Promoting recognition for unpaid care work for carers of children with developmental disabilities in Ghana

 

Carers of children with developmental disabilities (CWDDs) in Ghana, many of whom are women and girls, face hardships in providing care for their children. It is estimated that a quarter of Ghanaian children have some form of developmental delay, with little to no resources and/or facilities in Ghanaian society to support care and provide needed assistance to carers of children with developmental disabilities. As a results CWDDs are often left at home, increasing the overall caregiver burden, which falls disproportionately on women. Although there has been some progress by government and civil-society organizations to increase recognition for unpaid care work for carers of children with developmental disabilities, policies that recognize, value and scale unpaid care work for CWDDs in Ghana are urgently needed.

This project will support the development and implementation of policies that address unpaid care work by carers of CWDDs in Ghana. The project will count and value unpaid care work and measure its economic, social and psychological costs, assess the relative advantage of existing policies such as health insurance, respite care and economic empowerment, and identify innovative strategies. Special emphasis will be placed on supporting the expansion and strengthening of inclusive education initiatives in Ghana and advocating for public schools to be equipped with necessary resources and trained personnel to accommodate children with developmental disabilities. By enhancing access to inclusive education, caregivers can better balance their caregiving responsibilities with other pursuits.

The project is supported under the Scaling Care Innovations in Africa partnership co-funded by Global Affairs Canada and IDRC. Scaling Care Innovations is a five-year initiative aimed at scaling tested and locally grounded policy and program innovations to redress gender inequalities in unpaid care work in sub-Saharan Africa.