Carers
MAITS:
In July 2021, The CareTech Foundation began a three-year partnership with MAITS to deliver the Community Health Worker Empowerment programme in Pakistan and Bangladesh, which aims to provide capacity building to those working in the disability sector. Children with developmental disabilities struggle to access healthcare and education services; in Bangladesh, only 11% of children with disabilities receive any form of education – and the most significant constraints children face are not their impairments but discrimination and lack of support services.
MAITS believes in community-led developmental support, upskilling the local caregivers at different levels to ensure that the resources develop and stay within the regions. The programme aims to strengthen the network of trained healthcare workers to ensure that every child and family in a low-income setting receives the care they deserve.
This year, 296 people were trained by the programme, 76 as therapists and 220 as community health workers. A new training pilot includes enhanced follow-ups and video resources in 2 languages. The Community Health Worker Empowerment Project is being expanded in Bangladesh, and the training presence in Pakistan is being extended to remote regions. Despite facing logistical and practical challenges, training is being arranged successfully. Notably, four trainers, two in Bangladesh and two in Pakistan, have become MAITS Master Trainers for the first time.
I express my gratitude for the excellent training delivered to us. The young trainees were exposed to a very practical experience and left full of knowledge