Due to the cooperation with the Ministry of Family, Labour and Social Policy and the Ministry of Family, Labour and Social Policy, the State Fund for Rehabilitation of Disabled People is launching a new support programme for Occupational Therapy Workshops during the pandemic. The support programme involves PLN 17 million for the protection of the participants and the employees of the Occupational Therapy Workshops against the coronavirus infection.

– Since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic, it has been quite obvious that we must take all means necessary to ensure the safety of persons with disabilities - said the Government Plenipotentiary for the Disabled Paweł Wdówik during the media briefing last Friday. That gave rise to the decision for launching the programme.

A support for nearly a thousand units

The support fund will be available to all Non-Governmental Organisations which run such workshops - including local governments and non-governmental organisations, as well as the entities which have concluded agreements with the State Fund for Rehabilitation of Disabled People for direct work with persons with disabilities in 2020. That means approximately 970 facilities throughout Poland.

Over PLN 17 million allocated to be divided among the facilities will be used primarily for personal protective equipment, such as face masks, protective visors or gloves, as well as for purchasing disinfectants. The applications should be submitted to the State Fund for Rehabilitation of Disabled People. Importantly, the facilities will be allowed to use the funds allocated for the programme in order to cover the costs of protective equipment purchased as early as in June.

The President of the State Fund for Rehabilitation of Disabled People Krzysztof Michałkiewicz who was also present at the media briefing, PLN 1.22 billion will be also transferred by the fund to voivodeship and district local government for the support of projects in the area of social and professional activation of people with disabilities.

Ensuring safety

– Since the beginning of the pandemic, we have been implementing a number of actions in support of persons with disabilities who participate in Occupational Therapy Workshops. We have launched a dedicated programme of benefits for the workshop participants who remain at home, and ensured financial liquidity of the workshops during that difficult time. Today, we help the workshops in the safe execution of their mission to activate persons with disabilities - stresses Krzysztof Michałkiewicz.

The support for the Occupational Therapy Workshops is a component of the Anti-Virus Fund Package, which is a set of measures established in order to fight against the coronavirus and its economic effects. The Package was developed by the Ministry of Development Funds and Regional Policy in cooperation with voivodeship marshals and other institutions involved in the implementation of EU funds. The project is funded under the EU Operational Programme Knowledge Education Development.