IRD’s effort through the financial support from DRF has made tremendous
positive changes in the favor of the refugees with disabilities.
Today, all the stakeholders are aware of the specific needs of the
refugees with disabilities and have included them in their programs depending
on the aspect of their intervention.
For instance, ADRA (the UNHCR’s partner in charge of refugees’ education
program) is committed to support all refugee children with disabilities to
school from 2016 onward. They have already started sensitizing parents/caregivers
of those children to send them to school.
The UNHCR has initiated a project entitled “Strengthening inclusion of
persons with specific needs in all refugee camps and in Kigali city in Rwanda”;
the project is run by HANDICAP International– Rwanda in collaboration with
NUDOR and IRD. Through this project, refugees with disabilities will receive some
assistive devices according to their impairment. This project is planning to
start an Early Childhood Development (ECD) program in all refugee camps where
children with disabilities will also be included.
The MIDIMAR has insisted that a refugee with disabilities should be a
member of refugee community leaders. This empowers the RWDs to take part in
decision making regarding refugee issues.
So many initiatives are being taken by UNHCR and its partners in the
favor of the RWDs as a result of IRD’s advocacy through genius support from
DRF.