Inclusive ECCD: - Consultative Group on Early Childhood Care and ...

CASE STUDIES
Initially, given the logistical difficulties of operating
in the region, the CBR Program decided to
conduct two week-long workshops in association
with the Ministry of Health. Geared to community
health workers, the workshops were meant to provide
basic information about early stimulation,
identification of children with disabilities, and simple
rehabilitation methods in order to raise awareness
among health workers of these issues and provide
them with the educational tools necessary to
expand their capacity in this area. The first workshop
included toy-making and puppet-making
seminars, a cultural show, a viewing of the training
video filmed earlier in the region, and the adaptation
of early stimulation education tools developed
on the coast to make them more relevant to
Amerindian people. The participants responded to
the workshop with such enthusiasm and interest
that the CBR Program met with its funders and
asked to develop a long-term vision for the
Rupununi Region, beginning with four more subdistrict-level
workshops on early stimulation.
In approaching the second phase of the project,
the CBR Program moved to recruit community
volunteers. A team of three, the community health
worker, a teacher, and a village leader, from each
of 36 villages, were invited to the workshop in
their subdistrict. Each of the participants was automatically
enrolled in a three-year training program
in CBR through the University of Guyana. Many
persons made great sacrifices to attend the workshops.
On three occasions, for example, teams
traveled by foot and canoe for 13 days and nights
to reach the meeting.
The formation of CBR teams in each village
had a number of valuable functions. First, it formalized
partnerships between the existing education
and health sectors within the village. The
inclusion of a villager allowed more general issues
concerning the village to be heard and often
made the leadership of the village more aware of
the program. As a result, these three people began
to serve as representatives of the program at
the village level, thereby increasing public awareness
of the program.
Moreover, the CBR team members began to
develop a sense of ownership and identity with the
program. Finally, the selection of a team of people
rather than relying on one individual from each
village both eased the burden of work on the volunteers
and made the team a part of the accepted,
regular system of village committees, thereby integrating
it into the existing administrative infrastructure
of the village. Many CBR teams were
given time during monthly village meetings to
report to the public and raise awareness of the program.
As a result of all of these factors, the CBR
Program achieved name recognition, identification,
and acceptance by the mass of villagers very
quickly.
At first, the CBR teams were given specific tasks
to do, and the emphasis remained on early stimulation.
The first series of subdistrict workshops
focused on different ways to stimulate children
through play. It also showed how one could make
stimulating toys out of locally-available and inexpensive
materials. This component subtly affirmed
the value of Amerindian resources and culture.
A second series of workshops was held in each
of the subdistricts which focused on normal and
delayed child development. To raise awareness of
the needs of disabled people in the area, each
workshop addressed the applicability of the material
for children with disabilities. During the second
series of workshops, participants were also given
the opportunity to have their village participate in
an art competition on disability. Hundreds of children
submitted entries.
The last workshop in the second series proved
to be an historic one: at their own behest, one of
the CBR teams brought seven people with disabilities
to the conference, and the entire workshop
began exploring what could be done to help these
people. This open acknowledgment of people with
disabilities within the Rupununi, and the way in
which the CBR teams seemed prepared and even
excited about dealing with the issue now gave the
CBR Program the confidence it needed to address
similar issues in other subregions more directly.
This shift in direction was confirmed as acceptable
by the CBR teams during a region-wide conference.
During this conference, the participants
assessed their accomplishments and made new
plans for the future; these plans reflected an
increasing emphasis on addressing the needs of
people with disabilities.
The third CBR workshop series reflected this
new focus on disability. The workshops dealt
with screening, early identification of disabilities,
integration of children with disabilities within the
regular school, toy making, and simple physiotherapy.
A video series, called A New Tomorrow,
highlighting disability needs specific to the
Rupununi Region and filmed in the Rupununi itself,
was produced and shown. A storybook containing
stories about people with disabilities was
written and translated into the two major indigenous
languages.
Over the next few months, CBR teams systematically
explored the region for people with disabilities.
The process of carrying out this survey
brought the CBR teams in the villages face to face
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