Media Release: Ghana Somubi Dwumadie outdoors six exciting short films on their COVID-19 Grants
A section of participants at the event watched the short films screened for the first time since they were produced.
Ghana Somubi Dwumadie has screened six short films on their COVID-19 Psychosocial Resilience Grants which showcases the work of our COVID-19 grantees. The grantees provided psychosocial support for people with disabilities, including people with mental health conditions during the pandemic, as well as to healthcare workers.
The films catalogue the impact stories of six of our grantees who were successful in accessing the COVID-19 Psychosocial and Resilience Grants Call, funded with UK Aid from the UK government. This provision of funding support for disability and mental health was in line with global calls for increased investment in mental health which has been at the heart of the celebration of World Mental Health Day in recent years. This year’s theme for World Mental Health Day on October 10th is “make mental health and wellbeing for all a priority”.
The grants, which closed out at the end of 2021, were given to enable the grantees to undertake a range of activities that address the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on people with disabilities, including mental health conditions, as well as frontline health workers and people who got infected with the COVID-19 virus.
The findings of an end-of-call evaluation revealed significant successes including; increasing the proportion of mental health patients accessing mental health care from 20% to 35% across project districts in northern Ghana, facilitating access to social services by people with disabilities during the pandemic, increasing COVID-19 awareness and adherence to COVID-19 protocols by people with disabilities, provision of psychosocial counselling and support to health care workers, people with disabilities and communities during the pandemic through tele counselling, mobile clinics and counselling units established by grantees, reaching 17,307 people overall.
Based on lessons and findings from the implementation of the COVID-19 grants, the following recommendations were identified to ensure inclusive pandemic and emergency response in Ghana:
• Improve targeting and coordination of government and CSO support for people with disabilities, including for people with mental health conditions, during pandemics by including their needs in the design of pandemic or emergency response
• Generate reliable data on disability and mental health at the national, regional, district and local levels to aid in proper targeting and emergency response
• Develop and disseminate key information accessible by each category of disability, including people with hearing or visual impairments, among others, to ensure that all people with disabilities are reached with key messages
• Pandemic and emergency response can include a component on providing psychosocial support to all people, especially people with disabilities, mental health conditions, and healthcare workers
• Peer-support for healthcare workers can be institutionalised in healthcare facilities in Ghana
A group photo of participants who attended the event.
The film screening event took place at the Ghana-India Kofi Annan Centre of Excellence in ICT (AITI-KACE), Accra on September 30, 2022. It brought together stakeholders in the mental health and disability space, including Disabled People’s Organisations, Self Help Groups, and Civil Society Organisations. Also in attendance were development partners like UKaid, World Health Organisation, UNICEF, as well as Ministry of Health, some members of government and parliament, traditional authorities and representatives of some universities and health institutions.
Grantees Featured
· Christian Health Association of Ghana (CHAG)
· Ghana Society of the Physically Disabled (GSPD)
· Hope for Future Generation (HFFG) – The PsyKForum
· Mental Health Society of Ghana (MEHSOG)
· Presbyterian Community Based Rehabilitation Programme (PCBR-Garu)
· Presbyterian Community Based Rehabilitation Programme (PCBR-Sandema)
About Ghana Somubi Dwumadie
Ghana Somubi Dwumadie (Ghana Participation Programme) is a four-year disability programme in Ghana, with a specific focus on mental health. This programme is funded with UK Aid from the UK government. The programme is run by an Options’ led consortium, which also consists of BasicNeeds-Ghana, Kings College London, Sightsavers International and Tropical Health, and focuses on four key areas:
Promoting stronger policies and systems that respect the rights of people with disabilities, including people with mental health disabilities
Scaling up high-quality and accessible mental health services
Reducing stigma and discrimination against people with disabilities, including mental health disabilities
Generating evidence to inform policy and practice on the effectiveness of disability and mental health programmes and interventions
In October 2020, the programme awarded 7 grantees with a total grant amount of GHS1,193,574 to implement COVID-19 related activities across Ghana for a period of 12 months. Projects under the COVID-19 Call ended in October 2021 reaching a total of 17,307 participants over the 1-year period.
Contact information
For further information, please contact:
Lyla Adwan-Kamara, Team Leader; 0543443755; l.adwan-kamara@ghanasomubi.com.
Dorcas Efe Mensah, Communications Manager; 0504701239; d.mensah@ghanasomubi.com