The Special Mothers Project, an advocacy and awareness creation programme on cerebral palsy issues and issues affecting families raising children with disabilities became an affiliate of the Ghana Federation of Disability Organisations (GFD) in the year 2023.
Being a member and an affiliate of the GFD gives us a bigger
platform for our advocacy and to table our issues especially issues affecting Mothers
of children with disabilities to a bigger audience.
The Ghana Federation of Disability Organisations (GFD) is an
umbrella organisation to eight different disability group, and it gives us the
opportunity to learn about the challenges of the other disability group and
build our capacity in disability advocacy.
The Special Mothers Project therefore participated in the
programmes and trainings of the GFD, some of our members participated in a
training on Disability rights, the Convention of the Rights of Persons wit
Disability and also the celebration and observance of this year’s International
Disability Day celebrations.
Being a member of the GFD also opened a window of opportunity
for the Special Mothers Project to feed into National policies being reviewed.
Some of the policies include the Inclusive Education Policy, the Affirmative
Action Bill and the Early Childhood Care and Development Policy (ECCD)
The Special Mothers Project has been a member of the
Technical Committee reviewing Ghana’s Disability Law (Act 715).
Training
Some Members of the Special Mothers Project were recruited
by the Centre for Learning and Childhood Disabilities (CLCD) to be part of a
pilot project call the Peer Health Navigators Programme. Under the programmes
the selected parents were trained to become peer health navigators for their
colleague parents of children with disabilities
Some Members also benefitted from a training organised by Disability
Awareness Teachers Support Service (DATSS) where parents some of whom own training
facilities were trained on how to handle their children and what kinds of
educational programmes they can have for their children.
Members also participated in a series of GFD training programmes.
Mrs Hannah Awadzi, Executive Director of the Special Mothers
Project also trained some parents of children with disabilities at the Adentan
Municipality. The training empowered the parents to become effective advocates
for their children and to push for inclusion.
Some parents also participated in a training organised
jointly by the Special Mothers Project and Psychotherapist Ms Colleen Chifamba on
how to handle children with disabilities. That training also built the emotional
capacities of parents.
The Special Mothers Project with the support of Dr Eunice
Abbey gave a presentation of at the Disability in Education Conference
organised by the University of Ghana, School of Education and Leadership.
The Presentation was titled: In the name of Ubuntu: The
Special Mothers Project, Changing the lives of Mothers and their children with Disabilities in Ghana
Donations
The WhatsApp platform of the Special Mothers Project organised
a fund raiser led by Special Mother Ellen Berko, for the project at the beginning
of the year. The funder raiser realized an amount of GHS2600 to support our advocacy
work.
The Project also donated reusable diapers and reuseable
sanitary pads to some parents and some students of the Madina Demonstration School.
The Reusable diapers were donated to the Special Mothers Project by Noah Mapalo
help Centre, a nonprofit voluntary organisation in the UK.
A number of philanthropists also donated some monies to
support individual families of children with disabilities across the country. One
of the beneficiary families received a brand-new deep freezer to enable her
sell iced blocks, ice cream and water to support herself and her daughter
In all about six families in various parts of Ghana
benefitted from seed monies to start a business (Micro enterprise)
The project supported some parents with monies to buy
medication, food or diapers
Media
The Special Mothers Project does advocacy mainly using the
media, both mainstream media and social media. The project published a number
of articles, shared many post of social media to create awareness on cerebral
palsy and the situation of children with disabilities in Ghana in general.
The Special Mothers Project also featured in a documentary
on Ghana Broadcasting Corporation titled: The Great Commission by Mrs Beatrice
Senadju Boateng.
Partnership with the Rotary Club
The Special Mothers Project partnered with the Rotarian
President of Accra-Teshie Nungua on a project dubbed: “Okamafo”
Under the Okamafo Project, the Rotary Club of Teshie Nungua and
the Donor Community Forum of the Rotary Club is embarking on a fund raising
drive in support of children with cerebral palsy and persons with mental health
conditions.
The Special Mothers Project provided free consultancy for
the project.
The Caregiver Institute
The Caregiver Institute is a programme by the Special
Mothers Project started about three years ago to recruit and train young people
interested in working as caregivers at the family level for children with
disabilities.
We haven’t had much success with regards to this particular
programme but we will continue to advocate for it .
Counselling
The Special Mothers Project provides counselling to parents
of children with Cerebral palsy and also parents of children with other
disabilities. Mrs Hannah Awadzi, a registered Psychologist Assistant with the
Ghana Psychological Council discussed mostly with parents to the pathway for
their children and how parents can empower themselves emotionally for the Special
Needs Parenting Journey
Way Forward
In 2024, The Special Mothers Project will be recruiting new
board members, some members on our board are moving on and they would be
replaced with new board members.
We will continue to maintain our website www.specialmothers.org and our blog as
well as intensify the media advocacy both in mainstream media and on social
media
The Special Mothers Project will continue with the advocacy on caregiver support and
building other support systems that will help enhance the lives of families of
children with disabilities
This will include providing caregiver training and
connecting trained caregivers to families that need them.
The Project will continue to connect or link families to the
available support systems and work with other organisations to create support
systems for families raising children with disabilities in Ghana and beyond.
The Special Mothers Project will engage in policy dialogues
and will be available to train organisations willing to do something for
children with cerebral palsy and other disabilities.
The Project will continue to offer both paid counselling and
pro-bono counselling services where necessary (Most of the counselling services
we provide are pro-bono)
Now Accepting Donations
You may donate to the Special Mothers Project via the account name
Hannah Awadzi
Fidelity Bank
Adentan Branch
Account Number :2030026812954
Or on Momo number: 0244547980
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