USAID, Partners Launch $ 2 Million Project To Improve Deaf Community Capacity

The Albino Foundation Public Notice

By Ruby Leo and Oliver Nweke

The United States Agency International Agency (USAID) has launched a three year learning capacity building programme worth $ 2million to support education opportunity for Nigerians deaf, hard of hearing and deaf blind communities.

The acting Mission Director of USAID, Katie Donohoe who made this known during cerebrations to mark international day of sign languages said that the new USAID funding activity, “Strengthening Deaf Education, Empowerment and Employment also known as Deaf E-3 is a  historic three year, 2 million dollar partnership with Gallaudet University meant to  allow USAID for the first time to support education opportunity for Nigerians dear, hard of hearing and deaf blind communities.

According to her though the funding is not a grant or in scholarship, it is in building capacity for the deaf association of Nigeria, the sign language association also to work with teachers, educators in schools to help them work with deaf people and hard hearing communities, particularly deaf students in Nigeria.

“Gallaudet the premier institution of higher learning for the deaf community in the US, will implement the Deaf E- 3 activity in Nigeria in partnership with the Nigerian National Association of the Deaf, Wesley University Ondo State and Discovering Deaf Worlds. Together they will work to ensure that improved education, employment and life opportunities reach more children and youth who are deaf, hard of hearing and deaf blind across Nigeria”, she said

“Today on the international day of sign languages, USAID and its partners have a unique opportunity to support the linguistic identity and cultural diversity of deaf people and sign language users around the world. Through this partnership with Gallaudet, USAID is supporting a changing of the tide for the deaf community, as you know, deaf people can do anything hearing people can do”.

 “It is my great hope that our investment will inspire and leverage additional funding from the private sector, other donors and the government of Nigeria to improve effective engagement with individuals, and that Nigeria will become a model for the region and world and an advocate for disability communities”. 

Earlier Senator Umaru Tanko Almakura who commended President Muhammadu Buhari for establishing the National Commission for Persons Living with Disabilities, said this singular act, is the water shared in the lives of people with disabilities.

Al makura also advocated for the established of a comprehensive special needs schools in all the local government of the country, the inclusion of sign languages as an elective in all institutions of learning and the establishment of deaf university to cater for the needs of persons with disabilities.

His words, “People may not know what people with disabilities will benefit from the commission including people that are able, it gives them the right and privileges that has been denied them, in certain circumstances some of their privileges and rights could be justiciable, where if such privileges are not offered to them they can seek for some kind of adjudication.

“Secondly I would prefer that state government all over the country provide for comprehensive special schools in each of the states, if they cannot have it all in local government areas because of financial constraints, in each of the state capital, we should have a comprehensive special school, why am saying that is because these people have been so terribly marginalized, extricated from the main stream of the society, and these are people that are so vulnerable  and have no mouth to talk, and no one to listen to them”.

”If the state can be large hearted and provide it, it will solve a lot of problems, one be inclusive, secondly giving life, hope, realization and actualization of persons living with disabilities, once we provide such structures, we are creating a platform of giving everybody an equal playing field, this will be a credit to every administration that has supported this, because even in the United Nation charter which this country is signatory to, we are duty bond to  ensure the presence of this structures”.