Supporting disabled children in Kyrgyzstan
http://healthprom.org/
Earlier this week I received a copy of the latest newsletter from Healthprom - a British charity that I have mentioned several times in different postcards.
This one contained links to stories about:
- Their Donkey Ambulance used to transport expecting mothers to hospital in Afghanistan.
- Their new project in Russia which will support children with disabilities and their parents living in Krasnoyarsk, Siberia, to access educational services in their local community.
- Their recent evaluation from the DFID (The Department for International Development – Brains official aid agency).
- Two fundraising actions:
- a fundraising concert in aid, and
- a trek in the Pamir Mountains of Tajikistan.
- … and Equality, their partners in implementing their latest project here in Kyrgyzstan: Supporting disabled children in Kyrgyzstan.
You can see the newsletter here.
The project is part-funded by Britain’s Big Lottery Fund
The project began in September and, as I understand it, this is an extension of a previous projects supporting children with disabilities and their families based in some of Kyrgyzstan’s regions – Talas and Issyk Kul. This one, however, will cover all seven oblasts.
One of the main aims of the project is to to help avoid the children being placed in institutions by creating conditions providing better support for the children and their parents … and and improving community based services so that this is not only seen as the preferred option but also the norm.
It is hoped that and emphasis on “early intervention” and family support measures will help families and children cope with the difficulties that they encounter.
One of the biggest is access to education. Over recent weeks, there have been several stories in the local press about the relatively few children with special needs that have access to education, Many are not able to attend school putting pressure not only on the family in the present but also on the children in the future.
According to official statistics, (and regular readers of my postcards will know how I distrust official statistics), there are well over twenty thousand thousand children with special needs in Kyrgyzstan – but I think that even this figure will give some idea of the scope of the issue.
Whereas many children with disabilities will be found in the larger cities, a substantial number are also be found in the regions, where they lack the level of support, increasing their isolation and making life even more difficult.
Hence one of the aspects of the project is to support the development of Day Centers … which have already shown their value in some of Healthprom’s earlier work – and some stories illustrating this can be found on their website. It is hoped that the Day Centers will be able to provide some pre-school education and establish links with local schools, liaising between school and parents as well as supporting local parents’ groups – and supporting activities to help integrate these children into their local communities.
Although the project is supported by Britain’s Big Lottery Fund and the Bryan Guiness Charity Trust, finances are limited … so the immediate beneficiaries will be just over two thousand of the Children with Disabilities and their families – about a tenth of the global figure. It is hoped that indirect beneficiaries might amount to a similar figure. That’s a start … but it still leaves a lot of children in need of support.
Bishkek