Norwegian embassy supports inclusion of disabled people

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Norwegian embassy supports inclusion of disabled people

8:52 CAT | 24 Feb 2022

FILE PHOTO - For illustration purposes only. [File photo: UNICEF Mozambique]

The Norwegian embassy in Maputo announced on Tuesday that it is making available 23 million US dollars to support and draw up strategies that can encourage disabled people to participate in development programmes.

This support, according to Norwegian ambassador Haakon Gram-Johanessen, expresses the commitment of his government in the struggle to reduce the inequalities faced by people with special needs.

The 23 million dollars, he said at a Maputo press conference, will be allocated to ensure the inclusion of disabled people in the various development programmes that Norway finances.

The purpose of the press conference was to draw up a balance sheet of the Second Global Summit on Disability held in Oslo, in virtual format, on 16-17 February.

At the summit, the 44 participating countries, including Mozambique, made about 1,300 undertakings concerned with education, health care, access to work and questions of inclusive policies for people with disabilities.

The pledges include strengthening the organisations representing disabled people, ensuring inclusive education, inclusive livelihoods and social protection.

“We are pleased with the results achieved during the summit, regarding how to improve the lives of people with disabilities”, said the ambassador. “We achieved our goal. In the coming years, we want to see how the lives of disabled people improve throughout the world”.

For his part, the Executive Coordinator of the Forum of Mozambican Associations of the Disabled (FAMOD), Clodoaldo Castiano, praised the efforts of the Norwegian government in supporting the inclusion of disabled people in the Mozambican development agenda.

He hoped that actions of this sort will be implemented by other partners so that the situation of disabled people improves in practice.

“Our expectation as a Forum is that this movement does not stop here”, said Castiano, “and that that next steps will be decisive so that the lives of disabled people improves in all senses”.

According to United Nations statistics, about 15 per cent of the world’s population suffers from some kind of disability,

Juntamente com a @lftwworldwide e @aifomoz, com apoio da @NorwayInMoz, o UNICEF está a trabalhar para garantir que todas as crianças com deficiência afectadas por crises humanitárias em #Moçambique tenham acesso seguro e inclusivo a serviços e programas humanitários.#ThisAbility pic.twitter.com/miLCHJqPAk

— UNICEF Moçambique (@UNICEF_Moz) December 15, 2021