A chance to shine: Taking education
to disabled children
Shamuna Mizan
In Bangladesh, it is not uncommon for children born with disabilities to be seen as a curse and burden for the family. In many villages children with disabilities are considered to be the result of the sins of their parents. Discrimination and negative attitudes towards the disabled is quite common in the rural setting in Bangladesh. Children at an early age see their elderly discriminate against those with special needs and as a result, they may not interact with them. In many cases, disabled children grow up isolated with little social interaction and education.
For years there was very little development in initiatives for those with disabilities in rural Bangladesh. Although progress was being made towards rural development in Bangladesh in terms of education, health, social and economic condition, often those with special needs were being left out. In the year 2000, Action Aid Bangladesh conducted a survey which revealed that 8% of the total population, (approximately 7 million people) requires immediate service due to disability related problems.
It was in the year 2003 that BRAC adopted a new approach to its already existing education programme- Inclusive Education for Children with Disabilities. BRAC's Inclusive Education for Children with Disability (CWD) programme attempts to incorporate the needs of all students including those with special needs in order to create an environment where all students not only learn together, but learn to live together. Instead of opening a separate school for the disabled, BRAC modified and adopted its classrooms in order to include children with disabilities where they could interact with other children from the community. In fact, even before the Inclusive approach was adopted, 6,697 disabled students were already attending BRAC Non-formal primary schools.
For years children with disabilities were unable to access proper schooling because the schools or the teachers were unwilling or unable to address their special needs. BRAC's Inclusive Education programme not only focused on children with disabilities but, also included those from poor economic background and indigenous groups. The main objective of inclusive education is to provide each child with equal opportunity to education irrespective of their abilities, socio-economic background and culture. The Inclusive Education approach actively promotes the enrollment of children with special needs at BRAC schools not only to ensure them with a proper education, but also to foster a positive attitude towards them from the society.
Currently, BRAC schools are able to help and cater to children with visual, hearing and speech impairment along with those who are mentally or physically challenged. About 14, 471 students with disabilities have already enrolled in BRAC schools throughout the country. This includes about 5,641 physically disabled students, 1,548 intellectually disabled, 2,376 with visual impairment, 1,255 with hearing impairment and 3,651 with speech impairment.
BRAC is promoting Inclusive Education in a number of areas through out the country. Initially BRAC creates an inclusive classroom environment by addressing the needs of those children with special need to the students and their parents. By means of education and discussion with students and their parents, BRAC teachers attempt to overcome any negative feeling or discrimination towards disabled children and thus, include children with special needs in their classroom. BRAC staff conducts monthly meetings with the parents where sensitive issues are discussed. Instead of having a separate or special school for the disabled, BRAC has opted to include them with the rest of the community. By providing the correct environment and proper trainings for BRAC staff, BRAC is now changing the existing classrooms into an inclusive one. In many cases, students with physical disabilities are provided with assistive devices and often ramps and railings are created at the schools. Class activities and group work is also encouraged in the schools in order to promote a friendly environment. Teachers are trained to enrich their knowledge and education on inclusive education.
BRAC is constantly researching means to improve the Children with Disability Inclusive Education Programme and reach out to more children throughout the country. BRAC holds classroom management trainings and Capacity building courses for BRAC teachers in order to improve the quality of education in BRAC schools and enable them to cope with children with special needs effectively.
BRAC adopts a holistic approach towards inclusive education by ensuring the combination of proper advocacy and linkage in the community along with networking with parents of children with special needs, development of teachers and proper monitoring and evaluation of the programme. BRAC's determination and hard work may create a unique model for inclusive education not only in Bangladesh but across the world. The inclusion of the children with disabilities provides them an opportunity to educate themselves and shine in their communities.
The writer is Communications Officer, BRAC Public Affairs and Communications
^ TOP OF THIS PAGE ^ | MAIN PAGE
Thinking beyond micro finance: BRAC
reaches out to the ultra poor
Khadija Rehma
Including the Extreme Poor: Microfinance, the stronghold of most NGOs in Bangladesh, is often considered to be one of the most effective weapons used to fight poverty around the world. Yet studies have revealed that Microfinance, though sustainable and effective in reaching the masses, does not reach the extreme poor that comprise the lowest 25% of the poor, struggling at the bottom rung of the poverty ladder. Thus, despite the rapid growth of NGOs and Microfinance programmes in Bangladesh, those living in extreme poverty are often neglected by poverty alleviation interventions. BRAC defines this category of the extreme poor as the ultra poor -or households owning no more than 15-30 decimals of land and headed by women who are divorced, separated, or have disabled husband, between the ages of 18-49 years. A BRAC study identified the main reason for this as the fact that most NGOs offer social development services like essential health or basic education through structures that are designed and developed to support microfinance which by design tends to exclude the extreme poor. (Matin, CPRC, Working Paper, No. 20) Thus, the major initiatives typically targeting the ultra poor tends to be food transfer based which provide short term food security bringing about little changes to the overall livelihood situation of the ultra poor.
Income Generating for Vulnerable Group Development (IGVGD): The Vulnerable Group Feeding (VGF) programme was started in 1975 by the World Food Programme (WFP) in response to the famine that broke out in 1974 in Bangladesh. The VGF program aimed primarily at feeding those who were most at risk of hunger, the poorest, and especially women-headed households. Typically it is the extreme poor who are highly vulnerable to food insecurity which limits/negates their efforts to escape the severe forms of poverty that they face.
In 1985, BRAC collaborated with WFP to start the Income Generating for Vulnerable Group Development (IGVGD) programme, with the aim to alleviate poverty of the hard-core poor by providing long term sustainable income and employment opportunities through food assistance, training and access to credit facilities. BRAC realized the difficulty in providing just microfinance to the extreme poor, but was seeking a way to involve the destitute in its development activities. The collaborative programme includes three partners: the Government of Bangladesh, World Food Programme and BRAC to serve the ultra poor. With the successful completion of the pilot phase, the programme set off to an expansion in 1987.
The IGVGD programme involves providing food, subsidy and credit support to its member women as well as capacity building schooling that includes Enterprise Development Training and Social Awareness Training. BRAC's strategy was combining relief assistance with its skill-training programmes and also introduced a 'savings' component so that the amount the VGD cardholders would save during the period of food transfer could be used later to put their acquired skills to concrete use after the food donations was over. Since the extreme poor segment of rural Bangladesh enjoys very limited access to service from financial institutions like commercial banks to preserve savings, they have little understanding of the maintenance and mechanism of an organised savings scheme. BRAC orients them with the saving plan, and helps them avail services of continuing savings in their respective accounts. With support of the WFP and the Government of Bangladesh, participants of the programme receive a monthly ration of 30 kgs of wheat for a period of 18 months. During this period, BRAC provides a range of services and attempts to mainstream these women into its regular programmes. Training is provided to programme participants in various income generating activities such as poultry and livestock rearing, small-scale vegetable production and so on. The IGVGD programme provides participants with BRAC's essential health care services that incorporate annual check up, basic curative care and family planning education. BRAC's Human Rights and Legal Services Programme also provides courses to educate women so that they can avoid the discrimination to which they are at risk within their communities. Thus BRAC has pioneered an innovative way to reach and ensure sustainable livelihoods for the ultra poor women. BRAC's information indicated that approximately 80 percent of graduates subsequently enrolled in BRAC's regular programme. The successful operation of BRAC's programme established a linkage through which short-term food security could be leveraged into longer-term sustainable livelihood and development.
Challenging the Frontiers of Poverty Reduction - Targeting the Ultra Poor: The learning from its experience with the IGVGD programme, helped BRAC to conceptualize and design its Challenging the Frontiers of the Ultra Poor-Targeting the Ultra FPR-TUP programme in 2002. The CFPR-TUP programme was designed keeping in mind the fact that constraints that confront the ultra poor are different from those faced by other categories of the poor. Therefore strategic interventions such as microfinance which may prove effective in sustaining livelihoods for the higher gradations of the poor, may not be as effective where the ultra poor are concerned. The programme addresses two key limitations of poverty reduction agenda to date. Firstly it seeks to 'push down' its interventions by developing new instruments relevant to the livelihood strategies of the ultra poor households. Secondly it seeks to 'push out' the agenda to challenge the existing socio-political frontiers within which the existing approaches operate.
Following the pilot phase implemented during 2002 and 2003, CFPR's 'pushing down' agenda now covers a greater number of ultra poor population in 12 districts and 52 Upazilas in an expansion mode. The four components of the CFPR programme include Special Investment Programme for the Specially Targeted Ultra Poor, Employment and Enterprise Development Training for the Ultra Poor, Social development, human rights and Legal Rights Programme and the Essential Health Care programme. The Special Investment Programme for the Ultra Poor involves asset transfer and stipend support to the Specially Targeted Ultra Poor (STUP) in geographically vulnerable areas. The Specially Targeted Ultra Poor are those who are from households that are dependant upon female domestic work and begging, own less than 10 decimals of land, have no adult active male member in the household and no productive assets. The Employment and Enterprise Development Training provides training and follow-up services tailored specifically to the needs of the ultra poor. The Social development programme involves individual and group work with the ultra poor in the programme, providing support and counseling on development of their livelihood strategies and in helping to cope with crisis. Health Care services for the ultra poor provides specialized Health Care services and referral arrangements for the ultra poor. The health services include social mobilization, health awareness, basic helath care, pregnancy related care, family planning, immunization, tuberculosis control and vitamin A capsule distribution among children.
With the CFPR-TUP programme, BRAC has pioneered an innovative safety net for the extreme poor through a combination of grants and microfinance, targeting the various dimensions of the chronic poverty of the ultra poor through the application of its holistic approach. The programme plans to reach 70,000 ultra poor households over five years. Over 2002-2003, 10,000 ultra poor members graduated to BRAC's regular microfinance programme. Currently another 10,000 are in the process of orientation with the microfinance programme and soon to graduate.
The writere is Communications Officer, BRAC Public Affairs and Communications.
Maloti turns to BRAC at her darkest hour
Kolagachia is a village in Kendua union under the Sadar upazilla of Madaripur district. Maloti Baroi is a resident of this village. The village is situated far from her town. Maloti was married to Nittananda who himself is from an impoverished family. Maloti was very unfortunate because as soon as she was married and came to Nittananda's family her husband fell sick.
Maloti was bewildered in this state, as she had no place to turn to. She did not know what to do and how to get along in life with her sick husband, a son and mother in law. In the meantime BRAC initiated the CFPR-TUP programme in Madaripur district in 2003. When such was Maloti's situation, she got selected as an STUP member for the CFPR-TUP programme.
During discussions with the various IGAs of the TUP programme, Maloti showed interest in goat rearing. Accordingly she received basic training on goat rearing. In June 2003 she was provided with five goats worth Tk.5,000 as her assets. With these assets Maloti moved ahead determined to improve the quality of her life.
She proved to be very sincere at her work and could easily demonstrate in practical life what she had learnt from her training. Within a span of eight months, the goats gave birth to eleven kids increasing the number of goats to sixteen. Maloti sold eight goats for Tk.5,000. Including the Tk.5000 that she received from selling the goats she managed to save a total of Tk. 5,800. With her savings she repaired her house and took lease of 20 decimals of land with Tk.2,000. She harvested paddy on the land that she leased. She expects that she can sell rice worth Tk.5,000 approximately from the paddy produced and it has cost her Tk.1300 to produce the harvest. Her present savings is Tk.1,340 with BRAC. She has also bought a cow with Tk.3000. She firmly believes that within the next six months her eight goats will give birth and hopes that it will increase the number to a substantial level.
She now uses slab latrines and knows how to write her name and numbers. Not only does she practice the ten social and health related issues in her own life, but also encourages her neighbours to do the same. She approaches the nearest health centers whenever she or her family members are sick. She has gained a certain status and acceptability in her society.
^ TOP OF THIS PAGE ^ | MAIN PAGE
Sajeda's fight to overcome
Sajeda is a physically disabled girl, born with only one leg with three toes and no other limbs. The extent of her disability is extreme, but she has learnt to live with it. She does household chores like sweeping the floor to help her mother and brushes her teeth, eats her food with a spoon and plays Ludo with her leg.
She was enrolled at the Dattapara village BRAC School at Tongi. She was very enthusiastic when she learnt that she was going to school. Her mother too was very supportive in spite of the fact that they had very little to live on. Her cousin and her mother began taking her to school. Sajeda showed extreme diligence in schoolwork and was enthusiastically helped by her classmates and teacher. Despite her disability, she was given the atmosphere to build on her dreams.
Her family suffered from economic crisis which forced them to go to a different location in search of jobs. Her mother took on a garments job and it became difficult for her to carry Sajeda to school everyday. Upon recommendation by BRAC staff, the Limb and Brace Centre assured her assistance. But alas, artificial limbs could not be put on her because of her physical form. Sajeda was disheartened. Her mother then requested for a wheel chair which could be used to transport Sajeda to school. BRAC staff then continued their work and arranged for a wheel chair for Sajeda. Sajeda is now happily going to school and learning the ways of life in the comfortable atmosphere provided by the BRAC inclusive education scheme and BRAC's commitment in assisting Children with Disabilities (CWD) to grow to in an as-close-to-normal-as-possible situation. Despite all her shortcomings, she is learning to live life like other children.
|
