Specific services & Inclusion Projects
Inclusive Elections Project
in Somaliland, persons with disabilities, as a group are largely neglected in governance and democratization process and face significant Institutional, Attitudinal, and Physical barriers to access electoral processes on a free and equal basis as other members of society.
DAN supports persons with disabilities to participate more equally in the election process by providing them with training on the issues and by raising awareness of election stakeholders (Government, Civil Society Organizations, The National Electoral Commission - NEC) and the general public about inclusive election. DAN also helped to make the polling centers more physically accessible to the voters with disabilities including building ramps, pathways, accessible toilets and signages. The project partners were Humanity & Inclusion and Chemonics International.
Assistance to survivors of war and conflict Project
War and conflict increase people’s vulnerability to injury and permanent disability, especially from land-mines, unexploded ordinance/Explosive remnants of war and gunshots. Moreover, the legacy of war is the collapse of the health care system, making curable and preventable diseases such as polio and meningitis to spread and cause disability. This is a multi-year project and will provide rehabilitation services and psychosocial support to persons with disabilities, through physiotherapy, psychosocial support and mobility devices.
Victim assistance activities under the project are implemented in partnership with the HALO Trust to reach marginalized beneficiaries (victims of war and other persons with disabilities) that have difficulties to access services, while also enabling civil society based action. This project will focus on the IDPs in Somaliland, supporting their rehabilitation, and giving their caregivers the training necessary and skills transfer to support their family member(s). Local capacity development improves the longevity of project impact, that is why the HALO Trust, invests local actors like DAN with the skills and resources necessary to maintain rehabilitation services. The project enables to improve DAN's capacity in terms of equipment, staff training and procurement of required supplies. The Government of Somaliland contributes to partially cover staff salaries through Ministry of Employment, Social Affairs and Family (MESAF).
Livelihood Empowerment
The ultimate aim of this small scale project was to support 40 mothers (including mother of children with disabilities) in micro-business setting up to improve household incomes and to provide the means to better contribute to the care of their children. The mothers were trained on basics of small business enterprise management. The mothers were also trained on cooking cheap nutritious foods for their children. Then each mother was provided a small amount of money to inject the start up of an income generating activity of their choice (in the form of material and equipment support). The chosen business types included money exchange, women beautification shops, tailoring, cakes and drinks shops, clothes selling shops, vegetable and fruits selling shops etc.
All the mothers have set up their small scale businesses and were regularly followed up to coach and to help them save money to reinject the business continuity while improving the livelihood of their families. This has been a successful project.
WASH Project
This project is a small scale project funded by the City of Vienna in Austria through SONNE International and is implemented by Diversity Action Network (DAN). It aims to Improving access and inclusion of WASH services for the general community and the Persons with Disabilities in Somaliland. The project site is the 3 IDPs (Internally displaced settlements) in Burao town namely Ali Hussein IDP, Koosar IDP and Aqil-Yare IDP.
The project includes building accessible toilets and showers at Horseed Disability Centre in Ali Hussein IDP and improving public toilets' accessibility in the community centers of the 3 IDPs, as well as improving accessibility in toilets at primary schools of the 3 IDPs. The project also includes sensitizing the general community, the persons with disabilities and other WASH stakeholders including school teachers, local engineers, and government officers about accessible WASH rights for vulnerable groups.
The Clubfoot Treatment Project
The Clubfoot Screening and Treatment Project is a multi-year project that started in July 2015 and is financially and technically supported by Australian Doctors for Africa (ADFA). ADFA helped DAN to set up the clubfoot clinics in terms of their rehabilitation (repainting, improving electricity, water, rebuilding and improving ventilation) as well as providing equipment and furniture.
Moreover, ADFA kindly supported the training of DAN staff including the training of therapists on clubfoot assessment and care through PONSETI method of clubfoot treatment, which includes manipulations, weekly castings, tenotomy and bracing (Steenbeck Foot Abduction Brace). ADFA also supports salaries of DAN staff who work at clubfoot clinics, and provides material support including Plaster of Paris, anti-septic, material for braces, cottons etc. ADFA also provided DAN with much needed institutional building including capital equipment for the physical rehabilitation programme beyond the clubfoot project.
The project also includes training medical staff including doctors, midwives and nurses on early detection and referral.
Current functional clubfoot clinics run by DAN with the support of ADFA, in Somaliland, include 1 in the capital, Hargeisa, and 4 in the remote regional capital cities of Borama, Erigavo and Burao.
Caregivers become free to resume productive family activities such as farming, cooking employment after their child received treatment.
Project: Free orthopedic care to children with limb disabilities in Somaliland.
DAN is in multi-year programme Partner Agreement (PPA) with the New York based "A Leg To Stand On (ALTSO)", which is a non-profit organization working in the developing world to provide free orthopedic care to children with limb disabilities whose families cannot afford treatment. ALTSO supports DAN's free orthopedic care project to children with disabilities in Somaliland since 2013 and assists mainly in material support including the much needed components and supplies to manufacture prosthetics, and orthotics as well as a donation of wide range of wheelchairs, assistive devices and walking aids.
Since the COVID-19 pandemic outbreak, ALTSO also provides DAN with small scale funds for COVID-19 prevention to purchase Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) to protect the service users of DAN and our staff against the health or safety risks at work and to prevent the spread of COVID-19. This support includes also to purchase cleaning and hygiene kits. Since 2013 DAN could assist hundreds of children with limb disabilities in Somaliland thanks to the continuous and yearly support of ALTSO. We highly appreciate ALTSO's support and thank them for their assistance.