April 2023
Thirty deaf women and girls have been set on a path to financial independence by the Agents for Citizen-driven Transformation (ACT) grantee: Dehat Ability Support Initiative (D-Ability Initiative). The CSO is on a quest to improve the livelihood of women and people living with disabilities (PWD) in Rivers State.
Women and girls with hearing disabilities in the state are often marginalised and live in extreme poverty. They can find it difficult to earn a living due to lack of life-sustaining skills that are exacerbated by discrimination and stigmatisation.
To remedy this, the D-Ability Initiative embarked on a six-month skill acquisition programme. The beneficiaries were trained in various fashion design and tailoring skills in order to make them self-sufficient entrepreneurs. The women and girls had no prior knowledge of tailoring or fashion design.
The beneficiaries demonstrated their new skills by displaying their designs at their graduation ceremony. As a long-term strategy, the women and girls have been organised into a cooperative society. Plans are ongoing to set up an industrial hub for the deaf women and PWDs in the state.
“This programme has opened our eyes. We now see our daughter interacting with people and learning fast. Because of the way she performed in this training, we have enrolled her in university.’’ D. Felix Nte, mother of a beneficiary
