xz Developmentxz Key events in <strong>2009</strong>Preventing diabetes complicationsCountry: East Africa (Burundi, Kenya, Tanzania).Staff numbers in <strong>2009</strong>: 2 national staff and one expatriate.Funding bodies: European Union, sanofi-aventis.Although diabetes is expected to affect 24 million peoplein Africa by 2030, too little attention is being paid tothe disease. In response to requests from diabetesorganisations, <strong>Handicap</strong> <strong>International</strong> launched a regionalproject in Burundi, Kenya and Tanzania in <strong>2009</strong>. Its teamstook part in the construction of health facilities in Kenyaand trained twenty-three professionals to help organisemultidisciplinary consultations in hospitals. <strong>Handicap</strong><strong>International</strong> also provided support to diabetes associationsin three countries to organise awareness actions to coincidewith World Diabetes Day on 14 November <strong>2009</strong>.Caring for isolated children with disabilitiesCountry: India.Staff numbers in <strong>2009</strong>: 2 national staff and 2 expatriates.Funding body: ECHO.In Jammu and Kashmir, a state in northern India that hasbeen the theatre of political tensions for nearly sixty years,the health of people with disabilities is not considered tobe a priority. Yet the disabled people, especially disabledchildren living in remote areas of this mountainous region,have enormous needs. <strong>Handicap</strong> <strong>International</strong> has thereforechosen to support a local NGO, the Hope DisabilityCentre, which has been working in the field for ten years.The first project, launched in the autumn of <strong>2009</strong>, extendedthe NGO’s premises in Ganderbal, refitting the physiotherapyand occupational therapy rooms in the process, andadding a prosthesis and orthosis production workshop. Fifteencommunity officers were recruited and trained to identifychildren and teenagers with disabilities in villages andoffer them adapted care.Making towns and cities more accessibleCountry: Madagascar.Staff numbers in <strong>2009</strong>: 14 national staff.Funding bodies: French embassy, European Union.The inclusion of people with disabilities is an issue thatconcerns the whole community. On the basis of thispremise, <strong>Handicap</strong> <strong>International</strong>’s project in Madagascarhas expanded its awareness, inclusion and accessibilityactivities in four of the island’s regions (Diégo-Suarez,Majunga, Tamatave and Tuléar). In <strong>2009</strong>, the associationhanded over the management of the social supportoffices set up in each town to the communal authorities.It is, however, continuing its actions in support of incomegeneratingactivities for people with disabilities. <strong>Handicap</strong><strong>International</strong> has also promoted the adoption of “accessibletown charters” in these four regions.Making rehabilitation services sustainableCountry: Liberia and Sierra Leone.Staff numbers in <strong>2009</strong>: 6 national staff and 2 expatriates.Funding bodies: France MoFEA, European Union (for SierraLeone).The rehabilitation centres set up in response to the emergencytriggered by fighting in both Liberia and Sierra Leonehave, until now, been administered by <strong>Handicap</strong> <strong>International</strong>.The aim now is to gradually hand over their managementto the public authorities, while ensuring the long-termfuture of the services. In <strong>2009</strong>, staff at the centre in Monrovia,Liberia were integrated into the public sector workforce.The same process is underway in Sierra Leone. <strong>Handicap</strong><strong>International</strong> continues to help train professionals and organiseservices.Disaster preparedness and preventionCountry: Nepal.Staff numbers in <strong>2009</strong>: 5 national staff and 2 expatriates.Funding body: ECHO.Nepal recently suffered a series of natural disasters, includingearthquakes, landslides and river flooding. The projectlaunched in 2008 and completed in <strong>2009</strong> helped promotethe inclusion of disability issues in disaster preparednessand prevention programmes. In total, 27 local and internationalorganisations and more than 8,500 people tookpart in awareness-raising activities. A collaborative platformbringing together people with disabilities, relief operatorsand public authority representatives was set up to ensurethat all types of disability, whether visual, hearing, mental orphysical, were taken into account in the country’s disasterpreparation plans.Strengthening social tiesCountry: Rwanda.Staff numbers in <strong>2009</strong>: 7 national staff.Funding body: Agence française de développement, Accentusfondation.Fifteen years after the genocide of 1994, an estimated 54%of the Rwandan population still suffers from depression andtrauma. To help teenagers and young people, profoundlymarked by events experienced when they were children,<strong>Handicap</strong> <strong>International</strong> has adopted a community-basedapproach. The project is therefore based on a network ofresource persons, including teachers, community officers,elected representatives and heads of families to help promotethe implementation of solidarity mechanisms. A seriesof collective activities, including discussion groups, danceworkshops and theatre groups help strengthen social ties12 ı <strong>Annual</strong> <strong>report</strong> <strong>2009</strong>
xz dEvEloPMEnt <strong>2009</strong>and improve the mental health of the individual participants.Initially scheduled to end in late <strong>2009</strong>, the project has beenextended for three years.Identifying disabled children outside the schoolsystemCountry: Togo.Staff numbers in <strong>2009</strong>: 2 national staff and 2 expatriates (including1 co-financed with the AFVP).Funding body: European Union.Togo used to have one of the most advanced educationsystems in Africa. However, a series of economic crises andsocial and political problems between the end of the 1980sand 2007 has caused serious and on-going disruption tothis system. In <strong>2009</strong>, in partnership with the Togo federationof disabled people’s organisations (Fetaph), <strong>Handicap</strong><strong>International</strong> launched a project in Dapaong in the country’snorthern Savanes region to identify children with disabilities,often hidden by their families and kept away from school.A series of awareness-raising activities, including the distributionof posters and leafl ets, radio programmes and teachertraining, were also carried out. At the end of <strong>2009</strong>, 33schools began work on improving the accessibility of theirpremises.Instilling confidence in the parents of childrenwith disabilitiesCountry: Vietnam.Staff numbers in <strong>2009</strong>: 3 national staff and one expatriate.Funding bodies: Agence française de développement, EuropeanUnion, Koogo (Flemish parents association).Based in the region of Bac Kan in the north of Vietnam, thisproject, organised jointly with the NGO Save the ChildrenSweden, identifi ed 227 children with disabilities and 400young persons from disadvantaged and ethnic minority familieswho were all excluded from the school system. In additionto providing support to local authorities to implementan inclusive education plan and provide teacher training, theproject led to the setting up of clubs to encourage parentsto play a greater role in school activities.© G. Pegon / <strong>Handicap</strong> <strong>International</strong> © <strong>Handicap</strong> <strong>International</strong>MadagascarNumerous awareness-raising activities, including trainingsessions, radio debates and working groups carried out in eachcommune have increased the visibility of people with disabilitiesand encouraged the implementation of accessibility projects.2,200 children and teenagers withdisabilities have benefi ted from theJammu and Kashmir rehabilitation projectin India.RwandaA mental health project to help young Rwandan people who livedthrough the genocide of 1994 cope with their personal traumacontinues to prove its worth.<strong>Annual</strong> <strong>report</strong> <strong>2009</strong> ı 13