Health Screening, Community Listening & End of Year Party for Persons with Disabilities (PWDs)
RIA Foundation kicked off its pilot event with the RIA Community Listening & End-of-Year Celebration for Persons with Disabilities (PWDs) on 6th January 2026 at the Church of Pentecost, Central Assembly, Asamankese. This one-day gathering combined a festive celebration with a structured listening session, providing a unique opportunity for RIA to engage directly with over 150 PWDs in the community.
The event was designed not only to celebrate the season but also to gather insights for the upcoming RIA Empowerment Series: Pathways to Independence (Edition 1)—a vocational skills workshop aimed at empowering PWDs. The goal was to understand which skills participants are interested in learning and which can be adapted to their abilities, ensuring future programs are inclusive, evidence-based, and responsive to their needs.
Activities began early in the morning with a health screening in the church compound, which started at 7am and continued into late morning due to the unexpectedly high turnout. Around 11am, the health screening was temporarily paused, and participants were served breakfast, featuring bread rolls, meat pies, and local sobolo drinks.
After breakfast, everyone moved indoors to the church building, where the event began with a short prayer to commit the day to God. The founder of RIA was then introduced and shared the organization’s vision and plans for the upcoming three-day workshop. Emphasizing the foundation’s dual focus on advocacy and empowerment, participants were invited to voice their challenges, aspirations, and areas where they would like RIA to advocate on their behalf, creating a safe and open space for dialogue.
Once the indoor session concluded, lunch was shared with participants in take-home bags, allowing them to enjoy it there or take it home if they preferred. Following this, some participants who had not yet completed their health screening moved to the church compound to be screened, while others remained indoors to continue engaging in conversations with the founder.
To conclude the event, RIA shared special gift packages containing rice, boxes of oil, tomato paste, and mackerel for participants to take home, serving as a heartfelt, belated Christmas gift for the community.
The celebration was graced by notable guests, including the Municipal Chief Executive (MCE) of Lower West Akim and the Health Director of the municipality, who addressed the participants and shared words of encouragement.
The overwhelming joy and gratitude of the attendees made the event truly special, reflecting the impact of community-centered engagement. RIA’s next steps involve preparing a detailed proposal for the vocational skills workshop, which will be reviewed and approved by the executives of the PWDs before planning officially begins.
As RIA’s pilot event, the Community Listening & End-of-Year Celebration set the tone for future initiatives, highlighting the foundation’s commitment to inclusive empowerment and advocacy for Persons with Disabilities across Eastern Ghana.
