Japan's Policy and Human Resources Development (PHRD) Technical Assistance (TA) Programme to support Disability and Development
Honourable Derrick Kellier, Minister of Labour & Social Security, left, greeted Mr. Masami Shukunobe, Resident Representative of the JICA Jamaica Office, right, who represented the Embassy of Japan on the occasion of the signing and handing over of Grants under the Social and Economic Inclusion of Persons with Disabilities Project, which is supported by the Government of Japan. Seated is Ms. Janice Miller, Acting Under Secretary, Multilateral Affairs Division in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade. The Ceremony took place on March 11, 2014 at the Opening Session of the UWI Regional Disability Studies Conference at the Mona Campus, in the Gold Room of the Mona Visitor's Lodge*
Several Consultant Contracts were signed on March 11, 2014 with various organizations to complete skills training and certification of persons with disabilities and organizational strengthening activities, funded under the Social and Economic Inclusion of Persons with Disabilities Project by the Government of Japan and the World Bank. The funding, in the amount of US$2.9 million is to facilitate training and employment of 500 persons with disabilities on the PATH programme.
Some of the organizations which are beneficiaries of the Grant, are agencies with whom the Japan International Cooperation Agency, JICA, has had a long and mutually beneficial relationship. JICA Volunteers have been dispatched to these organizations and members of staff of these agencies have pursued courses in JICA's Training Programme in Japan. Among the beneficiaries are University of the West Indies, Abilities Foundation and Jamaica Association on Intellectual Disabilities to which JICA Volunteers have been dispatched and some of whom are currently on assignment at these institutions..
The Social and Economic Inclusion of Persons with Disabilities Project is a Grant Project with the objective of supporting social and economic inclusion of persons with disabilities in Jamaica and is aligned with the Government of Jamaica and the Bank's Strategy of reducing poverty and investing in the poor and vulnerable. It is a pilot project which will reveal the employable skills of PWDs and encourage more awareness of their economic value and improved preparedness to meet the needs of young people with disabilities.