USAID empowers the deaf

USAID empowers the deaf

       Donohoe receiving an award of                 recognition from Ige

The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) is set to strengthen deaf education and employment in Nigeria using Sign Language Based Education.

Through its “Strengthening Deaf Education, Empowerment, and Employment (Deaf-E3)”, it is set to build the capacity of groups integral to advancing education that fully meets the needs of deaf, hard of hearing, and deafblind, including educational professionals, Nigerian Sign Language interpreters, and development actors.

USAID Acting Mission Director Katie Donohoe, together with officials from Gallaudet University, the Nigerian National Association of the Deaf (NNAD), and other partners has launched a new activity to empower deaf, hard of hearing, and deaf blind children and youth through education, employment, and life opportunities in Nigeria.

The launch, which was held to mark  the International Day of Sign Languages during the International Week of Deaf People, was attended by Senator Umaru Tanko Al-Makura, a former Governor of Nasarawa State who is part of Nigeria’s deaf community, among other dignitaries.

According to Donohoe, the Deaf-E3, which is a new three-year, $2.05 million activity, will build the capacity of groups integral to advancing education that fully meets the needs of deaf, hard of hearing, and deaf blind Nigerians, including educational professionals, Nigerian Sign Language interpreters and development actors.

“Through this partnership with Gallaudet, USAID is supporting a changing of the tide for the deaf community,” Donohoe said at the launch.  “Deaf people can do anything hearing people can do, except hear.  In fact, deaf, hard of hearing, and deafblind people can excel at all levels of education and employment when they are provided an education that is accessible and designed for them to directly interact and communicate with their parents, teachers, and peers.”

A Gallaudet University alumnus who serves as the Deaf-E3 Project Manager, Olufemi Ige, provided a Nigerian Sign Language (NSL) lesson to commemorate the day and engage attendees in the recognition of sign languages as relevant and valued forms of communication for all.

Operational since May 2021 and continuing through 2024, Deaf-E3  will develop manuals to train educational professionals in a multimodal and multilingual approach in deaf education, build the capacity of NNAD and its stakeholders, establish a consortium of interpreters and deaf individuals to improve practices in sign language interpretation in education, and increase the capacity of USAID and other development actors to promote awareness of the NNAD and other advocates for the deaf community, it was stated.

”Fewer than 40 percent of Nigeria’s deaf children are enrolled into primary school, and even fewer are allowed to continue into secondary education,”  Fela Bank-Olemoh, Senior Special Assistant to the President of the Federation on Education Interventions said. “Programme like this are critical to ensure all stakeholders’   hands must be on deck to address the problem of under-education, under-development, and poverty among the deaf community.”

Considered the premier US institution of higher learning for the deaf community, Gallaudet conducts research in many fields, including education, linguistics, psychology, educational neuroscience, deaf history and culture, and Black deaf history and culture, and already has a presence in Nigeria.  Other Deaf-E3 activity partners include Wesley University-Ondo, Discovering Deaf Worlds, and the National Commission for Persons with Disabilities.