3Stars Rehabilitation Initiatives

Since August 2023- May 2024 we have been Implementing the Scalable Community- learning through play for refugee children with disabilities together with the Bright future Consortium For Disabled Children (BFCFDC) comprised of 4- refugee led Organizations; YETA, ICAN South Sudan, Bondeko ,Tomorrow Vijana and us the 3 stars Rehabilitation Initiatives in the management of the following ; Autism, Downsyndrome, Cerebral Palsy, Epilepsy, Hydroceplalus and Microcephalus using Play as a therapeutic media. This project has been funded by LEGO Foundation through COHERE to improve learning for children with disabilities in areas of Academic, Physical, Social- emotional and Self care activities. Special appreciation to our funders for the support rendered to us to support children with disabilities. Achievements in relation to set targets and indicators include the following; We were able to achieve the following: • Assessed 200 children with disabilities determined their learning needs and developed their individual learning / play plans • Capacity assessment of caregivers in use of play to facilitate learning of children with disabilities to determine gaps they had • 200 caregivers were trained in use of play to facilitate learning of children with disabilities • 14 Community outreach workers’ capacity was strengthened in use of play to promote learning and inclusion of children with disabilities • 50 caregivers trained in use of play to promote learning of children with disabilities • Conducted progress assessment for 35 children with disabilities was conducted in the respective locations to determine how much has been attained in terms of learning which guided outreach teams to complete the whole progress assessment process. • Field visit to all 14 outreach workers was carried to offer technical support so as to address gaps • Play and learn has been a strong tool we used to foster inclusion of children with disabilities • Project created learning opportunities for children with disabilities through use of play and now some of them have enrolled in ECD schools • Project has enabled children to learn some academic basics like counting, reading, identification of colors, socialization, and many others. Challenges met and solutions applied • Some children with disabilities, were from far locations, therefore advised Outreach teams to introduce mobile learning sessions where they would take learning materials to the homes of children and teach them from there . Lessons learnt; 1. Parental involvement in play and learn is key in enhance learning of children with disabilities 2. Involving ECD teachers and schools was noted as a key area that is important to complement learning of children with disabilities 3. When parent support groups are made custodians of play materials, it helps to increase frequency of learning time.