There are an estimated 8,000 children and adults with disabilities living in Juhapura, Vejalpur, Sarkhej & Makarba areas of Ahmedabad. There is a paucity of organisations that are working in the area and even fewer still that are working with children and young adults with disabilities. Samerth has uniquely positioned itself as one of the pioneer organisation that has taken the lead in working for a population that not only is marginalised but also belongs to one of the largest ghetto’s in Gujarat by setting up the STK within the community.

Our experience of working with children and young adults with disabilities has provided us with a good understanding of their priority needs which has culminated in the option to provide a range of services to the marginalised population rather than focus on just one aspect. Given the multi-dimensional nature of poverty and various needs of persons with disabilities at different stages of their life, this project will work with all the stakeholders, including persons with disabilities, their families, teachers and govt. officials, etc. to bring the meaningful changes in their lives.

The centre and the children have suffered greatly due to Covid pandemic. The lockdown was abruptly initiated and caught the entire organisation and the communities in which SCT is working unaware as it did globally. After the initial week of mayhem, Samerth immediately went into relief mode and started providing essential ration supplies to the families who had lost all means of livelihood & any source of income and even exhausted their meager savings. Samerth then went ahead and provided nutrition kits for the children from STK, as we could see regression set in, like certain children had shown progress in communication for example acquiring language went back to just gestures. The therapists confirmed that one of the factors for the same was poor diet. We also began reaching out to them through one on one video calls for physio & speech therapy as well as extracurricular activities by the special educators.

Now, as the unlocking begins in phases we plan to start calling 16 children per day (Monday-Friday) to the centre and work with them on an individual level (each child will come to the centre once a week for educational intervention, receive therapy twice a week along with exposure to extra curricular activities through online learning. In total we will be reaching out to 100 children and young adults through this programme. The current facility has four rooms, each room can accommodate up to four children while maintaining social distancing norms and following other preventive guidelines by WHO on COVID -19 .This will ensure social distancing, everyone’s temperatures will be checked before entering the premises, and any one with symptoms of cough, cold or tiredness will be asked to take rest till the symptoms subside. People with higher symptoms will be tested for COVID. We can reach out to 20 children (who have severe disability and cannot come to the centre) whom we will reach out through home based interventions. One special educator will be assigned per room, who will dedicatedly work with each child.

What we plan to do:

This new project will provide a variety of support and educational services to 100 children and young adults with disabilities including their identification and provision of educational support over a period of three years.

Objectives

• Continue to support children & young adults with disability in the community with special focus on girl child.
• Ensure the identified children receive Centre-based and/ or Home-based services by leveraging technology .
• Build capacity of staff to work with children disability.
• Build capacity of government teachers on disability issues.
• Create awareness regarding COVID pandemic and develop a strategy to support the therapies/and use of technology

1. To support children & young adults with disability in the community with special focus on girl child.
2. Ensure the identified children receive Centre-based and/ or Home-based services by leveraging technology .Create awareness regarding COVID pandemic and develop a strategy to support the therapies/and use of technology
3. Build capacity of government teachers on disability issues.

Samerth Charitable Trust also referred to as Samerth was founded to capacitate people and institutions so that they can live a life of dignity. Samerth Charitable Trust works with vulnerable communities - empowering them to gain access to their social and economic rights . It actively started working in 2001 in Kutch District, Gujarat as a response to the devastating earthquake at that time. The earthquake left several individuals either maimed, homeless or without their families. Samerth initiated support through building houses, facilitating health facilities, providing safe and clean drinking water & promoting education.

In 2002, we expanded our work in Ahmedabad during the distressing riots that shook Gujarat. The focus once again was on marginalized and vulnerable communities. We worked with children & adults with special needs, on early education and leadership development among women of the local communities. Today, the Ahmedabad program runs a daycare and vocational center for 86 children and young adults with special needs, providing them access to daily therapies such as physio, speech, and psychotherapy. They are also given regular consultations with specialists, an individualized education plan (IEP) is developed for all along with providing vocational training to young adults. The team also works with 13 government schools and community centers on enhancing education in the foundation years, reaching out to more than 1500 children.

In 2006, the Samerth team moved its focus to Chhattisgarh and began working with the PVTGs (Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups) like the Baiga tribal community in Bilaspur district. The program now has spread across 8 other districts and works on education, water management, livelihoods and community empowerment with primitive tribal groups.