Press Release: Ghana Somubi Dwumadie Strengthens Capacity of Four Disabled People’s and Women’s Rights Organisations

Tamale, Ghana – 13th 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. These organisations include Ghana National Association of the Deaf (GNAD), Women with Disability Development & Advocacy Organisation (WODAO), Ghana Blind Union (GBU) and Duapa Mothers Union. The work of the grantees has identified key approaches that work in user-led approaches to address stigma and discrimination against people with disabilities and mental health conditions. Our evaluation of the grant implementation showed that their work had a genuine and significant impact in mainstreaming user-led approaches in social behaviour change and advocacy mechanisms in disability and mental health.

Grantees harnessed their unique contribution and strengths as small and grassroots organisations, by strengthening their capacity to bring about sustainable change in the lives of people with disabilities, including people with mental health conditions, particularly women with disabilities or mental health conditions.

Team Leader of Ghana Somubi Dwumadie, Lyla Adwan-Kamara says, “When organisational capacity is strengthened, when they are supported to participate fully in user-led approaches, and when their collective power is harnessed into an effective movement to advocate for inclusion, WROs and DPOs can drive sustainable positive change in the wellbeing and rights of people with disabilities or mental health conditions, especially women.”

A staff of WODAO, attesting to the positive impact of the project has noted, “it is an undeniable fact that, within the one-year period of implementing the Capacity for Change project, WODAO has gone through so many transformational activities which has placed the organisation on a higher height than before. WODAO has now received the needed technical capacity to fully operate as a full-fledged user-led disability women’s rights organisation.”

An executive member of GNAD also said, “There is now a new 9-member national executive which meets frequently, at least on quarterly basis to deliberate on strategic organisation issues. This was not initially the situation, but after the capacity building provided to the national executive by Ghana Somubi Dwumadie, we have this in place and it’s working effectively.”

A film screening event was held at Modern City Hotel in Tamale on Tuesday showing four short films detailing the significant change stories of the grantees.

Media Contact

For further information, please contact: 

Dorcas Mensah

Communications Manager, Ghana Somubi Dwumadie

055 829 5768

d.mensah@ghanasomubi.com

Michael Tetteh Doku

Communications Officer, Ghana Somubi Dwumadie

054 629 7991

m.doku@ghanasomubi.com