USAID launches project to support people with special needs in Syria’s Raqqa
RAQQA, Syria (North Press) – The local Hope Makers Organization, in coordination with the Social Affairs and Labor Board of the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES), and with the support of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), launched yesterday a project called Economic Support and Assistance to Empower Persons with Disabilities.
Mahmoud al-Hadi, director of the organization, said the project will last for two years and includes several activities, including capacity building for the organization and offices for people with special needs in Raqqa and Tabqa.
There will be employment for people with special needs within case management, and steering committees will be appointed to manage loans and refunds, he added.
This project is considered the first of its kind for people with special needs in the region, according to the director of the organization.
He pointed out that there is not yet any clear agency to achieve livelihoods for this type of person and provide job opportunities that suit their disabilities.
This project does not come as charity or pity, but this segment of persons has rights to live a decent life at work, but the economic conditions in which they live do not enable them to activate their role in society.
On September 13, 2020, the Raqqa Civil Council inaugurated the Rehabilitation Center for the Deaf and Blind in the city of Raqqa with the name Martyr Bashir Faisal al-Huwaidi Center, which was considered the first of its kind in the regions of northeastern Syria, at the time.
In a previous statement, Issa al-Sheikh, an official at a center for people with special needs in Raqqa, said they suffer from a severe shortage of supplies and materials necessary to enable the integration of people with special needs into society.
According to al-Sheikh, the number of people with special needs in Raqqa and its countryside is 3,400.