At the end of the second WCARS project forum held from 8th
to 12th April 2019 in Abidjan, Ivory Coast, a study visit
to the stakeholders was organized by the WCARS project. It was in
fact a workshop on the situation of the Deaf people in Ivory Coast.
The meeting took place on April 12th, 2019 at
the headquarters of the Federation of the Persons with Disabilities
(FAHCI) in Abidjan. This meeting initiated by the WCARS project had
seen the participation of representatives of the Association of the
Deaf of Denmark, Ghana, Mali and Ivory Coast on one hand and
representatives of FAHCI and the Ivorian media of the other hand.
The president of FAHCI, Mr. Raphaël Dogo deplored the
existence of a one school for the Deaf in Ivory Coast. The structure
is located in the Yopougon district of Abidjan. Unlike in Ghana where
there are sixteen (16) schools for the Deaf, the president of FAHCI,
pleaded for the State of Ivory Coast to deal with the case of the
Deaf people in the country. “The needs of
the Deaf are not taken into account. The Ivorian government grants
152 million CFA (about 231,707 euros) to the
associations of the
persons with disabilities. In
practice, this amount is not entirely collected by the associations.
People create fictitious associations to collect funds. Capacity
building training for
the Deaf must continue. Theoretically, the government is doing good
things. The State
is taking action but there is no follow-up“, he
said, welcoming the initiative of the RTI television which, for more
than 15 years, has a Sign Language Interpreter who translates news
into sign language for the deaf people.
The deaf community
of Ivory Coast feels marginalized. Left to their own devices, the
members of the deaf community want the State and organizations who
focus on the disability to be more attentive to their living
conditions. Ouattara Yéguéléworo, president of the Association
Nationale des Sourds de Côte-d´Ivoire (ANASOCI), deplored the lack
of local support for the association. Convinced that one of the main
difficulties of the association is the lack of local support, the
president of ANASOCI pleaded to the State and the NGOs to support.
“At the local level, we have no
support. It is at the international level that we benefit from
supports such as the Association of the Deaf, Denmark and DANIDA
which is an international
organization for People with
Disability of Denmark. One of the
main challenges facing is the lack of local support. We are drawing
the attention of the government to local support, ” he
said.
Emmanuel Sackey, a Board member of the West and
Central Africa Regional Secretariat of the World Federation of the
Deaf (WCARS), said: “In
Ivory Coast, there is a problem of employability for the Deaf. Deaf
people do not have access to information. If at least at government
level, one could
recruit a Sign
Language
Interpreter
to inform the deaf
people, that would really be a
commendable support. In Ghana, we no longer have this problem”.
Let
us hope that the cry of despair delivered by both ANASOCI and FAHCI
will be heard.
