Association of disabled pleads for TASAF money

 

ENTREPRENEURS from the groups of people with disabilities have asked the government to consider them in the Tanzania Social Action Fund (TASAF) support.

Chairman of the Tanzania Albino Society for Mwanza Region Alfred Kapole told the ‘Daily News’ here over the weekend that his association was not happy with the way its members were being stigmatised during the TASAF fund allocation. 

 

Mr Kapole praised the fifth phase government’s one year in the office, saying it still has great challenge to ensure equality among members of the society, including equal sharing of the resources meant for the disadvantaged.

“The members with albinism are part of the poor families supposed to be supported by TASAF but we don’t get anything from this fund. We call for prompt intervention in this matter,” he said.

Apart from TASAF, Mr Kapole asked for consideration of the disabled groups in the use of the Constituency Development Fund, under the management of Members of Parliament in their respective constituencies.

He was speaking at an event where 30 members with disabilities received special three-week training on poultry farming, batik and beads handbag making, with participants from Shinyanga and Mwanza regions.

The poultry farming training was part of the three-year project Empower People With Disabilities (EPWDs) run by Small Industries Development Organization (SIDO) through the sponsorship of the Disability Aid Abroad (DAA) from Northern Ireland while Van Doorn Foundation from the Netherlands sponsored batik and beads making. Mr Kapole challenged local supporters to emulate foreign donors in assisting people with disabilities, saying ‘charity begins at home.’

SIDO Regional Manager Damian Chang’a said the training participants were part of the total 280 members with disabilities who will benefit from the DAA sponsorship by the end of the project in December this year.

He challenged the project beneficiaries to work hard and convince donors to release more funds as negotiations on the possibility of extending the project were on top gear.

“The project sponsors are coming next month and among other issues in their itinerary is the visiting to your groups to evaluate your performance before deciding on whether or not to extend the contract...so, work hard to meet their expectations,” he advised.

A training beneficiary with hearing disability, Ms Paulina Joseph, thanked SIDO for providing them with the entrepreneurial skills, promising to deliver but pleaded for linkage to reliable markets for their products.