Supporting young disabled children and their families in the Kyrgyz Republic
Location: Bishkek and Bokonbaevo,
Kyrgyzstan
Duration: 36 months
In May 2008 HealthProm began a
new project "Supporting young disabled children
and their families in the Kyrgyz
Republic"; in partnership with local Kyrgyz
NGOs - Association of Parents of Disabled
Children in Bishkek and the Public Association
Shoola Kol in Bokonbaevo village in Issyk-
Kul region. The project is supported by
the National Lottery through the Big Lottery
Fund.
The objective of the project is to reach children living with mental and physical disabilities and their families in order to provide information and support to families to prevent the children entering state-run institutions. The partners will work together to establish two day centres for children with special needs and their families, each with a minibus for outreach services. One of the main elements of this project is focusing on organising well-planned public awareness campaigns in Bishkek and Issyk-Kul regions aimed to change attitudes in a wider community towards children living with disabilities. Other priorities are providing multi-disciplinary training for local specialists and training volunteers to provide counselling to new parents.
In less than a year, much has
been achieved towards supporting young disabled children. In July
2008 the project made it possible for 50 children with special
needs and their families to have holidays at the children's summer
camp "Ulan" located at Issyk-Kul Lake. The holiday camp
was organised by ARDI with help of funding from the Big Lottery
Fund and holiday vouchers provided by the Kyrgyzstan Federation
of Trade Unions. Besides swimming in the lake, there were joint
cultural events organised for the children, which promoted integration
of disabled children with other children and tolerance among their
peers.
In December 2008, a special needs bus was purchased for the Bokonbaevo centre. Children with limited mobility will now be able to attend the resource centre and participate in fun and educational activities. In January 2009 a project website was launched, www.kelechek.kg, becoming the first website completely dedicated to disability issues in the country. Project partners in Bishkek and Bokonbaevo have also continued putting together a data base of children with special needs in each district.
In April 2009 HealthProm and project
partners, in partnership with the Ministry of Labour and Social
Development, organised in Bishkek an international conference
"Innovative approaches to working with children with special
needs and their families: Kyrgyzstan and international experience".
aimed to present and discuss practical approaches to providing
support to children and their families and to develop partnerships
between various agencies in Kyrgyz Republic.
