Quality of Life for All : Inclusion through CBR StrategyQuality of Life for All – Increase Access to Social Services for Children with

Disabilities and their families in the Khatlon region of Tajikistan

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Fifty four (54) days long training on Basic Training of Trainers (ToT), Community Based Rehabilitation (CBR), disability, Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E), awareness raising, Inclusive Education (IE) delivered to Training Awareness-raising and Monitoring (TAM) Unit members;

Identified 850 children with disabilities to provide rehabilitation support for inclusion into mainstreaming services

Developed Individual Action Plan (IAP) for all children with disabilities to provide rehabilitation services and as per IAP all children with disabilities are receiving regular rehabilitation support;

Established 68 Parents Support Group (PSG) within 71 Villages and providing capacity building support on regular fashion;

Identified 72 nurses from 71 villages and provided trainings on disability and CBR;

Identified 72 school teachers from 71 villages and provided specific trainings on the social model of disability and Inclusive Education (IE);

Identified 77 village leaders from 71 villages and provided specific trainings on the social model of disability and inclusive community development;

Total 57 children with disabilities included into mainstream school and enrolling on Inclusive Education (IE);

Identified problem for implementation of micro projects in all villages and accomplished accessibility work of 8 school and 1kinder garden, distributed 19 Assistive Devices (AD), 14 swing machine, 1 welding machine and set-up 1 water tank;

Functioning four Play Corners (PC) in four Jamaot of Kulob district and organizing different inclusive events for better social participation of children with/without disabilities;

Established coordination committee on CBR at Jamaot level, steering committee at district level and identified 4 focal persons from 3 line ministries and Child Rights Commission and signed Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with 2 line ministries.

Title: Key Direct Beneficiaries

Handicap International (HI), Central Asia (Regional Office Dushanbe, Tajikistan) open Tajikistan Programme in 2010. Poorest country of Central Asia, Tajikistan ranked 125th on the Human Development Indicator scale in 2012. From 1992 to 1997, the civil war caused significant destruction of social infrastructure and devastated the economy of the country, resulting in a high level of poverty. Despite a period of recovery growth, in 2009, 41% of the population still living below the poverty line and 17% below the extreme poverty line (Country Briefing 2011, World Bank). The economy depends heavily on exports and remittances (42% of its Growth Domestic Product - World Bank). The country has inherited the Soviet medical approach of disability, which still transpires today although the country is progressively shifting to the social paradigm of disability. Tajikistan is not a State party to UNCRPD. Laws exist for the employment, education and rehabilitation of people with disabilities, especially the newly accepted Law on Social Protection of Persons with Disabilities (2010) and the Concept on Inclusive Education (2011). In Tajikistan, information about disability is scarce, and mostly inaccurate. The World Health Survey estimated that 1.17 to 1.46 millions of people with disabilities out of 7.85 millions of total population of Tajikistan.

HI, with the financial assistance of the European Union (EU), has started a 32-month long project, namely ‘Quality of Life for all - Increase access to social services for children with disabilities and their families in the Khatlon region’ since May, 1st 2011. The project partners of HI are: one international organization Mission East (ME) and two local organizations, the Public Associations Zarshedabonu (POZ) and Chashmai Ehson (POCH); Home Based Social Services (HBSS), a state department under Kulob Hukumat (local administration) and Kulob Parents Association (KACP) . The line ministries of this project are the Ministry of Labour and Social Protection (MLSP), the Ministry of Education (MoE), the Ministry of Health (MoH) and the Child Rights Commission (CRC) of the Republic of Tajikistan. The project aims to improve the access to services for children with disabilities by using the Community Based Rehabilitation (CBR) approach.

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Author : Abu Jafar AnsaryHandicap International, Central Asia Programme in TajikistanPhoto credits : © Clement MEYNIER

Since May 2011 HI is implementing ‘Quality of Life for all’ project with the financial support from EU. This is a CBR project and accommodated all CBR components (Health, Education, Livelihood, Social and Empowerment) under the frame of project with special focus on education component. In 2011 Tajikistan government adopted concept on Inclusive Education (IE) as a result both local and national authorities are showing key interest on IE. All though existing context (physical, pedagogical and attitudes) still not ready to adopt IE. HI Quality of Life project is trying to demonstrate some example of inclusive education with close collaboration of local and national level authorities. Till to 2012 school year, total 57 children with disabilities included into mainstreaming school. To facilitate real inclusion basic Individual Education Plan (IEP) have been developed for them, as well above mentioned physical of accessibility in some schools is accomplished . So far quality of IE still to be assessed where teaching materials and other necessary environment still far from the real need.

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Overall Objective: To improve the quality of life of the people of Tajikistan, in particular children with disabilities and their families living in the Khatlon region.Specific Objective: To improve the access to social services and inclusion of children with disabilities and their families living in rural and urban areas of 6 Jamoats of the Khatlon region through a CBR strategy.

Area of intervention Figures

Target number of Villages from 2 districts and 6 Jamaot (sub-district) 71

Identification of children with disabilities (no.) 850

Capacity building on IE for school teachers (Person) 71

Capacity building on disability and CBR for nurse (Person) 71

Capacity building on inclusive development for village leaders (Persons)

77

Inclusion into mainstreaming school of children with disabilities 57

Formation of Parents Support Groups (PSG) 68

Implementation of Micro Project in target villages 71

Some Facts and Figures of QoL Project as of April 2013