Special Mothers project Report 2021 – If the Idea is of the Lord, it will be established

 

When I was filing the 2019 annual returns for The Special Mothers Project in the early parts of 2020, I was almost certain that I was done with the project.

I had been frustrated in the  year 2020  even though the project wasn’t totally idle in 2020. We had stopped any physical meetings with the parents and moved all our activities online.

The Project’s whatsapp platform was however very vibrant and we were adding new members almost every week.

The calls for support from the parents was also increasing, it was a big dilemma for me. To go on with the project or not to

The Special Mothers Project does mainly advocacy.

 In addition to our media and social media advocacy programmes which aims at contributing positively to policy formulation around children with cerebral palsy and other special needs we move to support parents and families nurturing children with disabilities in any way that we can.

Therefore, a call from the Executive Secretary of the National Council on Persons with Disability, inviting the Special Mothers Project to a meeting in the early parts of 2021 came as a  pleasant surprise.

The Council had selected some NGOs to provide them with technical support, and the Special Mothers Project was one of those.

Even though the Special Mothers Project could not get the needed support due to some technical reasons, the call awakened the senses of the Executive Director that it was not over.

In the year 2021, The Special Mothers Project supported many parents of children with various disabilities in a variety of ways.

Madam Yawa Ankrah _ - Madam Yawa is one of the very notable special needs moms we gave support to in 2021, Madam Yawa is mother to an adolescent with Down syndrome, Madam Yawa got sick with diabetes which left her bedridden and her daughter’s life to chance.

The Special Mother Project highlighted the issue of Madam Yawa, which caught the attention of other media colleagues. Joy News’ Beryl Richter took the issue up and the issue finally got the attention of Ghana’s First Lady Rebecca Akufo-Addo.

Madam Yawa was given hospital care, her home renovated and her daughter admitted to the Dzorwulu Special School.

Madam Yawa said her life today is a living testimony. Read Madam Yawa's story here

The Special Mothers Project also supported many parents of children with disabilities, raising funds on social media to set some up in small enterprises, we paid for the two years rent advance of one woman who was being abused by her husband because of her child with special needs.

We supported some parents with the payment of hospital bills, the support to the parents were countless and we cannot list them all.

The Special Mothers Project also raised funds to renovate the Special Unit of the Madina Demonstration basic school, separate funds were raised to buy furniture and educational materials.

The Project donated items to the Accra Psychiatric Special School on behalf of Special Mom Eunice Enam Gakogo during her birthday

The project also provided counselling support on a daily basis to many special needs parents who reached out through social media.

Special Mothers Project on Amplified

The Special Mothers Project was also featured on the Ministry of Information’s flagship programme on social media Amplified.

The Amplified programme provided the project with the opportunity to be known by many and helped increased our social media following.

Watch the Special Mothers Project Amplified

Contribution to Policy

One of the major aims of the Special Mothers Project is to contribute meaningfully to policy formulation around children with cerebral palsy and other special needs in Ghana.

The Special Mothers Project as part of the Amplified programmes presented some policy suggestion to the Minister of Information, Mr Kojo Oppong Nkrumah.

The Project also engaged in some critical policy discussions including the Ghana Early Childhood Care and Development Policy, The Inclusive Education Policy, and other policies bothering on children.

The Special Mothers Project is also part of the Civil Society Platform for Social Protection. A group that came together to push for a social protection law in Ghana

The Special Mothers Project outlined policy suggestions have also been presented to individual Members of Parliament and other high-profile members of society.

The Special Mothers Project also shared some experiences when Ghana hosted the first ever training programme for Rehabilitation professionals across five African countries with the support of Cerebral Palsy Africa

The Special Mothers Project was also Awarded by the Patience Awards International (PAI) for the good work we are involved in.

Media

The Media in Ghana and beyond has been of tremendous support to the Special Mothers Project since its inception. I risk leaving some of the media houses out if I attempt to mention but all the same, let me mention The Ghana News Agency, Finder Newspaper, ModernGhana.com, HBTV, Ghana Broadcasting Corporation, Nana Yaa Konadu of Despite media and the Talklife platform and a host of media personnel and organizations that hosted the Special Mothers Project on their platforms to articulate our concerns as well as educate the public about children with cerebral palsy and other disabilities

The Special Mothers Project crowned the year with an end of year get together where some items were donated to the mothers who attended.

Way Forward

The Special Mothers Project intends to continue the advocacy path for the long haul. Our advocacy will include making meaningful contributions to policy formulation that centres around children with cerebral palsy and other disabilities.

The project where necessary will raise funding to support a cause that is in line with our advocacy objectives and where necessary continue to support selected parents with skills and small enterprises that will enable them earn an income by themselves

The project will focus on a care-giving advocacy drive to get more people especially the youth interested in taking up care-giving as a viable career option. This programme will help us solve a bit of our unemployment challenges as a country.

The Special Mothers Project intends to with the necessary funding host a once-a-year respite programme to serve as a networking event for families raising children with cerebral palsy and other disabilities and also help in supporting the mental wellbeing of especially special needs mothers

Appreciation

Words are not enough to express our gratitude for the overwhelming support we have enjoyed over the years as the Special Mothers Project.

Special mention to Mrs Eunice Enam Gakogo, Mr Kwadwo Boateng Ntim, Special Mom Ellen Berko Akoto, Lydia Afia Owusuaa Ntaah, Patience Puplampu, Salome Okoh, My Child’s wellbeing Project, Ms Gloria Amo Aidoo, Patience Awards International,  members of the Special Mothers Project whatsapp and Telegram platform and all our followers on social media, the list is endless and I risk offending some should I go on to list all the people that has supported the project this year 2021

Please note the Audited Accounts of the Special Mothers Project will be uploaded unto our website www.specialmothers.org by mid January.

Special Needs Moms could do with some extra love

 

Some parents of children with cerebral palsy have advised Ghanaians to be more embracing of children with special needs and show them extra love

Ms Mercy Efua Boadu, a member of the Special Mothers Project, an advocacy and awareness creation programme on cerebral palsy issues, said usually children do not discriminate or exclude other children with special needs unless they are taught by adults to do so.

“Parents should teach their children to show extra love and care to children with cerebral palsy and other disabilities, we should all embrace families nurturing children with disabilities.”

Some of the parents of children with cerebral palsy expressed these sentiments when “My Child’s Wellbeing” under Kidzhouse Media Production, an organization that advocates for the wellbeing of all children regardless of their disability, donated assorted items to the Special Mothers Project.

Kidzhouse productions are the producers of the Mmofrawe Kids channel on Youtube

The occasion was also used as an opportunity to organize a get together for members of the Special Mothers’ Project.

Mrs Stella Darley Tweneboah, Managing Partner at My Child’s Wellbeing, presenting the items, said her organization intends to join in the advocacy for love and support for children with cerebral palsy and other disabilities.

“I can only imagine what it takes to nurture a child with cerebral palsy or any special needs, even parents of regular children do struggle so I can only imagine,” she said as she interacted with some of the parents.

Mrs Hannah Awadzi, Executive Director of the Special Mothers Project, expressed her gratitude for the kind gesture.

She called on the government to come up with policies that supports families nurturing children with cerebral palsy and other disabilities.

Ms Gloria Amo Aidoo, a Physician Assistant, currently doing research to determine whether dermatoglyphic patterns could help predict cerebral palsy, was also present to administer her questionnaire and also donated some items to the mothers.

Early Childhood Care and Development issues should cut across sectors

 

Mrs Ruth Addison, a Child development consultant has said that early childhood care and development issues should cut across sectors and not limited to one Ministry.

“Early childhood care and development issues is not a one Ministry business and we should work to ensure that every Ministry, Department and Agency implements some aspect of Ghana’s early childhood care and development policy,”

Mrs Addison who is also the Former Director of the Department of Children said this when she addressed participants of a workshop to review and discuss Ghana’s Early Childhood Care and Development (ECCD) Policy.

The participants were drawn from the various Ministries, Departments and Agency as well as representatives of selected non-governmental organizations, community-based organizations, Faith based organizations, the religious bodies, some parents of children with disabilities as well as the academia.

Mrs Addison tasked participants to ensure that issues that affected children with special needs and their families were addressed in the new policy.

“Make a conscious effort to ensure that the needs of children especially children with special needs are rolled into government policies…All sectors must create desks that addresses issues of children with special needs just like it has been done with the gender issues and do not forget about their caregivers,” Mrs Addison reiterated.

Mr Terrence Beney, the Consultant for the project, said the old policy did not address issues affecting children with disabilities and their caregivers.

He therefore called for differentiated packages that addressed the needs of children with special needs and their caregivers

Early Childhood Care and Development (ECCD) involves the timely provision of a range of services that promotes the survival, growth, development and protection of young children between the ages of zero and eight.

Mrs Florence Ayisi Quartey, Acting Director at the Department of Children, said the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection is revising the ECCD policy in partnership with UNICEF.

She said they are adopting a highly participatory approach to ensure the involvement of relevant stakeholders and to develop a comprehensive policy that addresses Ghana’s ECCD needs.

She said initial stakeholder consultations were undertaken to solicit inputs for the policy review and series of consultations are being carried out as part of the review process to assist in the drafting of a costed implementation plan as well as a monitoring, evaluation and learning framework.

Participants at the workshop agreed to work towards a policy that was inclusive and to ensure that all sectors adopted and implemented components of the ECCD policy