The Youth Employment Agency (YEA) is to recruit 2,000 people with disability into the programme by June, this year.
The move is a special initiative by the agency to help find employment for persons with disability, who are mostly disadvantaged in the search for employment.
The acting Chief Executive Officer of YEA, Mr Kobina Beecham, disclosed this at a stakeholders’ forum in Accra.
The one-day forum brought together relevant organisations and governmental bodies working for persons with disability to dialogue on how to address the unemployment challenge facing people in that bracket.
Participants used the forum to discuss a road map that will guide the recruitment process.
It also provided participants with the opportunity to share ideas on how to reduce general unemployment in the country to acceptable levels.
The acting CEO said the decision to recruit 2,000 disabled people under YEA formed part of the agency’s objective of developing and facilitating the provision of jobs for the youth.
He said the agency would make sure that implementation of the road map derived from the forum would be done in May to pave the way for recruitment take place in June.
He noted that persons with disability were mostly stigmatised and hardly given the opportunity to demonstrate what they could do best, a challenge which necessitated the specialised recruitment for people under that bracket.
“Research has shown that given equal opportunities, persons with disability can be effective and efficient at their respective work places,” he added.
Mr Beecham explained that there was the need for a critical assessment of employment challenges of disabled people so as to explore the relevant employment opportunities available.
The President of the Ghana Federation of Disability Organisation (GFDO), Mr Yaw Ofori Debra, welcomed the decision from the agency, explaining that it was long overdue.
He, however, asked the government to come out with a more comprehensive policy on employment that would address the joblessness among people with disability.
Using Niger as an example, Mr Debra said Ghana could also make it a national policy for the public sector to employ five per cent of disabled people.
“That move has increased enrollment in schools because parents in that country now know that if they invest in children with disability, it would not be in vain,” he noted.
Virtually on a daily basis, Mr Debra said, his office was inundated with calls from disgruntled persons with disability, who were struggling to secure employment from various institutions nationwide.
He, thus, applauded YEA for the initiative to address the challenge but expressed the hope that it would yield positive outcomes.
