In fulfilment of The Leprosy Mission Nigeria (TLMN) obligation as implementing Strategic Partner Organization(SPO) of Liliane Fonds in Nigeria, they designed a five years strategic programme knowns as Inclusion First: Strengthening Disability Inclusion Through Empowered Households in Nigeria.
The project which started in 2021, TLMN worked with 21 Partner Organizations (POs) in the six geo-political zones and it recorded some remarkable successes such as
-A total of 1,754 children received Inclusive education support.
-A total of 3,802 Parents and Caregivers were support vocational training and livelihood support.
-Capacity building for 11,642 members of DPO, School teachers in Advocacy and Human rights.
In continuation of the programme, TLMN after the call for application selected the 17 best projects for the year 2022, 11 out of POs played part in 2021 programme and there are 6 new POs playing part in the 2022 programme.
For the take-off of 2022 programme, TLMN organized a two-day Inception Meeting on Wednesday 16th and Thursday 17th of March, 2022 in Abuja for the POs to enlighten them on what they should know in order to have a hitch free implementation of the Inclusion first project and also to issue them cheques to commence implementation of their projects.
Mr. Puis Sunday, the Head of Programmes and Operations at TLMN in his presentation said that the meeting is important because it would provide opportunity for TLMN staff and POs to meet each other, break the ice and build relationships, POs to understand the TLMN / LF Inclusion First Programme and Priorities for 2022, also have understanding about TLMN organizational values, policies and clarify working approaches & expectations, then enter into formal Contractual Agreement for programme implementation as well as providing answers to any other questions POs may have about the programme implementation.
Speaking further, he said that 5-Year Inclusion First Strategic Framework started in the 2021 and it will end in 2025 and the Vision is to have an inclusive Nigerian society where households are empowered, and social structures strengthened to eliminate all barriers to holistic disability inclusion.
He also stated that the goal of the programme is for Persons with disabilities (including children, their care-givers & families) have built Resilience and actively participating in social, cultural & economic life through Rights Based Approaches at the end of 2025.
Mr. Sunday stated the importance of the strategic priorities of the project which are Organizational Development, Inclusive Health System, Inclusive Education, Livelihood Development, Social Inclusion, Empowerment and Resource Development.
He informed that the project commencement date is 1st January. 2022 and the closing date is 31st December, 2022, it expected that a total number of 2,212 children and youth with disabilities would be directly reached, 945 parents and or caregivers to be reached directly and it is also expected that 7,230 health workers, government officials, teachers, etc to be directly reached at the end of the year.
He also informed that N152,368,125 is the financial contribution for the programme with Liliane Fonds contributed ₦145,112,500 and SPO, POs contributed N 7,255,625.
The Partner Organizations that scaled through in the year 2022 programme after rigorous process of selecting them are: Catholic Diocese of Abakaliki, Centre for Gospel Health and Development, Catholic Diocese of Kontagora, Down Syndrome, Disability Rights Advocacy Centre, Festus Fajemilo Foundation, Rehabilitation Center of the Handmaids of the Holy Child Jesus, Owerri, Jela’s Development Initiatives, Rehabilitation Centre for Disabled, Old & Tramps (RECDOT), Catholic Diocese of Port Harcourt: The Special Child School, Charis/ Open Doors for Special Learners, St. Joseph Inclusive Model School Oraifite, Sisters of Saint Louis Akure Nigeria and Servants of Charity Ibadan, St Vincent Center for Inclusive Education, Community Advancement Initiative for Self-Reliance (CAI4SR), Elim Igede and St. Bernadette Nursery & Primary.
Some of the POs spoke to The Qualitative Magazine TQM on their project and what would be expected of them at the end of the project.
Amaka Atupulazi, a program officer at Disability Right Advocacy Center (DRAC) said that they are one of the new POs and the project they are implementing is called Breaking the Barriers, it is aimed at improving access to health for children and youths with disabilities because children and youths with disabilities are often left out when it comes to access to health. It has been due to poverty because most families cannot afford high cost of drugs and hospital bills. In 2017, DRAC worked with Federal Ministry of Health to develop National Policy on Sexual and Reproductive Health Right of Persons With Disabilities with emphasis on women and girls, even though the Policy is doing well at the National Level, there has been low awareness and low implementation at the State level.
Speaking further, she said in addressing this gap, DRAC while carrying out this project in Anambra State, they would be advocating for the state adoption of the policy and its implementation, training the children and youths with disabilities on their Sexual and Reproductive Health Right (SRHR), working with health service providers to understand what it takes to make provision for children and youths with disabilities, and engaging stakeholders to remove the barriers that have been hindering children and youths with disabilities from accessing health care services.
She was excited by the partnership with TLMN saying that as one of their core mandate is supporting persons with disabilities. She hoped that the relationship would be long-lasting and the results of this project would address/ add to the strategic goal of TLMN.
Issac Ogunleye from Community Advancement Initiative for Self-Reliance(CAI4SR) located in Osogbo told TQM that as one of the new POs, they feel excited and fulfilled for being selected to be part of TLMN vision on one part and on another part, it is in fulfilment of the vision of their organization that focuses on women, children and person with disabilities.
Speaking further, he said that their project is intended to provide inclusive education and healthcare services for persons with disabilities in Osun State but they would be implementing in two local government areas, two primary schools, two secondary schools and one higher institution.
He informed that they would be conducting mapping to know the extent of enrollment of persons with disabilities in the schools, creating awareness, train teachers, train some students as peer educators, provide some facilities that will make the schools more conducive for persons with disabilities such as provision of accessible toilets etc.
He was hopeful that at the end of the project, there would be more awareness about Inclusive education and healthcare services, children and youths with disabilities would be more aware of their rights and also engaging the state assembly of Osun State to ensure the domestication of Disability Right Law.
Mr. Afolabi Fajemiro, the founder and Executive Director of Festus Fajemiro Foundation (FFF) told TQM that their foundation works on all forms of disability but have significant focus on spinal bifida. He said that they have been long standing partner organization to Liliane foundation, formerly through Daughters of Charity and 2021, when TLMN came on board as SPO. They applied for the call and they were privileged to be part of the selected organizations.
“We are here again for the 2022 grant and we are targeting children with disabilities between age 0-25 and we are carrying out project around child development and enabling environment that is removing barriers at level of policy, environment and attitude”.
Speaking further, he said that the title of their 2022 project is Disability Inclusion Drive and Advocacy (DIDA) and within the project, they would be providing direct support to children and youths with disabilities in the area of education and health (paying school fees for some youngsters with disabilities and supporting access to healthcare services for some youngsters with disabilities), strengthening the capacity of health workers on the healthcare peculiarities of children and youngsters with disabilities, training youngsters with disabilities on how to take care of themselves health wise, advocating for the domestication of disability rights Law in Osun State which they started last year but not fully successful, they intend to continue this year.
He informed that Liliane Fonds supported them in the past to carry out mapping and assessment of 44 public inclusive schools in Lagos and based on the gaps identified from the report, they developed Cooperative teaching manual to help regular teachers and special education teachers to understand how to engage youngsters with disabilities. By December 2022, they will organize Annual Learning Forum, where various stakeholders in Lagos state will come together to harvest the outcomes from their various interventions since 2019 till date.
“The project will also cover the scaling up of our project supported by Oxfam for SRHR which was carried out in Agege where students were trained as peer advocates on SRHR”.
He said that their contact with TLMN have helped in building their capacity as an organization by equipping them for other funding opportunities which has been awesome.
Sister, Victoria Nwosu of Daughters of Charity representing The Child Special School for Children With Special Needs, Catholic Diocese of Port Harcourt, Rivers State told TQM that under the project, they would be providing vocational trainings, occupational therapy, physiotherapy, and those children who are teachable in the class, would be taught in the classes.
“Our intention is not to teach them to go the University, we have children with down syndrome, cerebral palsy, autism and so on and most of them have sever learning difficulties”
“Our aim is to prepare them with some little skills to be independent”
She informed that the school have been recording some success, “Yesterday I got information that our young adults are perfecting in the art of making hair, before now, we got the services of a hairdresser who have been coaching and gracefully these young adults are doing well”.
She stated that the major challenge they are facing is the inability of the children to learn because of their disability and it used to be frustrating teaching a child one thing for years still he or she cannot learn, it is not their fault but the challenge associated with their disabilities.
She informed that at the end of the project, there would be involvement in vocational centre and also the expansion of the centre, creating a section where the boys would be learning barbing saloon.
She looks forward to see at the end of the five years when a lot of children with disabilities at the centre would be independent with different vocational skills.
Some of the vocational Skills in the School are hair making, tailoring, catering, and soap making.
“We are working to get land to expand the vocational centre because we realized that vocational skill is an option for children with cerebral palsy, down syndrome etc, they may not be doing so well with their education but they are very creative with concrete things, so we can train them well in vocational skills. It will provide means of livelihood for them in the nearest future”
She said that TLMN is always willing to assist and share ideas to improve the lives of the children.
TQM reports that the POs were taken on implementation reporting, monitoring, evaluation and learning, the need for Consent form, Safeguarding, Risk Assessment in implementation, Photography, Financial Reporting etc.
TQM reports that the project implementation of these different POs must be targeted to address certain areas such as education, job creation and access to health for children and youngsters with disabilities.
