SECHILD’s action targets children/persons with disabilities that are termed ‘special needs’ and the parents/ guardians of these children within the Federal Capital Territory of Nigeria and its environs. The project seeks to gain institutional support through access to resources and land for development of a bigger and more accommodating Center for care and support for children with special needs in the Federal Capital Territory of Nigeria and its environs, thus providing the enabling environment to build the capacities of parents/ guardians in addressing the needs of their children with disabilities through care and support in line with best practices, and also provide a conducive well-equipped physical infrastructure to offer day-time care and support services (medical and educational) to these children.

The organization has a prepared schematic design for the project. A detailed feasible concept and demonstrable basic spaces and scales of the proposed Special Needs Center. It provides a reliable basis for analyzing the estimated cost of the construction of the Center and the applicable building code analysis.

Intended impacts

Outcomes/ Results

1.    A total of 50 children and their parents/guardians in FCT and environs will benefit from the project at the inception stage and will cover a duration of 12 months

2.    Over 50 participants are expected to be the direct beneficiaries of the project in its first phase while we anticipate that about 100 affected families will benefit indirectly.

3.    1 Special Child Development Committee will be formed and 15 persons are lead members

4.    SECHILD Center will be fully equipped and made functional/operational therapy services

5.    Final narrative and audited financial report of the project will be shared annually.

Project objective(s) and applicable intermediate objectives

The overall objective of SECHILD action is to advocate for the rights of children with special needs and other disabilities and to access land as a critical institutional support for development of a bigger Center for care and support for children with special needs in the Federal Capital Territory of Nigeria and its environs providing a conducive well-equipped physical infrastructure to offer day-time care and support services (medical and educational) to children with such needs.

The Specific objectives are:

a)  SECHILD center to adequately take care of children with special needs

b)  Through a functional center strengthen the capacity of parents/guardians on identifying and assessing educational and medical options for their special children

c)   To mobilise resources to provide the necessary infrastructure, supplies and materials needed to ensure every special needs child is achieving their maximum educational potentials

d)  Intensify the reach out campaign to government authorities   and  other stakeholders for support and partnership of the project/SECHILD Center

e)   Build knowledge, understanding and skills amongst teachers and parents of the nature and types of Special Educational Needs, their impact on children, and the practical steps required to ensure that these special children achieve their full human development potentials.

Measures

The duration of the project will be in phases of 36 months (3 years) and with the following projects measures and output.

Output 1: A total of 50 children and their parents/guardians in FCT and environs will benefit from the project at the inception stage

Activities: Identification and selection of families/ special children within the identified area

Output 2: Attendance of 25 persons in Special Child Development Committee

Activities: development committee meetings targeting 1 parent from each of the selected. These meetings will be held for a number of times during the project duration to review progress made and for monitoring and evaluation

Output 3: SECHILD Center will be fully equipped and made functional/operational

Activities: Construction of Center, Procurement of Equipment (wheelchairs, furniture, generator, TV sets/ DVD machines/Satellite TV, laptops and accessories, teaching aids, training materials, toys etc.); recruitment of Nurses, Psychotherapist and Nanny. The Center will include the following facilities: Sensory integration room, fully equipped art room, Computer room, Conference Room/ Lecture / training room, Outdoor play area, Medical room

Output 4: Report of the training workshops for parents

Planned Activities: Training workshop on care and support for the special child for parents (fathers + mothers) of direct beneficiaries with 2 expert facilitators and 2 project coordinators

Output 5: Commitment from government authorities and other stakeholders to provide support services.

Planned Activities: Advocacy and lobbying of government authorities on the need to enhance care and support facilities and initiatives for children with special needs (visits to relevant committees of the National Assembly, Federal Ministries of Health, Education, Women Affairs and Social Development, Human Rights Commission, Federal Capital Development Authority, State Governments)

Output 6: Submit an end-of-project financial and substantive narrative report that clearly lays out activities conducted and their associated costs, outputs, challenges and opportunities and recommendations.

Planned Activities:Preparation and Submission of final project to project partner

Possible positive and negative side effects (including: ambient risks that may influence the intended effects)

Risks

a.     Cultural and religious factors may be an obstacle if men and women are to be involved in the project

b.    Language Barrier (some of the families with special children are not literate)

c.     Willingness of the local authorities to collaborate with the organisation

Measures to Counteract the Risks

a.   This will be mitigated through the advocacy and involvement of the religious and traditional leaders in the project and sensitisation of key stakeholders in rural communities.

b.   Language barrier will be mitigated through the use of interpreters and some of the SECHILD staff speak Hausa which is general language used in the local communities around the FCT, they will use to mitigate the impact that languages would have created between the Staff and target groups.

c.   The local authorities will be involved right from the onset of the project to see the benefits of the project.

IMPACTSIndicators to monitorBASELINE DATA
No. of beneficiaries that have responded positively to the projectPre testing and testing of the project target groups during and at end of the  project 
Project activities are strictly adhered to and where there are gaps, this is mitigated immediatelyDevelopment Committee Meetings to review the project implementation activities Development committees to monitor the project activities 
Shows the progress made and if need be where to adjust.Midterm report  
Government and other actors interested in further supporting the project and replicating it to other states of the countryInformation shared through networks Feedback from the beneficiaries’ parents 
No of community projects implemented by the target communitiesInformation shared through the networks Feedback from the beneficiaries SECHILD backstopping to give technical support  
 Information shared through the networks and SECHILD backstopping to give technical support  
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