The Network For Disabled Women (NDW) has presented an award to the Chief Executive Officer, CEO, of Sightsavers, Dr. Caroline Harper.
The award was given in appreciation of her huge contributions in the lives of women with disabilities across the globe.
The award was presented to Harper during an interactive meeting between the National Commission for Persons with Disabilities (NCPWD) and Sightsavers International. The interactive was hosted by the Executive Secretary (NCPWD), Mr. James Lalu on 2nd August, 2022 as the commission welcomed Harper to Nigeria and Africa.
The president of NDW, Ms. Lois Auta-Udonkanta, while presenting the award, thanked Sightsavers International for contributing tremendously in empowering and bettering the lives of women and girls with disabilities in the society.
“Sightsavers has empowered hundreds of women with disabilities on job placement, training, CVs rebranding and employment opportunities through the project “Inclusion Works”, she said.
Dr. Caroline Harper responding on the award presented to her by NDW president, Ms. Lois Auta with ES NCPWD, James Lalu
Harper thanked NDW for the award. She assured the group of prioritizing issues of women with disabilities in Nigeria and Africa.
Sightsavers has in 2020 engaged NDW and three other organizations in a three-year project, ending on 9th June, this year.
The “Inclusion Works” project has created jobs and training opportunities for hundreds of members of the Network, training women with disabilities on different skills, redesigning their CVs for job placement, making them financially independent, minimizing level of violence in the workplace against women with disabilities, amongst others.
Through the project NDW has collaborated with four consortium partners in Kenya, Nigeria, Uganda and Bangladesh on various Inclusion initiatives.
No less than 50 Organizations of Persons with Disabilities – including 2,300 Women and Men with Disabilities have participated in the project’s employability skills development across four countries: Nigeria, Uganda, Kenya and Bangladesh.
The four consortium partners were able to reach out to more than 500 employers and trained over 3,700 employees across public and private sectors to support implementation of article 27 of the UNCRPD in the workplace.
INN reports that Dr. Caroline Harper’s visit to Nigeria was the third in her 17 years as CEO of Sightsavers.