Zambia
The Kawama Inclusion Project
The Kawama Inclusion Project is delivered in partnership with the Ex-Mayors Association who are a local not-for-profit registered organisation based in Ndola. An existing relationship with a local church means we already know of lots of disabled children in the area who would benefit from attending playscheme. But we are now working with the Ex-Mayors Association to replicate our template of using playschemes as the best way to include disabled children and then deliver essential medical and education support.
We estimate that over 1,500 disabled children in Kawama could benefit from our playschemes and based on our experience we know that children we meet will have urgent health needs, untreated injuries and infections or chronic illnesses - often the sole cause of their disability. The reasons children go untreated are complex but often involve entrenched negative beliefs as well as poverty. Delivering this model of play, medical and education programmes we expect the Kawama Inclusion Project to deliver 2,450 child visits in 2022 rising to 4,716 in 2024 for 200 disabled children in the Kawama area.
Kawama Inclusion Project in action…
Playschemes - at the heart of our model
The playscheme instantaneously ends a child’s isolation and reduce risk of harm and the playscheme is the hub where local staff assess then deliver the essential services below - all in a child focussed non-institutional environment. We want to expand delivery early 2023 to 5 days/week delivering an additional 40 visits/week from 2023. So the playscheme is a safe, clean place for disabled children to play and call their own – we have a building that is dry and clean and is our simple playcentre. We plan modest building works in 2023 to upgrade the toilet areas and extend an area of sheltered outdoor play area.
Our play team is recruited from the local Kawama community and they run a playscheme 3 days a week for 40 disabled children. This sort of work is unprecedented in Kawama but there is a long way to go to reach every child and family that needs support. We are working with the play team with ideas and good practice so that every disabled child who come to play is happy and safe. Playschemes also give parents, especially mums and sisters, breaks from caring or time to pursue their own education or employment, helping alleviate poverty.
The Kawmam Inclusion Project team
Medical support
We will prioritise the health and welfare of disabled children – this is perhaps the step to inclusion and fundamental to how we value and include each other. As the project grows we will start to see conditions and injuries that children will need help to manage. We know that disabled children’s health is often neglected or treatment will default to traditional healers which risk worsening the child’s health and condition.
So we use our playschemes to assess the care that disabled need in a friendly child focussed context. Then we can help children and their families access the right local healthcare providers for treatment, medication, medical equipment and support. We have even helped access to surgery at the Beit CURE Hospital in Lusaka and we making links with the local children’s hospital in Ndola. We have also been able to provide mobility equipment, such as wheelchairs and standing frames. These are all simple actions and behaviour that will remove barriers to longer, healthier and more independent lives for disabled children.
Parent support and community awareness
Social support is vital for parents of disabled children – especially in Zambia, where traditional negative beliefs cause devastating stigma for these families. So we set up parent meetings and social work-style home visits where information about impairments and available services can be shared in a safe forum to reassure parents and parents can share experiences, support each other and reconnect with their community.
Inclusive education for disabled children
The inclusion of disabled children in education will improve their life chances and choices and will develop the softer skills they will need later in paid work – for example networking, social communication as well as the formal learning that obviously happens in the classroom. We are realistic
Our presence in the community means that we can start to improve the almost non-existent participation of disabled children in education. We have links with local organisations and schools which means that we can review the support disabled children receive in schools and support referrals to schools. Our next move is to work within schools to establish ‘Inclusion Clubs’. The aim is to inspire non-disabled students to help find their absent and isolated disabled peers and begin to include them in education.
