With a Rwf25m grant by Rwanda Governance Board in partnership with The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), at least 30 children from vulnerable families who were out of school have gained access to inclusive education in Ntarama sector, Bugesera District.
The project also supported 24 parents in TVET training to create jobs and cater for the needs of their children.
The project was implemented by Children in Education, Cultural and Health Environment (CECHE) for a period of one year, also setting up an inclusive education centre that catered for disabled children regarding education, malnutrition and physical exercise.
Claudine Nyirandabananiye is the representative of a group of mothers with disabled children who benefitted from the project. She was trained in tailoring and weaving.
"We had lost hope and it has now been restored. Since we have disabled children, it was impossible getting work, many refused to give us jobs. Spending most of the time looking after them was hindering our efforts to work. But today, we are self-employed and our children are catered for in a centre built for them,” she says.
She says they need more tailoring and weaving machines to produce more for the market.
"We had 12 machines shared among 24 parents. We are still in need of more equipment so that each member uses their own machine,” she says.
Naome Niyitegeka, another beneficiary, says that the project has lifted them out of solitude by helping them cater for their disabled children.
However, she says, some of the children have disabilities that cannot be treated at health centres.
Innocent Nizeyimana, another parent, says that children have also been helped in a way that they ensure hygiene amongst themselves.
He says that the children go to study at the centre three times a week, and the parents wish they could do so every day.
Serapie Mukamanzi, a teacher at Groupe Scolaire Ntarama that had eight children joining primary school, says that there are still challenges hampering education for disabled children.
"As teachers we have been trained in inclusive education but it is not enough. Disabled children come to study at this school but we face challenges when it comes to sign language since we were not trained in that area,” she says.
She adds that it requires skills to teach mentally disabled children. Also, some classrooms and toilets are not constructed in a way that facilitates disabled children.
Joseph Munyandamutsa, the founder of CECHE, says that community-based development is looking at inclusive education by empowering parents to be able to afford disabled children’s needs.
"Even though it was a one-year project that was funded by government, the programme is still ongoing and we want to scale it up in the whole district. We realised that supporting disabled children goes hand-in-hand with supporting their parents to become self-reliant,” Munyandamutsa says.
The mothers have formed associations that empower them economically.
Justus Kangwage, the head of political parties and civil society organisations at RGB, pledged that they would also support the parents in getting more machines for tailoring and weaving, so as to sustain their associations. He urged them to build a sustainable cooperative.
Rwanda Governance Board and UNDP provide assistance every year to implement community projects that support vulnerable people, Kangwage says.
In July this year, at least 65 projects by civil society organisations were selected to receive over Rwf1.6 billion funding from Rwanda Governance Board (RGB) to implement different projects designed to transform the lives of vulnerable people. The funding was mobilised with support from UNDP. The projects were selected from 288 proposals.
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