/ Programmes / Disability / Community Mobilisation, Advocacy and Awareness

Community Mobilisation, Advocacy and Awareness

The community mobilization, advocacy and awareness component of RAD mobilises local communities to take responsibility for sustainable rehabilitation of their disabled members. This is done through the establishment of Community Based Rehabilitation Committees (CBRCs) and Disabled People’s Organisations (DPOs) to promote local ownership of the rehabilitation process.

Initially the programme surveys and identifies people with disabilities in their homes through information from the local community. Each disabled person is interviewed and assessed for inclusion in the programme or referral to external services. Through a home based rehabilitation plan, RAD’s Community Development Rehabilitation workers (CRDWs) helps the disabled individual and his or her family to recognize and understand the disability and how to cope with daily living activities (keeping clean, dressing, eating, communicating, interacting with the family and the community). A long term plan is made which will see the disabled individual provided possibilities of physical rehabilitation, special education at home or in RAD’s Community Rehabilitation Development Centres (CRDCs) or vocational training as required. The CRDWs also organize awareness campaigns in the local community to increase understanding of disability through training of community members as community volunteers to help promote the programme and providing information on disability.

The home based training programme is important because it helps the family to accept the situation of their disabled family member and gives them the tools to support their disabled sibling or child better. Over 9,000 disabled individuals and their families were trained by the community mobilisation programme in 2006 and 96,000 members of local communities received health education and disability awareness information.

Information Materials

Messages are given to the community through regular RAD publications. One is the village page which is monthly and which provides information on disability for more educated members of the local community and local stakeholders. The second publication is Wall Magazine which is produced every two weeks and has very simple messages for the disabled with pictures. This is put up on walls in schools and clinics and community centres for illiterate and literate members of the community to see. RAD project offices also produce a magazine on a quarterly basis which has more detailed articles and stories for the disabled. The information staff not only collects information and prepare these publications but also run 29 small libraries at each regional unit and at Community Rehabilitation and Development Centres.