In the city of Khartoum, OVCI is committed to develop cooperation programs with two distinct counterparts: the Sudanese Usratuna Association for Children with Disabilities (USADC) and Ahfad University for Women.
At the beginning of the 90s, thanks to oil revenues and the new dynamism of the entrepreneurial class, Sudan seems to have an important development especially in the State of Khartoum, but the living and health conditions of children with disabilities continue to be worrying because there are no adequate answers to their needs.
In 1999 OVCI began working in the capital Khartoum to carry out activities of care and attention to children with disabilities. It starts with a project in the Omdurman neighbourhood, one of the poorest areas of the capital.
After a long period of civil war, in 2005 peace agreements were signed between the south and north of the country and, on 9 July 2011, by popular will - expressed in a referendum - the south of Sudan was separated from the rest of the country.
OVCI contributed to the establishment of one of the first Sudanese associations dealing with children with disabilities. This multi-ethnic and multi-religious association takes the name of "Usratuna Sudanese Association for Disabled Children" (USADC).
USADC, with the collaboration of OVCI, has given birth to several projects, co-financed by the European Union and the Italian Agency for Development Cooperation of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The commitments currently underway include:
Socio-rehabilitation assistance in the city of Omdurman
This component essentially consists of management support and technical supervision of the Usratuna Rehabilitation Center - Khartoum for children with disabilities, started by OVCI in 2008 in collaboration with the local Usratuna Sudanese Association for Disabled Children (USADC). Currently, rehabilitation treatments are carried out by various physiotherapists (qualified in the Rehabilitation Sciences course of Ahfad University, supported by us) and by local speech therapists, constantly monitored and trained in the field by expatriate physiotherapists.
OVCI is currently strengthening the Centre's services through classroom and field training of physiotherapists. In this way, the Rehabilitation Center can be proposed as a model that can be replicated in other areas of Sudan. This unique potential to serve as a prototype of paediatric rehabilitation assistance in Sudan, with a global approach to the person, it is further strengthened by the academic component.
SUDAN - REHABILITATION COMMITMENT
Support for the Degree Course for rehabilitation operators
The collaboration with Ahfad University for the launch of the first Degree Course in Physiotherapy in the country dates back to 2004. The University has achieved a certain degree of autonomy in managing the course. OVCI supports the course through theoretical lessons in Paediatric Rehabilitation, as well as through the organization of practical internships for female students at the USRATUNA Rehabilitation Center and at the headquarters of the Community-Based Rehabilitation Program.
The partnership with Ahfad University has led to the recognition of the professional figure of the Physiotherapist in the Sudanese Republic.
Support program for the branch office of the Centre, in the marginal Municipality of Dar-El-Salaam (Khartoum), co-financed by the European Union and the Italian Agency for Development Cooperation (AICS).
Since February 2016, the branch office in Dar El Salaam (DES) has been the subject of a three-year development program, co-financed by the EU and, starting from October 2017, also by AICS. The program is developed on the following areas of activity, following the WHO Community-Based Rehabilitation matrix:
- Healthcare component: strengthening of the maternal and child dispensary, extension of the service with a mobile clinic in remote areas of the Municipality, continuous training of physiotherapists and speech therapists working in DES as well as a rehabilitation intervention in three orphanages in Khartoum.
- Educational Component: promotion of DES integrated Kindergarten in pre-school, to encourage pilot programs for the integration of children with disabilities in ordinary schools in the area, in collaboration with the local UNESCO headquarters.
- Work inclusion component: opening of a carpentry workshop in the DES Centre, as well as the initiation of guided practical training courses, to encourage the effective inclusion of people with disabilities in the workplace.
- Social component: extension of community-based rehabilitation activities to 12 new peripheral communities of the DES Municipality, strengthening of community awareness activities on health and socio-rehabilitation issues.
- Empowerment component: strengthening of the network of 40 different associations and services for people with disabilities, already promoted with the previous project funded by the European Union, which should lead to the request, by the network, to be recognized as an Autonomous Legal Entity according to Sudanese law.
- The Integrated Kindergarten of DES carries out its activities to encourage the inclusion of children with disabilities in ordinary schools in the area.
-The Mobile Clinic service is also active in Dar-El-Salaam, which starting from July 2019 and thanks to the support of the AICS “Emergenza” Project, has intensified its outings from one to five times a week.
SUDAN - EDUCATIONAL COMMITMENT
Omdurman’s Vocational Training Centre Support and Enhancement Program.
In September 2017, a two-year program funded by the Italian Ministry of the Interior was launched which aims to open the Omdurman Centre not only to adolescents and young people with disabilities, but also to children with social difficulties. The program also includes the opening, at the Dar El Salaam branch, of a tailoring workshop and a nursery workshop.
The program is also closely following the students after the course, in the guided search for a job, through internships at some local companies and artisans.
