An awareness program on the implementation of the Security and Livelihood Development Emergency Assistance Project Program -2024 was held today (2024 10 08) at the Kegalle District Secretariat Auditorium. This program was organized by the Social Services Division of the Kegalle District Secretariat under the full supervision and instructions of the Kegalle District Secretary/Government Agent, Mr. J. M. R. P. Jayasinghe.

Welcoming all those present, the District Secretariat Administrative Officer Mrs. R. M. P. Y. Ratnayake delivered the welcome speech and the District Social Service Officer Mr. Sarath Ranaweera explained the purpose of the program. The Director of Planning, Ministry of Women and Child Affairs and Social Empowerment, Mr. Nilantha Wickramanayake stated that this program, which is being conducted today in conjunction with the program to provide dry food to persons with disabilities representing the 25 districts of Sri Lanka, is the tenth program. It has been planned to provide this financial assistance to 11 selected districts covering the 25 districts and plans have been made to provide benefits to about 500 beneficiaries by organizing 09 programs in those districts.

The objectives of this program were to select 50 families with children with disabilities from among the 11 Divisional Secretariat Divisions covering the entire Kegalle District, provide them with necessary school supplies and dry food items, conduct a program to calm the minds of adults and children, and raise awareness about the crediting of an amount of Rs. 12,000/= to their accounts in the coming month. Using this amount credited to the bank account, they will be able to purchase the retail goods of their choice from any business place with an official seal, and the details of the expenditure on the goods purchased with that amount should be made available to the Social Services Division of the Divisional Secretariat Office of their division, he further stated.

A family with a person with a disability is a special family unit than any other household unit. Taking care of such a person with a disability, it is imperative to maintain the mental state of the disabled person and the mental state of the family members. For that, it is very important to provide them with the necessary psychological counseling. With that aim, Ms. Renuka Jayaratne, Senior Counseling Officer of the Kegalle District Secretariat, who participated as resource persons in parallel with this program, conducted an awareness session on "Using therapeutic methods to preserve the mental health of caregivers of people with disabilities" and Ms. Gayani Harishchandu, Counseling Officer of the Rambukkana Divisional Secretariat, conducted an awareness session on "Measures that can be taken to minimize the problems that arise in families with disabilities" and related practical activities.

Officials from the National Secretariat for Persons with Disabilities, officials from the Social Services Division of the Kegalle District Secretariat, persons with disabilities and their family members were present at the event.