Community Based Rehabilitation for persons with Disability

The purpose of CBR is to work with all types of disabilities, their families, communities, organizations and institutions for empowerment and inclusion of persons with disabilities by facilitating disabled people's organizations, Civil Societies, Community Based Organizations (CBOs) and networking at local level to address the gaps that exist at various levels.

Our target groups among persons with disabilities are :

• Poorest of the poor in un-reached rural areas
  
  

• People with Severe /profound and Multiple disabilities
  
  

• Children and women with disabilities
  
  

• Orphans with disabilities – the most needy
  
  

The CBR Project is to facilitate the equalization of opportunities for people with disabilities in all developmental activities / programmes matching to their challenges, skills, needs and living circumstances.

The whole purpose of CBR is work with the Panchayat Raj Institutes (PRIs) which are the first administrative unit at the bottom level to make the PWDs and other target groups to be part of the system as a developmental approach rather than the older welfare of charity model.

It is well known fact that in India:

• more than 70% of the PWDs lives in the rural villages and
  
  

• CBR is expected to rehabilitate 70% of them at community level.
  
  

Goal and Focus Areas

Knowing these facts, Manochetana is putting its best efforts to work with CBR model to the maximum extent possible in the given environment. 

In view of the recent act UNCRPD, CBR also needs to be transformed as Right Based CBR for accessing rights as a RIGHT.

The thrust of the programme is to generate awareness through formation of Self Help Groups and taking up of economic support to activities so that the persons with disabilities not only become self-supporting but also become equal partners in the developmental process of the community as productive member. Manochetana emphasis community based rehabilitation programmes as a developmental model with right based approaches rather than welfare or charity model and make the PWDs as the managers of their own developmental programme rather than beneficiary or receiver.

• Rehabilitation Project (CBR) that are based on local condition and cultures and expansion of CBR coverage as an important means of achieving equalisation of opportunities for people with disabilities in rural communities.
  
  

• Around 70% of the PWDs lives in the rural area and 70% of them can be rehabilitated at community level through CBR.
  
  

• CBR is cost effective and utilizes local resources to the maximum extent possible and thus better adoptable with sustainability.
  
  

• The recent United Nation Convention on the Rights of the Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD) which is signed and ratified by India insist for:
  

• disability first to recognize them as the person first
  
  
• disability as the barrier to environment as the barrier
  
  
• disability as the family issue to community issue
  
  
• they cannot do to they can do
  
  
• they are separate to part of the community
  
  
• disability as the burden to responsibility &
  
  
• disability as welfare to development to HR model
  
  

• UNCRPD insists for rights based approaches with CBR as a part of the developmental programme at all levels.
  
  

• CBR gains importance as part of the Panchayat.
  
  

• Elimination of attitudinal, cultural and physical barriers, which limit the access of rural people with disabilities to facilitates, services, information and development programmes in the rural areas.
  
  

• The goal of this strategy is to promote the active participation of poor rural people with disabilities in all rural development programme.
  
  

• Elimination of attitudinal, cultural and physical barriers which limit the access of   poor rural people with disabilities to facilities, services, information and development programmes in rural areas.
  
  

• Provision of local-level support measures to enable poor rural people with disabilities to have full access to rural development programmes.
  
  

• Development and strengthening of a self-help movement of people with disabilities in rural area.
  
  

Today, CBR Self Help Groups are functioning effectively, because, united in their crisis, they come forward and create their own solutions.

So far 55 Self Help Groups were formed by Manochetana. The livelihood activities of these SHGs includes: …………………….and now feel more confidant in minimizing the barriers of disability & community and further became advocates for others to follow.  SHG works as an empowerment tool with sustainable development and further to lead better living with quality of life (QOL). This project has been implementing at 25 villages of Cherial mandal in Warangal district and the process is gong on to reach more such groups with better networking among the stakeholders and local institutions bodies.