadzi, the Ghana Federation of Disability Organisations President, to launch the guidelines at the closing conference of Ghana Somubi Dwumadie, on September 12, 2024. The launch of the new guidelines marks a significant milestone of the collective advocacy of Organisations of Persons with Disabilities, Civil Society Organisations and strategic partners including the UN System. This launch is so impactful in promoting mental health inclusion into social protection interventions in Ghana.

Ghana Somubi Dwumadie (Ghana Participation Programme) is coming to an end on 30th September 2024. The programme which commenced in March 2020 in the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, has since reached 155,203 people directly with activities that engage, empower, and improve the wellbeing, social and economic outcomes, and rights of people with disabilities and mental health conditions between January 2020 and August 2024.  

Ghana Somubi Dwumadie has built the institutional and technical capacities of four grassroots organisations to champion the rights of people with disabilities and mental health conditions in various districts across the country. This was done through the Sustainability and Legacy Grants for Mental Health and Disability Inclusion, awarded to grassroots Disabled People’s Organisations (DPO) and Women’s Rights Organisations (WRO) for 12 months in November 2022.

Access to mental health services is a pressing issue globally. Scaling up accessible mental health services requires a multifaceted approach that improves case detection, management, and complete integration in primary healthcare. From my observation and experience as a team leading the implementation of a district mental healthcare plan in three pilot districts across Ghana, here is how we can adopt simple steps that will expand access and improve mental healthcare in resource-limited settings like Ghana.

The recently concluded project titled "Women's Rights and Inclusion for Sustainable Development," spearheaded by Duapa Mothers Union and funded by Ghana Somubi Dwumadie, stands as a beacon of progress and transformation. This project has not only uplifted women and people with disabilities but has also set a new standard for community-driven sustainable development. As we reflect on the achievements of this initiative, we celebrate the profound impact it has made on countless lives.

The Alliance for Mental Health and Development (Alliance), a network of CSOs, NGOs, CBOs, and concerned individuals, convened its annual review and planning meeting in Tamale from 24th to 25th April 2024. During this meeting, we deliberated on issues concerning mental health, psychosocial disabilities, human rights, and the inclusion of people with mental health conditions in public health policies and services, which are critical to the mental health and wellbeing or poor and vulnerable people with Mental Health and Psychosocial Support Service (MHPSS) needs.

When she looks back at the challenges she has overcome - from stigma, manic episodes, depressive episodes, suicidal ideations, weight gain as a result of side effects from medications and fearing that she would never be happy and healthy again - Esenam Drah wishes to tell her younger self that having lived experience with bipolar disorder is neither a choice nor a death sentence.

At Sightsavers, we’ve learned a lot as we’ve developed our work on SBC, particularly in Ghana where we worked with partners on an innovative programme focusing on inclusion and stigma reduction for people with disabilities, including people with mental health conditions. We want to share some of our most valuable lessons from the Ghana Somubi Dwumadie to help others deliver inclusive and accessible social behaviour change programmes.

The 2023 World Mental Health Day saw Ghana Somubi Dwumadie hosting a film screening event, that spotlighted the impact of the work that grantees under the Evidence and Effectiveness (E&E) Grants for Mental Health and Disability Inclusion have done. The E&E grants seek to empower people with disabilities, particularly people with mental health conditions.

With a treatment gap of around 98%, stakeholders in mental health must identify and develop strategies to confront the huge treatment gap. Fortunately, a theory of change (ToC) as a strategy has the potential to identify and implement mental healthcare plans to bridge the care gap.

International Women’s Day (IWD) 2024 is here and the call to action is ‘InspireInclusion’.

Let’s talk about Adwoa Amponsah-Dapaah, a woman with a disability who has realised her dreams of becoming a lawyer. She focuses on human rights, disability rights, and advocacy where her expertise has consistently contributed to successful outcomes for her clients.

As we approach International Women's Day on March 8th, 2024, the theme “Inspire Inclusion” resonates profoundly with the core values we strive to uphold in our pursuit of gender equality and empowerment. As the Chair of the United Nations Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD), and a proud member of the Advisory Group for Ghana Somubi Dwumadie, I find great significance in reflecting on this theme, particularly in the context of women with disabilities.

International Women's Day (IWD) is an annual global celebration dedicated to honoring the achievements and contributions of women worldwide. It serves as a powerful reminder of the progress made towards gender equality while shedding light on the ongoing challenges that women face in various spheres of life.

Recently, I travelled to Ghana to visit our Ghana Somubi Dwumadie (a four-year disability inclusion programme funded by FCDO) to discuss lessons learnt and how we can capitalise on progress made since 2020. The week before my visit, the UK International Development Committee (IDC) questioned the Minister for Development and Africa, Andrew Mitchell, on the adequacy and effectiveness of FCDO’s disability and inclusion rights strategy. Here are a few reflections on this.

Ghana Somubi Dwumadie facilitated interface meetings between leaders of Self-Help Groups (SHGs) and the Department of Social Welfare and Community Development (DSW/CD) in 32 districts of Ghana including the Nkoranza North District of the Bono East District, to explore how to enrol people onto the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS).

Ghana Somubi Dwumadie has over the last 4 years provided support through our technical assistance (TA) model to the Government of Ghana to support the development of responsive and strong disability and mental health governance systems. Our programme start in 2022 quickly coincided with COVID-19. The COVID-19 pandemic exposed our ‘infant’ programme in its early stages to the gaps within the disability and mental health policy environment.

In a pioneering move, Ghana Somubi Dwumadie has introduced the transformative role of the Disability Accessibility Officer (Mental Health) to provide dedicated mental health support to the programme’s communication manager, who champions this role while navigating her journey with a mental health condition. This strategic addition is aimed at fortifying the Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning (MEL) Unit of the programme and reinforcing communication management efforts.

In the last few months I’ve had the great privilege to visit a number of Ghana Somubi Dwumadie grantees, as well as hosting them all in Accra for a learning event. One of the things I love about field trips is how much I learn about people’s situations which I just would never find written down in a report, no matter how well written by the grantees.

How Ghana Somubi Dwumadie's grant scheme tackles discrimination towards people with disabilities and mental health conditions in the country.