Southern Africa Federation of the Disabled (SAFOD)
2016-2020: Regional Inclusive Early Childhood Education (ECDE) Project
I managed inclusive early childhood education for children with disabilities in Lesotho, Mozambique and Zambia. Children got identified early and enrolled in school. The work later grew into a regional campaign for an inclusive ECDE strategy.
The problem
Children with disabilities in Lesotho, Mozambique and Zambia often went unnoticed in their early years. Families lacked the right information to support them at home. Community-based rehabilitation reached older children well. It rarely reached children aged 0 to 8.
Many parents kept children with disabilities at home instead of sending them to school. No shared manual guided facilitators existed. No working groups linked families to health and education services in their villages in all the three targeted countries. Therefore, these developments often led to worse outcomes later in childhood.
The solution: inclusive early childhood education for children with disabilities
The project linked two things that work well together: community-based rehabilitation and inclusive early childhood education. The aim was simple: reach children with disabilities early, support them at home, and help them join a pre-school alongside other children. I managed the work through SAFOD‘s national affiliates: LNFOD in Lesotho, FAMOD in Mozambique, and ZAFOD in Zambia. Together, we trained community members, set up local working groups, and guided families from identification through to enrolment.
What my team and I achieved
Early identification
Facilitators held sensitisation sessions with parents, chiefs, health staff and CBR volunteers to spot signs of disability early.
Caregiver training
Affiliates trained parents and caregivers to support their children’s development at home, with guidance from occupational therapists.
School enrolment
Children who needed therapy first learned to sit, walk or speak, then joined ECDE centres and pre-schools. This built on lessons from my earlier Inclusive Education for Children with Disabilities project.
Community advocacy
Working groups in each village pushed for better early intervention services and referred children to the right support, including through strengthening health services in their districts.
Training the facilitators
In April 2016, SAFOD held a training of trainers workshop in Johannesburg for facilitators from Angola, Lesotho, Mozambique and Zambia.
Reaching communities
In Mozambique alone, FAMOD held 54 meetings across 19 villages in Machava district to identify children with disabilities.
The ECDE and disability manual
SAFOD produced a manual and leaflets that explain the link between community-based rehabilitation and inclusive early years support.
