Persons with disabilities to train in entrepreneurship

The National Council of Persons with Disabilities (NCPD) on Friday pledged to build the capacities of People Living With Disabilities (PLWD) by enabling them to effectively implement their projects.The decision was reached during a meeting held in Kigali that attracted representatives ofpeople with disabilities at the district, province as well as employees of the NCPD.The council’s Executive Secretary, Emmanuel Ndayisaba, said that the initiative would also provide an added impetus to PLWDs in their activities.“We have realised that some of our members need some skills related to project implementation if they are to properly utilise funds districts channel to them for development projects in their respective areas,” Ndayisaba told The New Times shortly after the meeting.The council and other participants had met to check on the progress and performance of PLWD`s in terms of development activities in their areas as well as set an agenda for 2012-2013.Each fiscal year, districts are meant to allocate a given fund from their budget to boost or empower people with disabilities to initiate certain projects.This aims at enabling them to fight poverty, encourage hard work so as to improve their living conditions as well as contribute to national development.“Along the way, if we realise that there are some of the members who are not able to work as expected or required, we shall come up with appropriate measures to ensure or cover up such gaps,” Ndayisaba said.Among other factors, he noted that this might be the form of disability one has. He explained this as the reason the government is formulating measures to identify the number of people living with disabilities.The NCPD is set to hold a national wide exercise to identify and categorise people with disabilities to enable government to set other appropriate support programmes.