Malawi Council for Disability Affairs (Macoda) has empowered 14 community rehabilitation volunteers in Salima District with bicycles and smartphones to improve service delivery for people with disabilities.
The support, provided under the ComCare initiative, seeks to improve the volunteers’ mobility and help them to collect data about people with disabilities in their communities.
Speaking on Saturday during the handover ceremony at the Salima Community-Based Inclusive Development office, Macoda rehabilitation manager Charles Chipembere said the items were distributed under a pilot programme to assess the effectiveness of ComCare in the district.
He said: “Considering that Salima Community-Based Inclusive Development office has seven community rehabilitation assistants [CRAs], we advised each CRA to select two volunteers to participate in this project. Our goal is to empower them and provide motivation as they continue supporting our initiatives.”
One of the beneficiaries, Ganizani Mdindo from Traditional Authority Kambwiri, thanked Macoda and Hope and Healing International for the support, saying the bicycles and smartphones will enable them to reach more communities and register more children with disabilities, thereby contributing to Macoda’s mission.
He said: “We will use the smartphones to capture accurate information and help ensure that children and other people with disabilities are not left out of rehabilitation programmes.
“Again, the improved mobility will enable us to follow up on cases more efficiently and connect people with disabilities to the support they need.”
ComCare is a pilot programme running in Salima and Lilongwe districts. The initiative targets 24 community rehabilitation volunteers with 14 in Salima and eight to be selected in Lilongwe with support from Hope and Healing International.
