Community Based
Rehabilitation
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At aaina, we believe change
begins at the community level.
We have an integrated approach,
working closely with children
and adults with disabilities, as
well as parents, community
members and teachers,
identifying problems and
adopting need based strategies.
Our operations address 3
thematic fields – Education,
Health and Livelihood.
‘A Step Ahead’ is a CBR project
in operation since July 2004 in
30 villages of Dharakote block,
Ganjam, supported by CBR Forum,
Bangalore involving 322 persons
with disabilities.
‘Project Ananya’ is the first
extensive community based
initiative undertaken in the
district of Ganjam. In the year
2000 the project started with a
district wide enumeration and
status survey of the persons
with disability. It was started
as the first support initiative
on disability in South East Asia
of Save the Children (UK) and is
now concentrated in 260 Villages
in 9 Blocks of Ganjam District.
‘Project Satyabhama’ – AAHWAN
was started in the month of
January 2009 now runs in 95
villages of Kamakshyanagar and
Kankadahad block covering 10 GPs
in Dhenkanal district. The
project is intended at community
based rehabilitation of PWDs
with a special focus on
children.
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Our CBR projects span the
following core areas |
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Education |
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Inclusive Education
Inclusive Children’s Groups |
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Health |
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Early, identification,
intervention & rehabilitation |
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Livelihood |
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Formation of SHGs/DPOs &
capacity building
Skill development
Promotion of – IGP (Income
Generation Programmes)
individually and in groups |
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Education: Inclusive
Education
Under ‘Project Satyabhama’ and
‘Project Ananya’ our aim is to
promote Inclusive Education and
sensitize the community and duty
bearers so that PwDs can lead
their life with dignity.
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Objectives |
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To mainstream the children with
disability for education |
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To promote child rights with
regards to their inclusion and
protection issues |
Key Activities
Children’s Library
Two Children’s Libraries have
been opened in two different
project blocks (Kamakhya Nagar
and Kankadahada). Every Saturday
& Sunday the Children's Club
members come to read books in
the library - novels,
autobiographies and educational
books. The field staff also
distribute books to remote
villages. During summer
vacation, we plan to open the
library every day and arrange
some fun games, quizzes and
competitions.
Sensitizing the community
Many programs are held
throughout the year to sensitize
the community about disability
and develop a positive attitude
towards persons and children
with disabilities. Examples
include cultural programs to
showcase the talents of CWDs,
street plays and integrated
sports.
Improve the status of dropouts
and non-initiated children with
disability in the community
Education in functional literacy
for dropouts and non-school
going children, Pre Vocational
training to the children above
15 years wherever required is
also organised.
Ensure education of all CWDs
below 14 years in association
with SSA and to create
conditions for Inclusive
Education in the mainstream
educational structure.
Preparatory centre for
mainstreaming, inclusion or
getting the children admitted in
mainstream schools,
Sensitization workshop with peer
groups, Mobilizing scholarships
for CWDs in school.
RTI Workshops
E.g. for SHAG leaders to have a
clear knowledge regarding the
scopes in RTI and what is its
use for the PWDs for advocacy.
Street Plays
Street plays are a fantastic
way to raise awareness on a
variety of issues, as well as
raise morale and encourage the
involvement of children. We
organise street plays on issues
such as inclusion of PwDs and
promotion of Child Rights.
Orientation for Teachers
Across our projects we have been
running workshops on Joyful
Learning and preparation of low
cost and no cost TLM for all the
VLWs and the Resource centre
teachers.
Orientation for Children
The Children’s Club members are
oriented on a variety of topics
such UNCRC and how to build a
child friendly space in schools
and villages. Children are
encouraged to get involved and
take responsibility amongst
their peer groups. |
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Education: Inclusive
Children’s Groups
The aim of the Children’s Clubs
is to give a voice to excluded
children and promote their
rights. In partnership with
Save
the Children, we run 30
Children’s Clubs, involving
almost 1,000 children.
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Key Objectives |
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Inclusion of groups that have
been excluded on the basis of
class, caste, religion, gender
or other reasons |
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Bringing universal education to
those who have been
discriminated against or
prevented from going to school
for other reasons |
Key Strategies |
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Promoting Inclusive Children’s
Clubs where children from all
backgrounds can gather together
and discuss various issues
related to child rights |
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Creating a space where children
can play and study together,
increasing interaction between
children from various different
backgrounds |
Key Activities |
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Discussion of various
child-rights related problems
and issues, especially regarding
discriminations due to caste and
gender. |
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Raising awareness about rights
and plans for attaining justice,
such as RTE and UNCRC. Training
programmes are organised for the
children club members of all the
30 villages on Right to
Education Act-2010 and regarding
the scope for marginalized
children |
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Identification of excluded
children in the village
(exclusion mapping) |
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Organizing interventions (in
partnership with Child
Protection Committees) to
include such excluded children,
by counseling both the children
as well as their families. |
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Bringing dropouts back to school |
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Participating in the efforts to
end child labor and child
marriage |
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Amo Swora: the quarterly
newsletter produced by children
for children. See the latest
issues from
Kandhamal and
Kamakhya nagar. |
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Health: Early
Intervention
Working for the development and
inclusion of persons with
disabilities, our work involves
identification & intervention in
terms of direct therapy and
healthcare, as well as training
and sensitization among the
community.
Key Activities
Improve the functional
ability of the PWD
This includes physiotherapy and
occupational therapy, referral
services, improvement of
communication skills, ADL and
social behaviour interventions
for children with intellectual
and behavioural problems.
Improving the skills of the
parents
Some of the important programmes
include home based management
workshop for the parents (ADL,
therapy, behaviour
modification), home based
training of parents of children
receiving intensive
interventions by CBRWs, sharing
of rehabilitation skills with
parents and siblings by CBRWs
through village level group
activities, group review of
children (assessment and
intervention plan) by CBRWs and
professional staff together with
parents.
Resource Centres
10 Resource Centres are
established in the project area
of Dhenkanal. The purpose of
these centres is to prepare the
CWDs for mainstreaming and also
provide information regarding
disability in the community. One
local teacher is appointed to
look after the progress of the
children along with therapeutic
development.
Identification, Assessment &
Referral Services
Through Identification camps we
identify PwDs in need of medical
assistance and refer them to
local and state hospitals for
further treatment. We also
assess PwDs and support them in
applying for aids and appliances
(e.g. wheelchairs, hearing aids)
Health Camps
Health Camps provide medical
examinations and advice for PwDs
and distribute free medicine.
During August 2010 a health camp
was organised for the PWMI at
the sub divisional medical
campus, KamakhyaNagar with the
convergence of district and
block administration, National
Rural Health Mission (NRHM).
ICDS & SSA. 81 PWMI attended and
were examined by the Specialist
and also distributed free
medicine aaina organised and
facilitated all the camp
activities.
Health & Nutrition Camps have
also been organised in the
projects to raise awareness
about the importance of local
nutritious food and mother’s
milk for babies.
Workshop on Assistive Devices
and Adoptive Practices
We run workshops on assistive
devices and adoptive practices
for the staff and parents of
children with mobility problems.
The purpose of the workshop is
to learn how to prepare low cost
aids and appliances from locally
available material, and so
reduces dependency on Govt.
assistance.
It is a two-day, entirely
participatory programme. The
participants learn the skills to
prepare different aids &
appliances and assistive devices
such as Parallel bars, Special
chair, AAC Board, Corner seat
etc. for the children |
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Livelihood: Formation Of SHGS/DPOS
& Capacity Building
More than 150 SHGs have been
established across Odisha with
the help of aaina, under the
name “Ananya Swayam Sahayak
Gosthi”.
Building Capacity
Though the SHGs of persons with
disability are facilitated
through our projects, their
long-term sustainability is our
prime concern. Group leaders and
members are empowered through
leadership development training,
book keeping and money
maintenance.
Financial Support
Through the support of
development banks like NABARD
the regional branches of SBI,
RGB, Aska Cooperative bank are
periodically consulted and
linkages and loan forwarding
made to the SHGs. The lending
banks are happy and eager to
extend loan to more number of
these SHGs, as the loan
repayment status is almost
absolute 100%. It is a
noteworthy point to state that
the women-headed SHGs are
performing with greatest
initiative. Many of the female
members have been able establish
their financial independence
through small time business set
ups.
Self-Sufficiency
At present many SHGs have taken
up loans and are doing some
economic activities in the move
towards self-sufficiency. A
poultry farm has been
established by taking a loan of
1 Lakhs, SHG of Jhadabumi had
also taken up a loan of Rs 1
Lakh and is successfully doing
mushroom farming. Besides these
big activities many SHGs have
taken up loan and are engaged in
small economic activities. Some
such SHGs are SHG of Turumu
which had taken up a loan of
20,000, of Mogura - a loan of
30,000, Bidipur – Rs 50,000,
Baruda – Rs 30,000, 7 SHGs of
Belaguntha block that were given
an assistance of Rs 1,50,000 to
women with disabilities
exclusively. In all it can be
said that the organisation had
brought the PWDs virtually to a
position where they are now
striving to become self
sufficient and thereby live a
dignified life. |
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Livelihood: Skill Development
Vocational Training Centre
A Vocational Training Centre has
been established on the campus
of Project Office,
Kamakshyanagar on mobile
repairing. At present 12 young
persons with disabilities are
involved in the programme. A
professional trainer gives
practical training to the young
people on repairing mobile
phones. There are plans to
contact banks, Government and
financial institutions for
financial support for the
sustainability of the programme.
The goal of the programme is for
the trainees to set up their own
businesses in and around
Kamakshyanagar because there is
huge demand for this trade. |
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