“ALL INCLUSIVE: Multi-sector intervention to support the integration of people with disabilities in the Dar es Salaam region - Tanzania” is a consortium project in collaboration with the NGO CEFA and Comunità Solidali nel Mondo Onlus, funded by AICS (Italian Agency for Development Cooperation), aimed at increasing the capacity of Tanzanian society to adequately respond to the challenges related to disability, improve the economic conditions of disabled people and their families and promote the social integration of people with disabilities within the Dar es Salaam community. As a project partner, CO.P.E plays the role of supporting the implementation of inclusive sports activities in primary schools and coordinating the training of physical education teachers and sports instructors on inclusive play.
People with disabilities in the Dar es Salaam region, limited in access to primary education and active participation in the country's economy, often end up on the margins of society, also worsening the socio-economic well-being of their families. The hardship experienced by these families is accentuated in an urban context such as Dar es Salaam where, in addition to the high rate of unemployment and the lack of social services, there is also a lack of the social support network typical of villages.
The project aims to respond to the problems described by adopting a holistic community-based rehabilitation approach that intervenes in three areas: medical-health rehabilitation, economic empowerment (EE) and socio-educational inclusiveness. The initiative will include the provision of rehabilitation services, capacity building for healthcare personnel, professional training and apprenticeship courses, support for job placement and the start-up of income-generating activities (AGR), advocacy campaigns and support for school and social inclusion.
The general objective of the project, which will last three years (March 2017-March 2020), is in fact to improve the quality of life of people with disabilities in Tanzania through the adoption of a holistic community-based rehabilitation approach that includes three components:
- health rehabilitation of people, especially children, with physical disabilities of various kinds (Com.sol in collaboration with the Tanzanian congregation "Ivrea Sisters")
- economic empowerment through training courses and job placement programs for young disabled people and their families (CEFA in collaboration with CCBRT-Comprehensive Community Based Rehabilitation in Tanzania & ATE – Association of Tanzania Employers)
- socio-educational inclusion of children with and without disabilities through sport (COPE in collaboration with the Jakaya Kikwete Youth Park Sports Center)
The direct beneficiaries of the project will be more than 15 thousand people including children and adolescents with disabilities and their families, health personnel, teachers, coaches and students of primary schools residing in the metropolitan area of Dar. However, the entire community of Dar es Salaam will benefit indirectly from a more balanced development process, inclusive of its most vulnerable members.
As a project partner, CO.P.E is responsible for the social inclusion of children with disabilities through sport, both in the school context and at community level.
This translates into several activities that will be carried out during the ALL INCLUSIVE project by COPE local and expatriate staff including:
- awareness-raising and training of 30 physical education teachers and coaches every year on the topic of disability and how to adapt sports activities and the various sports for the integration of children with different types of disabilities
- implementation of inclusive sports activities in the 15 target primary schools of project and coordination of training of physical education teachers and sports instructors on how to make a sport or game inclusive.
LOCAL COUNTERPARTIES:
- Registered Trustees of Ivrea Sisters – Tanzania,
- Yombo Vocational Training Centre–Yombo VTC,
- Comprehensive Community Based Rehabilitation – CCBRT,
- Jakaya M Kikwete Youth Park (Symbion Sports Ground Ltd).
