Empowered LCD South Asia's News Letter, January - June, 2009, Volume 5, No. 1
Dear Reader,
Welcome to our first bi-annual newsletter and as always, I would like to thank you for your consistent support.
It is obvious, by way of how we are being encouraged to take a closer look at our publications in terms of their role to put forward our work with growing efficacy that you have been our greatest contributor so far. Your suggestions have been one of the strongest driving forces in the development of our communication and outreach materials.
Home Based Education - Facilitating inclusion of children with severe and profound disabilities into mainstream schools
Home based education (HBE) simply means providing educational support to children with severe and profound disabilities within their homes. LCD supported Cheshire programme in Coorg (CHIC) is working in remote areas of Coorg district (India) to ensure inclusion of children with disabilities in mainstream schools. Till date, the programme has helped retain 273 disabled children in mainstream schools due to its interventions.
Need for Inclusive Transport - Access and Mobility issues faced by People with disabilities and the Elderly
Transport is defined as movement of people and goods from one place to another. Today, transport plays a major role in economic and social development of a community. Communities having no transport infrastructure are often isolated from the world and thus, tend to be poor.
To encourage self-help and advocacy among persons with disabilities, LCD supported programmes in South Asia are promoting self help groups (SHGs) of persons with disabilities and their family members. These SHGs act as a focal point for micro-advocacy on disability rights and experience sharing among members.
One of the SHGs in Kothapatnam village of Prakasam district undertook a unique initiative with support from LCD-SARO project in the area. 12 members from the group came together and started a Disability Resource Centre to provide services to persons with disabilities in nearby areas.
Tamir Cheshire Community Programme (TCCP) staff were identifying disabled people through a community survey in remote villages of Faisalabad district. On enquiry, community people referred them to Muhammad's house, a 12-year old boy with locomotor disability.
In the very first meeting, the staff found that Muhammad liked going to school, but had dropped out as his classmates teased him regularly. His parents also expressed that Muhammad found it difficult to walk to the school. They had almost given up on his education.
Based on this initial meeting, the staff decided that through basic therapy and school sensitisation, Muhammad's problems could be solved, and he could continue his education. They encouraged his parents to support Muhammad and requested them to visit the TCCP resource centre for physiotherapy.
In this six-month period (January to June), SARO team has been actively involved in providing capacity building and technical support to partner organisations as detailed below -
- SARO staff (Programme Manager, Advocacy & Campaigns Manager) visited Dhaka Cheshire Home in Bangladesh. They also provided technical inputs on programme development to 15 partners of Centre for Disability in Development (CDD), who are implementing the DFID funded inclusive education programme of LCD in Bangladesh.
I am Hasini Sadunika. Though I am five years old, I can't walk and talk like other children of my age. I live with my mother and grandmother who love me a lot. I have never seen my father as he left us soon after I was born. My mother stays at home and looks after me, while my grandmother manages our small shop (grocery store).
To demonstrate interventions taken up by LCD-South Asia Office and the impact of their work, we are regularly tracking the case story of “Esaruddin and his family”. This family has been identified by a SARO supported programme in Bangladesh.
LCD-SARO has partnered with Centre for Disability in Development (CDD), a disability organisation in Bangladesh, to implement a programme on Inclusive Education and Employment Rights of persons with disabilities. CDD has chosen local partners to support them in implementation of this programme; one among them is Gono Unnayan Kendra (GUK), a community development organisation working in remote, backward and disaster prone areas of Gaibandha district.
In this issue, we bring you a rating tool for assessing the performance of self help groups (SHGs). The tool is specifically designed for disability NGOs having self help groups of disabled persons and their family members. These SHGs are not only involved in savings/credit activities but are also actively involved in advocacy. The check list given below will help assess each SHG's performance in a simple, but effective manner. The assessment is generally done for groups which are more than a year old.
Our Vision, Mission and Values
Our vision
A society in which every disabled person can enjoy their rights and has the opportunity to fulfil their potential
Our mission
To enable disabled people to improve their quality of life and to campaign for the removal of the barriers which hinder them
Our values
Valuing the Individual - Taking the time to listen to each disabled person and to understand what matters to them
Working together - Finding our success in the achievement of each disabled person with whom we work
Honesty - Generating trust with each of our stakeholders by being clear about what we can and cannot do and by delivering on our promises
Creativity - Developing imaginative new products, moving into new fields and seeing new ways of working so that we can serve disabled people more effectively
Energy - Being ambitious in the goals we set and committing ourselves to their achievement