De-centralized therapies for handicapped children

Location: 

Arequipa, Peru

Partner organization: I.R.I.D. (Instituto de Rehabilitación Integral para Discapacitados)

Project description: The RBC program (rehabilitation based on the community) rests on three principles:

- Interacting and working with the handicapped child within the family. Social workers and therapists visit the children and their families and teach the parents how to deal with their severly disabled children. 

- Raising awareness within the community by promoting a holistic approach for the integration of handicapped children. Parents save time and money by receiving treatment in the home and having their children integrated in the community, rather than traveling to the I.R.I.D.  centre in Arequipa. They are thus capable to look after their child and its disability.

- The goal of RBC is to educate more people (mainly women), who can work as promoters in the different districts in order to instruct and inform parents and commmunities.

Contribution apia: apia contributed to the funding of the RBC program.