KINGSTON, Jamaica (JIS) — The Social Development Fund (SDC) is partnering with the Jamaica Council for Persons with Disabilities (JCPD) to provide entrepreneurial support for persons with disabilities (PWDs) in the parish of St Ann.

Through the Moving Outside Vulnerabilities for Economic Development (MOVE) Programme, the PWDs will receive training in the areas of business plan writing, business model preparation and financial management.

It is one of seven initiatives under SDC’s Local Economic Development Support Programme (LEDSP), and focuses on national economic growth and wealth creation through community business initiatives targeted at PWDs.

LEDSP aims to establish economic activities/enterprises in communities across Jamaica; support small and micro enterprises, enabling them to attain financial viability and/or expand their businesses; and positively impact the gross domestic product (GDP).

SDC Community Development Officer, St Ann’s Bay Development Area, Colette Kerr, told JIS News that MOVE was born out of a need to better serve the PWDs.

 “There needs to be some kind of sustainability to offer service delivery to PWDs, and so we came up with the concept of the MOVE Programme, which is to look at training PWDs within entrepreneurship,” she said.

“Having discussed with the JCPD, one of the things that came out was that these individuals have viable businesses. However, there has not been much funding for them, and when they do write project proposals they are very weak,” she pointed out.

The training programme was developed by JCPD, SDC and HEART Trust/NTA.

SDC officers and JCPD social workers will screen people to assess their capacity to undergo training.

MOVE will be launched on Wednesday at St Ann’s Bay Taxi Car Park as part of activities for Disabilities Awareness Week.

The week is being observed from December 4 to 9 under the theme ‘Inclusive Information Communication Technologies: The Way to the Future’.

Kerr said the intent is to extend the MOVE Programme to other parishes across the island.