Community Health Empowerment Programme Sri Lanka

MAITS partnered with a disability organization in Sri Lanka, MJF Charitable Foundation (MJFCF). We have successfully organized Phase One of our Community Empowerment Programme with the support of MAITS and trained 18 therapists through our adapted online programme. The training was delivered online by 3 of MAITS expert trainers. This was a huge achievement despite the challenges of the pandemic and long lockdowns.  

The key successes for this reporting period are as follows:

Translation of MAITS training resources in Tamil and Sinhala - In order to train social services, development officers, community workers who work closely with the families of children with disabilities in the community, the training resources were required to be translated in to the local languages. These resources were first translated into the local languages and then translated back to English to ensure that the meanings are not lost in translation.

Training of 275 social services and development officers - we aimed to train 90 community health workers who are locally termed "social and development officers" in 4 provinces. However, due to covid restrictions traveling to these regions was limited. This opened up to an opportunity to train more social workers through online training. We have trained 230 officers in the Sinhala and 45 officers in Tamil medium who are working in all districts of Sri Lanka.

MJF charitable foundation is the charitable arm of Dilmah tea and the foundation focuses on the social, economic and environmental sustainability of its initiatives, empowering individuals, families and entire communities. These include the multifaceted MJF Centres, supporting communities around Sri Lanka, the Small Entrepreneur Programme with over 2,000 small entrepreneurs, the Empower Culinary & Hospitatlity Schools and disABILITY – a project that focuses on possibilities, the ability of people with disabilities are some of the core initiatives of the foundation which enhance people’s capabilities and provide them with opportunities enabling them to self-sustaining and rewarding lives. The organization has 4 centers around the country to support more than 400 children with disabilities with the necessary educational and therapeutic services. And another 260 families with CWDs get benefitted through the online platform “disABILITY Screening App” with the much-needed rehabilitation services. These families are from areas where these are not available or very limited. This App/online platform for tele-health/rehab was developed and launched as a post-Covid response. The organisation has also distributed more than 2700 paediatric wheelchairs and 2000 mobility devices to PWDs around the country. All the services are provided free of cost to these families.

Training of 18 Master Trainer Trainees 

The online Zoom sessions were presented over a period of three weeks (16 online Master training sessions for 25 hours to be followed by local CHW training) under following topics.

Introduction to the Course

Child Growth and Development

Child Growth and Development

Supporting the Family

Supporting the Child

Beliefs and perspectives on disability

Intro & Child Development and Play

Physical Management and Activities of Daily Living

Communication and Behaviour

Eating and Drinking

Child Assessment and Using MAITS Guide for Parents

Working with Caregivers and Using MAITS Guide for Parents

It was so exciting to see how the participants involved in discussions with a lot of enthusiasm which expected as an essential part of this training. This was a very useful training for the therapists who has been working with CWDs and can share this knowledge and experience for the training of Social services and Community workers.

travel restrictions imposed due to covid and then the economic crisis in Sri Lanka. The home visits to the families with special needs children was hugely impacted because of the fuel crisis and the transport issues.

We are not expecting the impact on the deliverables of the project as the social development workers continued to offer services in their communities but the reporting back to the host organisation was a challenge. We are working with the host organisation in this difficult time to provide support where possible.

MAITS joined hands with Wheels to Heal to send support equipment to our partner, MJFCF in Sri Lanka. These equipment will support our mobility aids distribution programmes and is very helpful to offer mobility support to many deserving individuals in the country to play their part as active members of the community.

We have been avoiding unnecessary travel by all means. Following the local regulations and guidelines is of utmost importance. Political instability, public protests, local travel restrictions/sudden curfews, fuel crisis and the transport issues are huge challenges to implement the second phase of this project. The online training has provided a great opportunity during these challenging times to enhance the services provided to the CWDs and their families in the grass root levels.

The 18 therapists who were trained to be the Master Trainers have supported many families both physically and virtually (using our platform). They would have helped more than 200 families and they have also trained 275 social development officers who work very closely with these families in the community. These trained officers would have helped more than 1000 families around the country.

MAITS & MJF Charitable Foundation are very thankful for your contributions.