Kakata Residents Benefit From A US Based NGO For Capacity Building

From Godfrey Kolleh Scott | GNN Margibi County Correspondent|

A US based NGO, the Institute on Community Integration of Minnesota University Center for Excellence in Developmental Disabilities, held a day long participatory capacity building workshop for parents, community leaders and local organization members recently in Kakata, Margibi County.

The NGO over the past twenty years has been supporting people with disabilities worldwide with its main focus on Africa, according to Dr. MacDonald Metzger the lead facilitators of the one day activity.

According to our correspondent who covered the workshop, the the training will enable  participants understand the significant of supporting people with disabilities in providing them equal opportunity at all level and in all sectors.

He also asserted that the training has make participants know the most common types of disabilities and how people should live with people living with disabilities.

Adding that it can only be achieved through community based rehabilitation approaches, and home base education program.

He further noted that his organization is focusing on community engagement with community awareness and sensitization, enlightening the minds of others community members about the significant of supporting people with disabilities.

Dr. MacDonald Metzger was in conversation with reporters during an exclusive interview at the end of a day long capacity building workshop organized for parents, community leaders, and local organization members in Kakata Margibi County.

Getting participants view at the end of the one day workshop about the lesson taught, Mrs. Maria Thompson a parents from the sugar hill community in Kakata firstly congratulated facilitators and the organization for bringing such a important knowledge that will be used to advocate and promote the disable community in Liberia.

She also call on the government of Liberia to initiates programs that will help build the capacity of people living with disabilities especially children’s to make them form part of society as potential citizens, not seeing them all the time as a beggar.

Also speaking at the end of the one capacity building activities, Harris Banda a community leader from the Gbandi community in Kakata expressed frustration on the part of the Liberian government failure to include in the national budget something for those people living with disabilities in Liberia, describing it as being deliberate by policymakers.