2021 ANNUAL REPORT

A word from the Executive Director

It’s that time of the year again! Despite the challenging global environment, we at Songambele have continued our amazing work, making a positive impact across Tanzania. I would like to say a massive thank you to all our partners and advocates for your ongoing support and for helping us to achieve all that we have throughout 2021. I wish you all the best in 2022 and am very excited at the prospect of working with you all again.I never cease to be amazed by the ability of our team to repeatedly adapt, stand up to challenges, and support each other in times of heartbreak and grief I am pleased that we have finished the year with such an amazing list of accomplishments.

You have made a huge difference in the lives of some of the most marginalised communities

“Our Wheels, Our DREAMS”

CONGRATULATIONS!!We are privileged to have had such amazing opportunities to build and maintain our reputation as a strong advocate for disability rights. We are proud of the recognition our work has received in Tanzania and elsewhere. The nomination of Faustina Urassa, our CEO and founder, for the 2021 WIMA Abilities Award was an especially remarkable accomplishment of which we are exceptionally proud.

FINDING LOVE“Love overcomes all disabilities’’ – Freedom’s Story

When we met Freedom for the first time, he was very frustrated and didn’t have a lot of confidence. He had been involved in a car accident in 2011 which damaged his spinal cord and left him paralysed from the waist down. As a result, he was told that he would never be able to walk again. When he was discharged from the hospital he lived at home, isolated from society, despite having returned to the same village in which he had grown up. In 2018, Freedom attended Songambele’s Peer to Peer Education for people with Spinal Cord Injuries. Initially, he lacked confidence and was too shy to ask questions about bowel and bladder management. Despite his lack of engagement, Songambele refused to give up on him as we knew he was still finding himself. We continued to encourage him to join in group discussions and sports activities. In 2019, Freedom was invited to attend ToT and it was there that he showed how he had gained his self-esteem. That same year he met his soulmate and hey got married in 2020. Freedom said, “The first day I met other people with Spinal Cord Injuries, I thought they were only pretending to encourage me. I asked myself how come they cannot work but they are still very happy? As I got to know them, I realized we have the same challenges and I decided to learn from them so that I could live a happy life just like them.”

OUR PROGRAM

PEER-TO-PEER EDUCATION (PPE)

When a person sustains a spinal cord injury, they must undergo rehabilitation to regain many basic bodily functions and learn new ways to adapt to keep themselves safe and healthy. These include managing bowel and bladder function, checking the skin regularly for pressure sores, and learning mobility skills. Urinary tract infections and infected pressure sores can become fatal very quickly. Learning safe transfers to and from a wheelchair and doing ‘wheelies’ over the rough ground are essential skills that enable people with disabilities to maintain their health, safety, and mobility. Our innovative rehabilitation approach, pioneered by people with disabilities, facilitates improved quality of life through the promotion of health, mobility, and independence. Peer-to-Peer education includes hospital and home visits, group discussions, peer camps, and training of trainers (ToT). By implementing this program we have helped fifty-one new people with spinal cord injuries, trained nine new trainers, and facilitated four discussion groups. Through their engagement with Peer-to-Peer Education, participants learn how to live healthy, active, and productive lives after injury, and find support in dealing with the psychological effect of paralysis, thereby filling the gaps left by health services.

DEVELOPMENT THROUGH SPORT

Songambele is at the forefront of social inclusion for young people in sport, organizing fun activities where children with and without disabilities participatetogether. This creates a nurturing environment for young kids to explore new experiences and discover new capabilities while building a strong foundation for inclusion and unity throughout society. Because of the fun and inclusive nature of these sporting activities, they are a great tool to counter stigmatization and discrimination of people with disabilities These clubs also encourage bright young people to learn about gender equality and other human rights issues in their communities, in addition to becoming advocates for people with disabilities. Through their increased awareness, these young people have helped Songambele identify other children who have been isolated and hidden by their families because of their disabilities in addition to their impact on school pupils, these sporting activities have affected the wider community by educating youth about disability, gender equality,reproductive health, gender-based violence, rights for people with disabilities, and COVID-19. We were able to visit nine primary and two secondary schools in urban and rural Moshi and reached over six-hundred students. In each of these schools, the students have been so excited about this programme and eager forus to do more. This will become one of our main targets in the future.

Training of Teachers

As we have been engaging in activities in schools to raise the awareness of students regarding disability rights, gender equality, and sexual and reproductive health, Songambele has found that teachers also need to be trained so that they can reinforce these issues with their students. We’ve provided training to seventeen teachers at Himo primary schools on issues relating to disability, gender equality, and other important topics that they can use to help their students. These trainings will be conducted in other schools with whom we partner, so that we can all speak the same language when it comes to disability concepts.

DISABILITY AWARENESS

As a result of gaps in their knowledge, many people in our communities exhibit prejudice toward people with disabilities. Songambele raises awareness to improve understanding and acceptance, and to involve people with disabilities in community activities. Through these programs we raise awareness in schools by using sports as a tool to transform negative perceptions and demonstrate the value of persons with disabilities, enabling them to build their own leadership skills. We also organise events in the community on issues related to disability, gender equality, gender-based violence and other issues of discrimination and bias.

INTENDED IMPACT: For community members to gain a clear understanding of disability issues and create a friendly and inclusive environment for all. As for students, we want to see them become disability ambassadors in the community who can report any abuse or discrimination they see, especially against people with disabilities.

SPORTS AND RECREATION

Given the importance of sports for health, Songambele has used sport as a tool for our peer supporters and the community at large. Through sport and recreation, we provide opportunities to promote self-esteem and explore and discuss issues affecting people living with disabilities, such as gender equality, equal rights for people with disabilities, individual quality of life, and accessibility in public buildings.

INTENDED IMPACT: To help people with disabilities build their self esteem, confidence, leadership skills, accountability and, most importantly, to improve their quality of life by reducing the pressure and stress involved in navigating a world that often fails to accommodate their needs.All of the programs described above have been implemented in fourdistricts across the Kilimanjaro region. Through sports we have reached more than 5,246 people in the community.

PROVISION OF APPROPRIATE ASSISTIVE DEVICES

Many people with spinal cord injuries will have been discharged from the hospital without a wheelchair, which amounts to a death sentence. Songambele is working hard in collaboration with our partners who produce, manufacture, and provide wheelchairs, to ensure that people with disabilities have access to appropriate wheelchairs that meet WHO guidelines. The use of a properly fitting wheelchair facilitates greater mobility and freedom thereby increasing self-esteem and confidence, as well as enabling access to education, health services, and employment, resulting in overall improvement in quality of life. Through this program, sixty-nine people have received appropriate assistive devices and, in 2021, we gave out thirty-five properly fitted wheelchairs.

New wheelchairs, new lives for these students

INCLUSIVE EDUCATION

This programme enables children living with disabilities to acquire the education and skills they need to become productive citizens of this nation. This initiative identifies children with disabilities and their needs, urges schools to accept these children, and promotes education that fully includes them.

INTENDED IMPACT: Following engagement with Songambele’s Inclusive Education initiative, children with disabilities will have the opportunity to be part of their communities, develop a sense of belonging, and become better prepared for life in the community as adults. Furthermore, by working to remove negative perceptions on the part of teachers, peers, and community and eliminating bullying and exclusion, our projects aim to foster a supportive and nurturing environment for all children with disabilities.

COVID19 RESPONSE

In addition, we have provided humanitarian support to those whose already poor economic conditions have been aggravated by the pandemic. People with disabilities who are, already, the poorest of the poor, have struggled even more to provide for their families during this pandemic. We have been able to provide food, soap, buckets, hand sanitizers, blankets, mosquito nets, and masks to 1,660 people from seven wards in the Kilimanjaro region. songambele has implemented COVID-19 precautions in all our activities and projects and for all our beneficiaries.

PARTNERSHIP INITIATIVE

Over the course of the year, we conducted several meetings with our partners to share our experiences,

learn from each other, and explore ways to workt ogether to reach more people with disabilities, and to raise awareness about inclusion for all. As a result of these meetings, we recognised that, with our partners, we had achieved a great deal with minimal resources. We had the privilege to partner with Mobileafya, a Swahili application using internet-free mobile technology to provide basic health information to our members using a mobile phone. The app, which was developed by medical professionals, engineers, and tech innovators, allows users to find health information on a wide range of topics. More than two hundred Songambele beneficiaries have accessed the Mobileafya system forf ree information about health issues and on how to look after themselves. This huge initiative, taken on by Songambele this year, also proved beneficial to the schools with whom we work.

SEGAL FAMILY FOUNDATION SOCIAL IMPACT INCUBATOR (SII)

The Segal Family Foundation launched a competition for small organisations and business ventures who have dedicated their work to change communities and improve the life of people in Tanzania. Songambele was one of the winners of the competition and we are now participating in SII training, which includes mentoring, coaching, and practical learning to strengthen organisational management which will enable Songambele to become more sustainable and reach our goal of becoming one of the largest organisations in the country serving people with Spinal Cord Injuries. Program officer, Segal Family Foundation, paid a special visit to meet with Songambele staff and the chairpersonof our Advisory Board. We appreciated the opportunityt to share our achievements, challenges and goals with them as well, as they are helping us to move our organization forward.

CAPACITY BUILDING

As Songambele is growing, we are taking steps to make sure we have all required systems in place. Our teamundergoes seven months of in-class training to give them the competence to develop and strengthen the current systems and to add new ones as needed to ma Songambele stand out as a national leader amongst robust non-profit organisations.

ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING

A general partner meeting was held to share our 2021 achievements, challenges, and the way forward to improve implementation of our activities and to reach more beneficiaries with minimal resources. A total of seventy people participated, including our clients, government officials, family members of people with disabilities, teachers, health workers and other partners. An Advisory Board meeting was also held.

MONITORING AND EVALUATION

We also visited students in inclusive schools to assess their progress. We were happy to see that some of them have learnedt to read and write. During this follow up we had an opportunity to discuss their progress with head teachers, school committees, and During all of these meetings, we prioritized safety through social .other education stakeholders. distancing and the use of face masks.

SUCCESS STORIES

‘’For the past nine years my dad had to carry me to school on his motorcycle because going a long distance on crutches was very painful for me. The toilet at school was not accessible for me so I was about to quit school. Thanks to Songambele for taking initiative to make sure I have an appropriate wheelchair which helps me to go to school with my friends while my father is working hard to pay my schools fees. Songambele also donated a toilet seat for the toilet. I am happy and everyone around me is happy as they can see my dream to become is doctor is coming true’’Winfrida, Form Two student at TPC secondary school, Kilimanjaro

SUCCESS STORIES

“My mother has been carrying me for more than sixteen years now and this is why I haven’t been able to go to school. Its really hurts me seeing other children going to school and leaving me at home crawling on the floor. With this wheelchair, my life has completely changed. I am going to start school. My dream is to become a teacher.”