KATHMANDU, MAY 25

The federal government has issued a procedure for providing grants to various non-governmental organisations working for the welfare of differently-abled persons.

The grants are meant to increase the access of differently-abled persons to employment opportunities by providing them with skills training and social security.

According to the procedure, the grants will be provided to eligible organisations through the local levels concerned. Distribution of grants will be based programmes approved by the government.

The grants cover programmes of NGOs for the benefit of differently-abled persons. As per the procedure recently released by the Ministry of Women, Children and Senior Citizens, the government will initiate the process of sanctioning the budget after the NGOs submit an application with its proposal of activities and programmes to the concerned local level.

"The grant shall be spent only for the purpose for which it is provided. The NGOs receiving the grants shall operate programmes in a way to deliver service to the target groups, and the grant amount will be provided through banking channel," it reads.

The procedure requires the local levels concerned to carry out monitoring and evaluation to ascertain whether the NGOs have utilised the grants. If the NGOs are found to have misused the grant, the MoWCSC may blacklist them, prohibit the sale or transfer of its tangible and intangible assets and freeze bank accounts for further action.

According to the 2011 census, about 2 per cent (513,321) of the total population of the country is living with one or the other kind of disability.

A version of this article appears in the print on May 26, 2021, of The Himalayan Times.