Addressing the media at a registration exercise in Accra yesterday, the head of YEA Gender and Disability in the Greater Accra, Mr. David Dotse Koffigah, said the move by the agency was to reduce the rate of unemployment among PWDs in the region.
He was optimistic that the initiative would not only support their livelihood, but also reduce the social stigmatisation associated with disabilities.
Mr. Koffigah assured the commitment of the agency to bridge the unemployment gap in the country by recruiting more youth living with disabilities by the end of this year and next year.
According to him, since the inception of the programme in April, many people with disabilities such as lameness, blindness, deafness and deficiencies in the arm and legs had been enrolled on the agency’s modules.
He stated that the YEA has put in place an effective mechanism to ensure that about 10,000 PWDs across the country were employed by the end of the year.
Mr. Koffigah reiterated the mandate of the agency, explaining that it was established under the Youth Employment Agency Act 2015 (Act 887) to oversee the development, co-ordination, supervision and facilitation of employment for the youth and related matters in the country.
He said besides the plan for PWDs, the YEA had employed many thousands of youth including 1,444 females employed under Community Nursing, 1,167 Youth Under Community Teaching Assistant, 2,000 for Afforestation, 1690 for Coastal Protection and about 365 under Community Policing.
According to him, the YEA, in collaboration with a strategic firm, was currently establishing a recycling plant in 16 districts in the region to treat waste for onward transportation to a recycling factory.
Mr. Koffigah called on the youth to take advantage of such opportunities by applying online for various declared vacancies.

By Charles Amankwa