Vice President, Youth and Small Entrepreneur Self-Employment Fund, committed to self-employment of persons with disabilities

Executive Vice President of Youth and Small Entrepreneur Self-Employment Fund, Dr. Devraj Roka (Kalyan), has promised that every financial institution will provide a loan to minimum one person with disability while agreeing to approve loans from the fund through financial institutions.

During the meeting with the leaders and representatives of the OPDs under the leadership of Nepal Disabled Women Association NDWA and the officials of the fund, the executive vice president Roka also promised to arrange that cooperatives run by people with disabilities do not have to meet the same standards as cooperatives run by other people to get loans for self-employment.

Youth and Small Entrepreneur Self-Employment Fund has agreed with the Youth Self-Employment Program to provide loans through the cooperatives that must have at least Two hundred share members and must have been registered for Two years. During the discussion, he promised that 25 members of the cooperative established by people with disabilities would be able to disburse loans even registered after 3 months and the fund would work with them.

He admits that he will support people and women with disabilities to become self-employed as much as possible and for this purpose they will participate in self-employment through positive discrimination as per their demand.

During the discussion, Tika Dahal, President of NDWA, said that the state agencies underestimated the people with disabilities. She added that they are contributing to the country from different approach, though, the state is not ready to invest in them and make them self-employed through entrepreneurship. She said that since people with disabilities are skilled in every aspect, they want to connect them with employment and entrepreneurship and if the state needs, they will provide skilled human resource with disabilities.

The participants in the discussion raised issues such as, if the people with disabilities want to establish a cooperative, the fund should facilitate for the easy process, the fund should think about the people with disabilities in rural and remote areas and make policies accordingly, and the fund should cooperate and support people with disabilities who are self-employed through their own initiative and hard work.

During the meeting, Tika Dahal, President of Nepal disabled Women Association NDWA, handed over the 18-point memorandum to the Vice president Devraj Roka.