Sixty disabled persons receive loans at Akim Oda

Akim-Oda (E/R), Jan. 28, GNA - About 60 persons with disabilities at Akim-Oda, in the Birim South District of the Eastern Region have benefited from loans packages under a "Community based Rehabilitation Programme " (CBRP), initiated by the Department of Social Welfare to reduce poverty among most vulnerable groups.

The loans beneficiaries included the blind, deaf and dumb and other physically challenged persons, who were engaged in tailoring and dressmaking, carpentry, trading, farming and other artisanal jobs. Mr Eric Obodai Torto, Secretary to the Loans Screening Committee told the Ghana News Agency of the success story of the programme in Akim Oda, which started in 1998 on a pilot basis, with an initial revolving fund of 10 million cedis provided by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).

He said under the programme, the beneficiaries were given loans of between 300,000 and 500,000 cedis each to improve their businesses. Mr Torto said many of the beneficiaries were trained in various vocations and engaged in self-employment.

According to Mr Torto, the positive attitude of the beneficiaries towards the loans repayment had helped to sustain the scheme, adding that the initial capital had grown from 10 to 16 million cedis as a result of yields from treasury bills purchased with part of the funds.