East Africa

Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania are some of the poorest countries in the world. DFID estimates that 1 in 5 Kenyans can not meet their basic food needs and over 30% of the Tanzanian and Ugandan populations live below the poverty line, surviving on less than $1 a day. As deafness is both a cause and consequence of poverty, there is a huge need for Deaf Child Worldwide to work in the region.

Kenya

In Kenya, we are working with three local partner organisations to raise awareness of deafness, to empower parents to communicate with their children and to advocate for improved services in rural areas. We are also embarking on new programmes to reach the poorest and most marginalised deaf children in urban areas, working on early childhood development in Kibera slum and with deaf children and youth living and working on the streets of Nairobi.

Read about our work in Kenya

Uganda

In Uganda we have developed a partnership with a community group of parents and teachers in Bushenyi district who have successfully lobbied for education opportunities for their deaf children. We have also helped teachers at units for deaf children in this district to develop their skills and given parents the opportunity to learn about deafness and how to communicate with their children. Deaf Child Worldwide is currently exploring options for replicating this successful project in other parts of Uganda.

We also established two new partnerships in Uganda in 2009 with local organisations Ka Tutandike Uganda and COMBRA. Click here to find out more.

Read about our work in Uganda

Tanzania

In Tanzania we have to date supported two organisations through our Small Grants Programme. However we plan to conduct further background research in the coming years to learn more about the needs and priorities of deaf children in Tanzania and to inform our future work in the country as we seek to expand our work in East Africa.