The Level Of Community Participation And The Plight Of Persons With Disability In Bungatira Sub - County In Gulu District

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

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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

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.