Seye Joseph
With the support of United Kingdom for International Development, InnovationMatters – a social enterprise that improves the quality of lives of people, organisations and countries by providing new opportunities for achieving social and economic advantage has launched a knowledge exchange platform for multiple players and leaders that
include government, persons with disability and the business networks.
The program that was centered on policies to stimulate financial inclusion, policy participation, a thriving business environment and friendly and financially rewarding technologies and solutions will identify peculiar challenges persons with disability (PWDs) face and opportunities for accessing public and financial services.
Speaking during the program, David Okagwu, Head, DFID Lagos Office and South West Regional Coordinator at UK Department for International Development (DFID Nigeria) expressed DFID’s commitment to PWDs to support them and to ensure they live a better life.
“We will ensure that we bridge the gap between policy and implementation that will give opportunities for people living with disabilities to achieve their dreams and live a fulfilling life”, he said.
In her welcoming address, the Executive Director, Innovation Matters, Dede Kadiri introduced InnovationMatters’ as an evidenced based approach that designs products that enhances policy formulation, financial inclusion, innovation and technology.
Kadiri said the organisation has been providing support to different individuals and organisations through micro-finance, research and capacity building for PWDs and small businesses since 2012 which places the organisation in a strategic position to create a platform for synergies and learning.
Also speaking at the program, Director of Development Finance of Central Bank of Nigeria Financial Inclusion was the CBN’s focus area. Mr. Ade Adedeji said that the Bank’s commitment to encouraging a rich diversity of financial institutions including banks, informal service providers to participate in financial inclusion.
Adedeji stressed further that financial inclusion has continued to assume increasing recognition across the globe among policy makers, researchers and development oriented agencies.
“Its importance derives from the promise it holds as a tool for economic development, particularly in the areas of poverty reduction, employment generation, wealth creation and improving welfare and general standard of living”
Five clusters of People Living with Disability (PLWD) that participated in the program were the deaf community, visually impaired, intellectual disability, physical disability and spinal cord injury clusters. Attendees also came in from two international development partners (IDPS); three government officials and 7 media/civil society organisations.
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