The Association for the Physically Disabled of Kenya (APDK) is conducting outreach programs to enhance the registration of Persons with disabilities (PWDs) from hard-to-reach areas.
The three-year project dubbed, Jumuisha, aims to help over 25,000 persons with disabilities in rural areas of four counties to obtain disability certificates and benefit from government and other empowerment programs.
APDK is piloting the project in Kakamega, Nakuru, Kilifi and Isiolo counties in partnership with the National Council for Persons with Disabilities (NCPWD) and the Christian Blind Mission (CBM).
The outreach program entails a one stop model where PWDs are assessed, registered and issued with disability certificates generated from e-citizen in a few hours of the day under one roof in the villages.
Usually a person would go to the medical facility for a disability assessment and wait for a week or two for the assessment report to be signed. Once signed, the person collects and proceeds for e-citizen registration, which would take another 48 hours to obtain the certificate.
Additionally, the NGO has supported NCPWD in 33 other counties countrywide with devices and equipment to enable them to scale up registration of PWDs.
Speaking to KNA at Mumbetsa County Polytechnic where the outreach was held, the programme officer of APDK, Elvis Kale noted that disability certificates are crucial documents that identify PWDs, but the majority from rural areas struggle to get them.
“We have heard cases of people who have looked for a disability certificate for a very long time, and this is what this project is trying to address. We are using one stop shop model which means when somebody comes today they will go through all the processes and go with a certificate by the end of the day,” he added.
During an outreach conducted in Likuyani in March this year, 300 PWDs were registered and issued with disability certificates in just one day.
“We have realized that the reason why some people with disabilities have not been registered is the issues to do with stigma and lack of awareness. They shy away from going through the exercise, but we are enhancing awareness and sensitization,” he noted.
Victor Otieno from Christian Blind Mission (CMB) said that the disability assessment and registration would enable partners to provide necessary interventions for PWDs based on data.
“Some people with disabilities in our communities lack assistive devices so if there are willing partners who can support us, they are most welcome. We encourage the county government to take up some of these activities even in terms of mobilization so that people can come for assessment and registration,” he added.
The Kakamega County Coordinator of the National Council for Persons with Disabilities (NCPWD) Priscah Akoth said registration of People with disabilities is very important for the government to plan for their needs.
“For us to be able to plan for their needs it is important that they are assessed and registered so that we get their numbers. For those who have the old disability cards we have now rolled out e-citizen registration which can be done anywhere through a smartphone. Once you have an assessment report and a passport size photo you just log into e-citizen www.ecitizen.go.ke and upload your documents,” she added.
The Kakamega County Rehab coordinator and focal person for disability mainstreaming, Faith Owuor called upon more partners to join hands to be able to scale up the outreach activities to more areas of the county.
“We have been having gaps in terms of personnel; we haven’t been able to cover all the sub-counties, but with these outreaches, we are able to achieve our indicators. We would wish to reach as many PWDs in this county as possible,” she added.
By Moses Wekesa and James Ingusu
