08 May 2016

Assistant Minister for Presidential Affairs and Public Administration, Mr Dikgang Makgalemele has implored the public to ensure complete mainstreaming and inclusiveness of people living with disabilities across all spheres of socio-economic interventions. 

Speaking at the launch of disability entrepreneurial training programme workshop in Letlhakane recently, Mr Makgalemele said people living with disabilities often felt passively discriminated.

The training workshop intended to provide people with disabilities with business skills that would facilitate them towards starting their own businesses.

Mr Makgalemele indicated that despite efforts to integrate people with disabilities in the societal mainstream, there was still more to be done in promoting effective measures for inclusiveness, integration and mainstreaming disability across all spheres of socio-economic interventions.

“It is against this background that I wish to implore programme developers to always remember people with disabilities when crafting programme so that the could also enjoy the benefits of different government empowerment programmes,” he said.

He said it was not acceptable in this age and era that pockets of service providers who felt no responsibility towards assisting people with disabilities existed. 

Mr Makgalemele encouraged all to be aware that disability was a cross cutting human rights issue across all sector of the economy.

“Mainstreaming of people with disability therefore recognises the basic idea of human rights centred on instilling human dignity and that all people are equal and as such should be accorded a full and decent life,” he said.

Again, he said government had continued to provide opportunities to Batswana through Citizen Entrepreneurial Development Agency and a host of other empowerment schemes that people with disabilities should benefit from as well.

He said it was government’s expectation that there would be some multiplier effect from the initiative as people with disabilities would be expected to start businesses as a form of self-employment and even contribute to employment creation agenda.

Further, he said the workshop would result in wealth creation for Batswana, more especially people with disabilities and in ensuring that they were players in the economic development of the country.

He said it came at a time when government had introduced the Economic Stimulus Programme whose ultimate goal was accelerated employment creation to uplift the lives of Batswana by ensuring that projects that had been put on abeyance were implemented.

“We want to see people living with disabilities enjoying the fruits of ESP like every other Motswana and we have affirmative action policies to ensure that,” he said.

Programme specialist, Ms Mavis Bengston of United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), said there was need to acknowledge that people living with disabilities were unique individuals, with unique challenges and as a result needed unique services and unique programme opportunities to enhance their livelihoods.

Ms Bengston said living in rural areas posed particular challenges for people with disabilities in equitable access to education, training, social and legal support systems and employment opportunities.

She said dismantling barriers that people with disbility in rural areas faced would enable them to improve their livelihoods, those of their families and take an active role in rural economic development.

That, she said would yield the necessary transformation amongst people living with disabilities and enabled them to live dignified lives.

Deputy permanent secretary in the office of the Permanent Secretary to the President , Ms Kesego Okie urged people living with disabilities to look for mentors who could nurture and equip them with business skills.

Ms Okie also implored them to be more efficient and be energetic in venturing into businesses, noting that they should not look down upon themselves. ENDS