The Stavros Niarchos Foundation supports education in East Africa

We're delighted to announce that The Stavros Niarchos Foundation have agreed to fund an ambitious project providing educational services in East Africa.  The project aims to reach 640 deafblind children and young adults and train 96 community based rehabilitation workers over the next three years. 

It is estimated that there are 42,000 deafblind people in East Africa. So far, Sense International (East Africa), working in Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda, has identified 847 deafblind people, 339 of which are children. Proportionately, we estimate that there are 16,800 deafblind children across the three countries in the region. 

With appropriate support, it is possible for deafblind people to lead quality lives and be active members of society, but unfortunately in East Africa, as in most other developing countries, there is little awareness about deafblindness and consequently this support does not exist.  Deafblind people are still among the most marginalised of all people in society.

This project really will transform children's lives, by training local workers to identify and assess deaf blind people, and providing personally tailored community based rehabilitation services to those who previously have had no access to education or support.