Projects


				Mwanza Disabled Women’s Training and Employment Co-operative 2010 The project was started by Disability Aid Abroad in 2008 to develop a disabled women’s training and employment clothing co-operative in Mwanza Northern Tanzania. In partnership with the Small Industry Development Organisation of Tanzania Disability Aid Abroad is using an existing training centre in Mwanza to train 80 women with disabilities per year in clothing skills.




	The project directly addresses the issue of poverty, illness and the degradation of disabled women by empowering them financially by providing them with machinery, training, materials, and initial set up costs in a clothing co-operative. The project provides training and equal employment opportunities for disabled women, as well as capacity building and community development programmes. The ensuing financial independence enables access to medical and education facilities for the women and their families.


	The project plans to directly train 400 women with disabilities over a planned 5 year project life span. A Disability Coordinator will be employed in Mwanza to coordinate the training, employment and marketing aspects of the co-operative.

HIV-Aids Employment Support Project. 2010 - 2013
HIV-Aids people with disabilities in developing countries are the forgotten voice of international development, and they need specific targeted help.

The UN Convention on Rights of Persons with Disabilities (2008) affirms that all persons with all types of disabilities must enjoy all human rights and fundamental freedoms.
Article 27 of the UN Convention which was ratified by Tanzania in 2009 deals with the employment rights of disabled people and specifically states that governments’

Ensure that persons with disabilities are able to exercise their labour and trade union rights on an equal basis with others;
recognize the right of persons with disabilities to work, on an equal basis with others;
Promote vocational and professional rehabilitation, job retention and return-to-work programs for persons with disabilities.
Ensure that reasonable accommodation is provided to persons with disabilities in the workplace.

However these rights are forgotten when it comes to HIV-Aids victims who are disabled, this is particularly true when it applies to disabled women with HIV-Aids.

The HIV-Aids Employment Support Project will start in 2010 and last for three years.

The project will seek to alleviate the isolation and under-representation of HIV-Aids people with disabilities in employment through the development of training programs designed to promote the active participation of HIV-Aids people with disabilities in employment support programs and by creating HIV-Aids disability specific employment support programs.

The project will also develop HIV-Aids disability awareness training programs for the public and private employment sector to help create and promote a climate of opinion favourable to the employment of HIV-Aids people with disabilities.

The HIV-Aids Employment Support Project will be run in cooperation with Juje HIV-Aids Widows & Children Group, a Dar es Salaam self-help NGO formed to help widows and orphans who have been affected by the pandemic HIV-Aids disease.

Mehayo Centre for Disabled Young People 2010
MEHAYO is a Tanzanian non-government charity established with the aim of helping Intellectually Disabled Children and Young People in Morogoro. Its goal is to improve the quality of life for disabled young people, while at the same time creating better awareness of mental disability among their parents and the local population.
Many of the children have been abandoned at birth at the gates of the centre because they were disabled. Practical life skills, education and vocational training are the main objectives of the training programme. Attention is also given to recreation, sport and social integration.
The Mehayo Centre is run by an amazing woman called Linda Ngido, a former teacher who has dedicated her life to helping disabled children and young people.
The social stigma associated with being disabled frequently means that disabled children are denied basic appropriate medical treatment. In a recent visit to the centre we were told of instances where disabled victims of sexual abuse were denied medical treatment.
Therefore in co-operation with War on Want (NI) we fund the medical expenses for over 60 residents of the Mehayo Centre.


	[Disability Aid Abroad] [Projects] [News] [Sponsors] [Contributions] [Contact Us]