Minister of Gender, Community Development and Social Welfare, Jean Sendeza, has called for strong partnerships amongst stakeholders in order to address and mitigate social challenges affecting persons with disabilities in the country.
She was speaking at Bingu International Convention Centre (BICC) in Lilongwe Friday evening during the launch of the Disability Trust Fund (DTF).
She said if the country is to attain inclusive wealth for all as per the Malawi 2063 then partnership is the way to go to develop marginalised population.
“My appeal is for all of us to work together to make the Fund a success and reach out to as many people as possible.
“DTF is a tool that will help people with disabilities to be assisted in all programmes. We want the private sector to help in disability programmes and partner with government so that the Fund has resources,” she said.
She described the launch of the Fund as significant to the country in as far as disabilities issues are concerned as it will provide funds for disability interventions.
According to the 2018 Population and Housing Census, Malawi has over 1,700,000 people with disabilities. However, the Fund has, in its first year of service, reached out to 2,000 people.
The launch saw some institutions receiving grants as first round beneficiaries of the Fund.
Namitete Secondary School in Lilongwe is one of the institutions which has received the grant of assorted teaching and learning materials amounting to K38 million.
The school’s head teacher, Herbert Mmala, said they applied for the grant to ease challenges the school faces in offering inclusive education.
“We applied for the grant because we are one of the schools which offers special needs education services. We have a lot of students with different disabilities and, as a school, we couldn’t cope with the financial pressure to provide for all the students,” he said.
Mmala said the grant will help alleviate challenges the school has been facing in an effort to support students with different disabilities.
Unicef Country Representative, Shadrack Omol, emphasised on the need to leaving no one behind in order for Malawi to have a strong society which is inclusive.
DTF, which supports implementation of disability programmes and provision of disability services in Malawi, was established in 2020 in line with Section 28 of the Disability Act of 2012. It disburses funds through grants, subsidies and loans.
