The level of community participation and the plight of persons with disability in Bungatira Sub - County in Gulu District

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Date
2010-05
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Kampala International University.College of Humanities and social science
Abstract
This research assessed the level of community participation in addressing the needs of the Persons with Disability in Bungarita Sub-County in Gulu District. Community Participation was assumed to take place in activities that included needs assessment, mobilization, planning especially during goal setting, trainings, project implementation, monitoring and evaluation of community development projects. The objectives of the research were; to assess the level of community patiicipation in addressing the plight of People with Disability and to examine the future of the Persons with Disability in Bungarita Sub-County in Gulu District. Therefore the research questions were; what is the level of community participation in addressing the problems of Disabled persons and what is the Future of the Persons with Disability in the Post Conflict era? The research methods used included; a cross sectional survey using questionnaire, and key informant interview were used. According to the 2002 Population and Housing Census, at least 4 out of every 25, or 16 per cent 1 of the population, are disabled. Applying this estimate to today's Ugandan population (approximately 30 million) would indicate that they may be some 5 million disabled people in the country. Disabled people in Uganda, as in most developing countries in the world, face extreme conditions of poverty, have limited opportunities for accessing education, health, and suitable housing and employment opportunities. The major findings of this research were that the community was aware of the existence and vulnerability of the PWDs in the community (95.4 percent), and 97.3 percent were suffering from conditions of physical impairment. However the community has not taken significant initiatives to address the plight of the PWDs. There community ranked basic social needs as the priority needs of the PWDS, the quality of services provided to the PWDs was deemed to be poor by the community, the future Vll improvement of the current living conditions of the PWDs seem to be in balance as the community thinks this improvement is dependent on NGOs whose number has seriously reduced. The major recommendations included; the high level of community aware of the existence of the vulnerability of the PWD's be translated to community initiatives, the concerns of PWD's be mainstreamed in all the government programmed aimed at attaining the PRDP goals and the participation of the PWD's in development projects be made mandatory. Regarding Community needs assessment, the level of community participation of the PWD's is \ low during needs assessment. However the community identified Basic Social needs such as education, health, water, involvement in decision making, good sanitation and social protection such as protection against social stigma, child labor, sex abuse and other forms of discrimination as the priority needs of the PWD's. However, the economic needs such as employment and incorn,e generation were ranked as the least needs of the persons with disability, there fore there is ne~d to enforce the law covering persons with disability bearing in mind the societal cultural and economic environment while trying to assure the safety of the rights of persons with disability. According to the research, Women and men with disabilities can and want to be productive members of society. Employ1;11ent opportunities for people with disabilities requires improved access to basic education, vocational training relevant to labor market needs and jobs suited to their abilities, interests and abilities, with adaptations as needed.
Description
Research project submitted to the Institute of Continuing and Distance Studies in partial fulfilment of the requirement for the award of degree of bachelor of Art in Conflict Resolution and Peace Building of Kampala International University
Keywords
Community, Participation, Persons, Disability
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