SIOC-cdt provides capacity building for children with disabilities
Thu 19/11/2020 13:14
Disability Rights Awareness Month takes place from 03 November to 03 December 2020 and is a month of focusing on the needs and rights of people with disabilities.
In the Northern Cape, a capacity building project, funded by the SIOC Community Development Trust (SIOC-cdt), that focuses on children with disabilities and has been taking place since September 2019.
Implemented by the Uhambo Foundation on behalf of SIOC-cdt, the project is delivering capacity building programmes, training, support services, resource development, awareness raising, advocacy, lobbying and policy development to support the empowerment of children with mobility devices, their parents, families, caregivers and communities; and to partner with and support other service providers engaged in these objectives to ensure that they receive quality information and resources.
The Northern Cape Department of Health (NCDoH) Rehabilitation Team identified an increase in the number of children with cerebral palsy and an increased need to support young children with early child development disabilities and early school going age in the province.
Uhambo Foundation’s experience in rural Northern Cape also identified a significant gap in community disability awareness and an understanding of resources or the need for early intervention.
Says Vusani Malie, CEO of SIOC-cdt, “The specific needs for this project were determined as capacity building support both for the NCDoH’s team as well as for Early Child Development (ECD) centre caregivers. Stakeholder capacity building was therefore identified as vital to support referral to services.”
The multi-million Rand investment targets the entire Northern Cape province supporting the NCDoH efforts and will capacitate the current team of 38 therapists at the NCDoH over a three-year period. It will also assist in donating mobility devices for the 149 known children currently on the NCDoH waiting list and 18 identified ECD centres are receiving appropriate toys and training on inclusive learning through play for the practitioners.
In addition to above, a new therapist outreach vehicle has been sponsored by Kathu Solar Park. Concludes Mr Malie, “By providing outreach clinical services in conjunction with mentoring the NCDoH Rehabilitation Team, children currently in need of services will receive the support they need and the NCDoH team will build the skills, experience and confidence to support their needs going forward.
“The development of a referral pathway and the provision of the appropriate tools for training and referral support the ongoing sustainability of the service provision in the province and it is envisaged that the NCDoH will resource the initiative sufficiently to enable it to continue to sustain the intended impact and avoid accumulation of backlog of devices.”
Mango-OMC communication
