The National Commission for Persons with Disability (NCPD) has on Thursday 27th January 2020 conducted a one-day orientation for 8 (eight) National Youth Service Corps at the Commission’s New England Ville office in Freetown.
The Corps were asigned to NCPD by the National Youth Commission for a period of 1 year as part of the National Youth Service scheme for graduates to work in various Ministries Departments Agencies (MDA’s).
According to NCPD’s Human Resources Manager, Aminata Blessing Kelly the objective behind the orientation was to enlighten NYS Corps on the activities of the Commission, various departments and their functions in line with the 2011 Persons with Disability Act.
NCPD’s Executive Secretary Saa Kortequee welcomed the corps, stating that he is looking forward to a good working relationship as they are geared toward contributing their expertise in the disability sector. Giving a background of the Commission the Executive Secretary said the Disability was Act enacted in 2011 by the House of parliament and that the establishment of the Commission was in 2012.
Presenting on Disability Programs and the 2011 PWD Act, the commission’s Program Manager Tamba S.P Mondeh stated that Sierra Leone signed the United Nations Convention for the Rights of Persons with Disabilities in 2009 and it was ratified in 2011 by Sierra Leone’s Parliament. He said the vision of the Commission as sated in the Act is ‘’to prohibit discrimination against persons with Disability, achieve equalization of opportunities for persons with Disability and to provide for other related matters”.
He further stated that the programs and activities of the Commission are drawn from the Act which according to him is the bible/Quran of the Commission.
NCPD Western Area Regional Coordinator Jonathan Conteh presented on Practical Tips on Working with Persons with Disability. In his presentation he explained the different types of disabilities and gave guidelines on interacting with PWD.
Outreach and Advocacy Officer Mawusie Dumbuya presented on Communication Strategy and The Role of the Outreach and Advocacy Unit. He opined that all the other departments in the NCPD depends on the Outreach unit for the dissemination of information and to interface with Persons with Disabilities.
Giving an insight on the component of a good message he said that it must be clear, correct, doable, motivating, captivating, standardized and concised.
Monitoring and Evaluating Manager, Patrick Koroma presented on Data Collection and Monitoring whilst the Finance Manger Steven N’domena presented on Public Financial Management Systems and Procurement Act and Procedures and the presentation on Code of Conduct was done by the Human Resource Manager.
Mohamed Ibrahim Kamara a graduate from Fourah Bay College gave the vote of thanks on behalf of his colleagues. He said that the orientation was timely and that they appreciated the warm and accommodating reception at the Commission.
He pledged their unreversed commitment to work in the Commission and abide by all the rules and regulation.
