Grant Opportunity For Disabled People Organisations In Nigeria
Abilis Foundation has declared their interest to extend their grant opportunities to Disabled People Organisations (DPOs) in Nigeria with the aim to support and promote disabled peoples’ related projects and activities. They have also requested our organization the Centre for Citizens with Disabilities to share this grant opportunity information to grass root disability organizations and groups in Nigeria as a way of demonstrating their commitment towards promoting disabled based projects in the Sub-Sahara Africa.
This is a cheering news for disabled peoples organizations in Nigeria because of the enormous benefits of grant opportunity such as this portends for persons with disabilities in Nigeria which includes; increase in awareness of issues of disability, visibility of Nigeria DPOs’ programmes and efforts as well as increased capacity of Nigeria DPOs in managing international grants among others. Also, this is an important contact for all those who are passionate about disabled people projects in Nigeria, as organizations of and for persons with disabilities in Nigeria can not afford to toy or abuse this chance as other developing counties are benefiting greatly from Abilis Foundation grants.
While visiting KINTEX, Korea for the 2007 7th Disable People International World Assembly, the Executive Director of the Centre for Citizens with Disabilities held several meetings with different International Development partners and funders on inclusion of Nigeria DPOs in their organisation’s programs and activities since Nigeria has the highest population of persons with disabilities in the sub-Sahara Africa. One of such meetings was his meetings with the Mr. Kalle Konkkola and Mrs.Taya Heinonen the Chairman and Chief Executive respectively of Abilis Foundation. They expressed to Mr. Anyaele of their interest to extend their grant opportunities to DPOs in Nigeria. They also requested him to represent previous attempts by Nigeria DPOs to secure grants from their organization for other necessary actions which Mr. Anyaele sent to them immediately he returned to Nigeria.
According to the Program Officer of the Centre for Citizens with Disabilities, Ms. Tolu Adedeji, Abilis Foundation indication to extend their grant opportunities to Nigeria DPOs underscores the importance of Nigeria’s participation at the 2007 7th DPI World Assembly which is yielding the desired result. We want to renew our organisations’ commitment towards ensuring that the voice of persons with disabilities are echoed at every fora we find ourselves, and we will not hesitate to take advantage of any event, be it local or international to promote the human rights of persons with disabilities in Nigeria as well as promote the mainstreaming of disability in development works and activities.
We encourage all DPOs in Nigeria to take advantage of this opportunity by applying to Abilis Foundation for grants to execute their projects, their website is www.abilis.fr. This Foundation is a Finland based organization that focuses on assisting organizations of persons with disabilities around the world. It was founded in 1986, and has over the pass 20 years disbursed grants to hundreds of disabled people organizations around the world. The foundation is passionate about issues affecting persons with disabilities in Sub-Saharan Africa; as such they are willing to share with counties like Nigeria that has the greatest chunk of persons with disabilities in Africa.
The Centre for Citizens with Disabilities (CCD) is an organisation of, and for persons with disabilities that works to educate, support, and empower persons with disability and their families to maximize their potentials, regain a sense of self-worth as well as helping to provide them the social support they require to overcome the trauma of disability, and thereby regain control of their life and make a meaningful living from their skills and abilities. We have over the past four years sought a redefinition of society’s perception of the plight of persons with disabilities.
CCD was founded in 2002 as a result of the founder’s harrowing experiences in the hands of the rebel warlords in the war-torn Sierra Leone who tearfully amputated his two hands, thereby forcefully consigning him into physical disability. It seeks to realize its mandate through embarking on campaign and advocacy projects, peer group support, networking activities, training, development and empowerment projects, legislative advocacy and pursuit of legal action.