The Cameroon Baptist Convention programme is intended to improve the lot of physically-challenged people by involving them in development.
The improvement of lives of people with disabilities was at the centre of a recent stakeholders’ meeting in Bamenda. The Socio-economic Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities, SEEPD Programme, was to thank for the initiative during which stakeholders committed to positively impact physically-challenged people. Meeting at the Cameroon Baptist Convention, CBC, Health Services head office in Nkwen, they appealed to government to facilitate the acquisition of disability cards to enhance their participation in the nation’s development.
The need for more inclusive education teachers was also topical in order to handle the increasing number of children with disabilities. A twin-track approach was advised, with the disabled challenged to appropriate opportunities and structures provided by the SEEPD Programme to enhance their livelihoods. The CBC Director of Health Services, Prof. Tih Pius Muffih, chaired the event that featured the SEEPD activity report by the Manager, Jacques Chirac Awa.
It was disclosed that Phase Three of the programme has since moved from providing services to persons with disabilities to engaging local decision-makers to mainstream disability into all local development initiatives. Talking about performance in the first half of 2015, Jacques Chirac Awa said 275,860 people benefitted from medical outreach, treatment, rehabilitation, soft skills, technical and material programme interventions. Stakeholders saluted government’s increasing commitment in inclusive education with the creation of 68 pilot primary schools in all 10 regions of Cameroon.
It was also a moment to sound off about impressive results recorded by the SEEPD Programme, with inclusive examinations having become normal practice at the University of Bamenda. This is seen in the regular participation and success of candidates with visual impairment in the entrance examinations into the Higher Teachers’ Training College, ENS Bambili.
Some Mayors also received felicitation for making inclusive development a reality in their councils. The SEEPD Programme has moved from raising awareness in the first phase to the second that improved the participation of people with disabilities in programme implementation. It has also encouraged inclusion and consolidated gains for sustainability in the third phase. The programme is intended to run beyond 2018.
