Cuba

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"In Cuba, specialised schools are seen as a transitional measure, with inclusive schooling being preferred where possible. An impressive effort is being made, which we believe is right to support."
Irčne Manterola
Programme director, Cuba

BACKGROUND
Handicap International's involvement in the Republic of Cuba goes back to 1998 when the organisation started providing technical training and financial support for the production of artificial limbs. Back then, 3,000 amputees were waiting for their first artificial limb or the replacement of their old one.

The Cuban Minister of Health then asked Handicap International to help them to develop a new approach to rehabilitation of disabled people in the province of Granma. Our organisation has therefore proposed to set up a pilot Community-based Rehabilitation project involving disabled people, their community and representatives of civil society in collaboration with the institutions traditionally responsible for rehabilitation of disabled people.

The activity is being developed in the province of Granma and the pilot project covers two mountainous, isolated municipalities in the province: Bartolomé Maso and Guisa.

ACTIVITIES

Community-based rehabilitation
We aim to promote disabled people's independence and their inclusion in society.

The province of Granma is one of the poorest provinces in Cuba, and one of the least accessible. The project set up in 2001 has two main complementary parts: rehabilitation and institutional support. We work with 7 different partners: three Cuban associations for disabled people representing physically disabled, blind and dumb people and four ministries.

• Rehabilitation (and inclusion)
Handicap International aims to ensure the full rehabilitation of disabled people so that they can be active members in the community. The principle behind our work is simple: we support the training of multidisciplinary teams, at national, regional and above all town level. At local level, the teams supervise and train community workers, who themselves train disabled people and their families, teaching them simple movements and adapted solutions to enable the disabled person to become as independent as possible. By 2005, 165 community workers had been trained.

Working at the heart of communities, the workers meet families, provide follow-up by doing regular home visits and help raise the awareness of the whole community.

(c) Ana Calvo / Handicap International

• Institutional support
In 2004 and 2005, Handicap International supported rehabilitation centres within the province's hospitals by providing them with physiotherapy equipment. Handicap International has thus been supporting the decentralisation of existing services to ensure improved access for disabled people.

Inclusive education
We work towards the improvement of the Cuban model for the inclusion of disabled children in the mainstream educational system.

An inclusive education project started in November 2005. Based in Havana, this pilot project aims to support and improve the Cuban inclusive education model.

It involves:
• Providing equipment to mainstream schools which are already or will be receiving disabled children, thus enabling them to benefit from the same opportunities as other children and young people.

• Training teachers to adapt their teaching techniques to various types of disability.

• Raising awareness of all those involved in the educational process on the inclusion of children with special educational needs and avoiding unhelpful reactions (e.g.: over-protectiveness and marginalisation).

• Drawing on lessons from the collective training work we will be able to map out the for the future of inclusive education in the country.

(c) Handicap International

Buses in Cuba
Transport is Cuba's most serious socio-economic problem and disabled people are most affected by this. This project started in late 2005 and consists in sending buses to Cuba.

De Lijn has donated two buses to us which have already been assigned to partner associations. The first one will be used for people with motor disabilities, enabling them to take trips to the seaside as part of the leisure activities organised by their association. The second will be used by the association for the blind and converted into a mobile library for the Granma's mountain area.

BENEFICIARIES
All the disabled people in the province of Granma (12,500), of whom about 1,000 receive special support through the Community Based Rehabilitation approach that has been set up in Bartolomé Maso and Guisa.

LOCAL PARTNERS

• The Department of Social Assistance of the Cuban Ministry of Public Health
• The Ministry of Labour and Social Security
• The Ministry of Education
• The Faculty of Medical Science
• The Ministry of Foreign Investment and Co-operation
• The ACLIFIM (Asociacion Cubana de Limitados Fisico-Motores) which aims at access to employment or to sporting and cultural activities for people with physical disabilities
• The ANCI (Asociacion nacional des Ciego) which has taken on the mission of mobilising and organising Cuban blind people to help with their rehabilitation and full incorporation into society
• The ANSOC (Asociación Nacional de Sordos), whose aim is to reduce the isolation of deaf people by disseminating the learning of sign language.

DONORS

• DGDC
• MAE Luxembourg
• Handicap International Luxembourg
• Flemish Ministry of Education
• De Lijn
• Liliane Foundation

RESOURCES
Handicap International team is made up of 2 international staff and 45 national staff.