Non Profit Organizations

Kupenda arranges meetings with other nonprofit organizations in our focus area to increase awareness and support for children with disabilities. The goal of each meeting is to develop partnerships, improve inclusion of children with disabilities in their programs, fund special needs projects, and provide awareness about issues connected to disability in the community.

Kupenda’s advocacy efforts have inspired other nonprofit organizations to:

  • Construct special needs facilities in their communities

  • Pay school fees for children with disabilities in their programs

  • Initiate income generating projects to help families impacted by disability

  • Purchase water tanks for special needs schools with poor water supplies

SUCCESS STORIES

Equipping a Tanzanian NGO to Train Pastors as Disability Advocates

The Erick Memorial Foundation for the Education and Rehabilitation of the Disabled (EMFERD) is a non-profit organization in Tanzania. Their staff members recently used Kupenda’s disability advocacy approaches to train and educate local pastors to better understand the true causes of disability and how to support people with disabilities in their communities. In Tanzania, village pastors often take on multiple roles, from social worker to spiritual healer, but, most importantly, they are seen as the community leaders. Empowering these pastors as disability advocates is the greatest way to destigmatize disability in these traditional villages. After EMFERD’s training, one of the trained pastors elected two people with disabilities to his church committee. Another decried his previous misunderstanding of disability and vowed to do more for the children in his community. Read more about our partnership with EMFRED and the outcomes of this workshop here.

Online Tools Help a Kenyan NGO Run Disability Trainings

Sasa Harambee is an NGO in Western Kenya that learned about Kupenda through an online search. Using resources from Kupenda’s open source online library, Sasa Harambee was able to run a series of successful disability advocacy training workshops in the communities they serve. Prior to attending these workshops, people in this community overwhelmingly believed disabilities were caused by witchcraft or demons. After the workshops, participants have changed their views about disability and are now doing more than ever before to support and de-stigmatize the people with disabilities in their communities. Read Sasa Harambee’s full story here.

Site Visit to Sierra Leone Helps NGOs Improve Inclusion

Sierra Leone has alarmingly high mortality rates for children with disabilities and even higher levels of superstitious beliefs about disability. In order to help them address this area of need, the International Theology Education Network (ITEN) invited Kupenda to train and partner with them in Sierra Leone. During their visit, Kupenda’s directors equipped ITEN’s staff to support the de-stigmatization of disability by educating and empowering local religious leaders as disability advocates. Read more about our partnership with ITEN and other organizations in Sierra Leone here.