MEND

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Incorporated in 1963, VOLPHIG got a boost when Rob Buchanan visited in 1992. He saw the commitment of its leaders and decided to help them.  At that time, VOLPHIG had 15 members.  Now there are over 1600 disabled members who receive help from VOLPHIG.

You can read VOLPHIG's 2007-2008 Annual Report by clicking here: 

Major Achievements over the years

2002-2003 was dedicated to:
•    office set up

•    revolving loans for over 135 members
•    mobility aids to over 90 members

•    residential vocational skills training and ICT for 21 members at Ho RTC; St. Theresa Centre  for the Handicapped, Abor and Ghana Outlook, Ho.

•    modification of a number of tricycles and scooters for some members

•     construction of four access ramps in Ho

Our work in 2004-2005 was focused on:
•    human rights education and empowerment for our women membership

•    rigorous disability awareness and campaign including advocacy and lobbying on the passage of the Persons with Disability Bill into Act.

•    provisions of mobility aids: viz: wheelchairs, crutches, calipers, prosthetics, prams etc. to over 180 new members

•    corrective surgery for 25 children and adults with a disability at Dzodze and Korle Bu Hospitals, including Orthopedic Training Centre in Nsewam.

•    vocational skills training and micro credit facility for over 120 new members

In 2006-2007, we concentrate our work on:
•    capacity building and development of cross cutting disability self help groups to promote grassroots disability mainstreaming

•    human rights empowerment and education and gender equality events

•    lobbying and advocacy on behalf of our membership with local government agencies and district assemblies. We also lobbied on behalf of 21 members, who are now elected into unit committees in their respective communities.

•    networking and partnerships with other sister organizations of persons with disabilities and CSOs to promote disability mainstreaming and effective implementation of national legislative and regulatory frameworks on disability.

•    Provisions of mobility aids: viz: wheelchairs, crutches, calipers, prosthetics, prams etc. to over 240 new members

•    residential vocational skills training including ICT for 10 new members at the St. Theresa Centre for the Handicapped, Abor.

History on VOLPHIG & its achievements over the years
Presented by: Mr. Joseph Dehole Dometi, (Board Chairman)

VOLPHIG was formed by 15 disabled persons including Mr. Dehole Dometi, Beatrice Bannerman and MayPaul Dzramado on the 6th of March 2002 with support from Mr. Rob Buchanan, the Director of MEND Trust of New Zealand, who was then on a visit to Ghana.

The vision of the gallant men and women was to form an NGO managed and staffed by disabled people for the benefit of the disabled community of the Volta Region and Ghana. This philosophy continues to this day as VOLPHIG has a policy of recruiting more disabled persons as staff.

We had our first office at the premises of KEK Construction Ltd, located at Ho-Hliha, where Mr. Pascal Akoto devoted to work as a staff with a very little wages. We then moved to the World Vision Premises at Ho-Kpodzi in a very small office space, where Seth Dese, Pascal Akoto, Veronica Kofiedu, Paul Fiavi, Benedicta Tagbor, Love Dorkenoo, Caesar Adzraku and Francis Asong worked as staff.

Although small in number, the vision of the founding members of the organisation was great and sound realistic. This was summed up in our logo, which depict a man pointing to the sky, meaning although we are persons with disabilities, yet the sky is our limit.

Our current office was donated to us in 2003 by the E.P Educational Unit in a dilapidated state, through the support of the late Mrs. Beatrice Lawson who was then the Headmistress of the Ho-Kpodzi E.P Junior Secondary School ‘B’. The building was renovated with a free labour from the G.E unit of the 66 Artillery Regiment of Ho with funding from the Rotary Club of New Zealand via our partner MEND Trust of NZ.

We were then fortunate to have implemented a 3-year capacity building project funded by the NZAID and Rotary International through our partner MEND NZ. The project enabled us to create our own office as mentioned earlier; equipped with necessary facilities, pay for overheads, acquire a vehicle for our field duties and meet mobility & medical rehabilitation needs of several members including revolving loan scheme for members.  

Membership
Our membership in 2002 was 55. We increased to 207 in 2003 and 433 in 2004. The membership further increased to 828 in 2005 and in 2006 we were 1,533 with a further increase in 2007.

Meetings
We began the organization with regular meetings and great solidarity with one another. Both the executive board and general meetings were held weekly: Fridays and Sundays respectively.

In 2004, we changed our meeting schedules and meet once a month based on the decision by the general assembly. We again changed this to quarterly meetings in 2005 due to the high transportation cost and economic hardships nowadays.

Activities
As a rights base organisation, our activities are wide-ranging and incorporate: gender equality, human rights education/empowerment, mobility rehabilitation support, referral to medical assessment & corrective surgery, formation and training of grassroots disability self-help groups and HIV/AIDS awareness/education.

Contact e-mail for VOLPHIG:   volphig@yahoo.com