Education South Africa Project #26442

Inclusivity for disabled children in South Africa

by Uhambo

Summary

Uhambo provides a holistic program to equip children with disabilities, their parents and caregivers with tools and resources for inclusivity. Our innovative training program empowers family and community members and includes 4 components: community & family empowerment workshops, our award winning Ndinogona "I Can" kit that advances the development of children, wheelchair seating skills and education on disabilities. This campaign will support one under-resourced community in South Africa.

$5,000
total goal

$1,547
remaining

28
donors

0
monthly donors

1
fundraiser

6
years

Challenge

An estimated 597,953 South African children and young adults with disabilities do not have access to appropriate wheelchairs or community based services. The large majority of these children are currently excluded from education. In 2013, Uhambo conducted a door to door survey of 15,000 households and identified that one of the greatest challenges families faced was lack of inclusive education which forms such a vital stage for children's development.

Solution

Our program builds the capacity of communities, day care centers and parents to ensure that children with disabilities are reaching their full potential. We empower parents to be champions for their own children's, work with families to find resources, and conduct training to overcome stigma. The award-winning Ndinogona program teaches even the lowest-resourced day care center staff how to develop their children. This project will support several communities and care centers in E & W Cape.

Long-Term Impact

Our program establishes a system for communities. By focusing on skills and cross-sectoral training, we develop parents, healthcare providers and educational services to build a sustainable future for the caregivers and the children they serve. The impact includes: providing the possibility for children with disabilities to attend school and earn an education, overcoming stigma, changing policies to accommodate disabilities, inclusion in communities and overcoming barriers and developing skills.