Country of Residence
Kenya
Age
18
Project title
Move and Learn
Project Summary: Describe your project in one sentence
A project that aims to ensure no child is unable to move effectively or learn due to hurdles brought by them living with disabilities.
Website URL(s) or social media handles.
https://www.instagram.com/j.kisivuli_?stkn=N291d3FlcXc2NGUy
Project Category
My project is a brand new / emerging idea
Project Stage
Idea (We’re hoping to get started in the future)
Founding Story: What was the spark that led you to start your project? What was the "Aha!" moment that led you to get started and see the potential for this to succeed?
On the first day of my 3 month fellowship with PACEmaker international, I came a across a grade 2 learner who was part of the integrated batch of students placed into the normal classes. This was what drew me to learning more on children living with disabilities. I'd spend most of the days in the special unit classes. From there I learnt of the many challenges that crippled these learners from receiving quality education. 1. Lack of proper learning materials and equipment. 2. Wrong view by society be it fellow learners, teachers or the community at large. 3. Lastly was the struggle in movement to school especially for those with mobility challenges. Drawn to try and create change I researched on what was being done to change this. Trust me A.L.O.T is being done. There are countless organizations either trying to create awareness, educate the community or provide this equipment. But then why is the state still like this? A good example is Hope mobility Kenya (our 1st partner) they provide mobility devices for a small cost of 40 dollars a wheelchair or 10 dollars for crutches. Their equipment being well fitted to the receiver. However, how would hope mobility know that a student from a certain school or community is undergoing the very challenge they are solving. At the same time PACEmaker int. has direct reach to these students. This was my AHA moment.
The Problem: What problem are you helping to solve? Why does it matter to you and your community?
We're solving the problem bridging the gap between change making organizations. For example: We bridge the gap between an organisation that focuses on supporting disadvantaged schools and one that focuses on providing mobility equipment to students living with disabilities. Also through this process, majority of the organizations that provide either mobility or learning equipment to students require a small fee. A great example being Hope mobility Kenya: (our 1st partner) they provide mobility devices for a small cost of 40 dollars a wheelchair or 10 dollars for crutches. Their equipment being well fitted to the receiver. To us it maybe a relatively small cost but considering the financial state of the children who genuinely ack this equipment someone needs to intervine. So yes I would classify the problems as 2: 1. Gaps between already existing organizations in this field. 2. Financial hurdles to the learners we want to help.
Your Solution: How are you solving this problem? Share your specific solution.
The solution is to bring these institutions and organisations together by being sort of an intermediary. Our role is also to cover any financial costs that may occur in between the organisations to ensure that the children we aim to help receive all this for FREE.
Impact: How has your project created impact / made a difference so far? Or, if at an early stage, what will impact look like?
Impact to us looks like 1. students living with disabilities school attendance rapidly increasing due to easy movement to schools. It will work because the biggest hurdle faced by these children is lack of proper mobility equipment. 2. Positive attitude by teachers, fellow learners and community towards persons living with disabilities. This we aim to do by conducting sessions in partnership with similar organizations. It will work because many a times it is lack of knowledge about a certain thing that makes us behave negatively towards it. 3. Lastly is a more positive attitude of these learners towards school. This will be easily measured through more skills acquired as their curriculum is skill based . It will work due to introduction of proper learning equipment to their classes.
Your Innovation: What is different about your project compared to other programs or solutions already out there? How is your project new or innovative?
Compared to other programs I'd say we are different as we're not simply starting from scratch. And we are not trying to do everything. We are getting already made solutions and creating new modes of reach and help out of those ones. We're simply like a bridge between organizations in this field.
How many people are on your team?
5
Your team: What role(s) do your team members play? How do you share leadership with them?
Joseph Kisivuli (me) - Team lead Clariss Anita - Assistant lead Jones Nyamwea - Treasurer and financial lead Brian Macharia -Experienced partner and advisor Mary Goretti -Experienced partner and advisor
What’s Next: What are the next steps you plan to take to grow or strengthen your project over the next year? If your project is still in the idea stage, describe the steps you will take over the next three months to launch or begin developing it.
We plan on applying for grants and reaching out to organizations to be included in their CSR budgets for 2027. For goals we've divided into phases. 1. Mobility devices- under the mobility devices outreach we plan to work hand in hand with Hope mobility Kenya and several educational NGOs to provide learners with effective mobility devices across Kenya. Our target for 2027 being a minimum of 50 learners. 2. Our second phase is the outreach and mentorship. With each mobility device issue we plan to partner with local community organisations to provide awareness discussions and mentorship sessions using these schools as our main venues. 3. Our third phase involves providing equipment for various special unit classes across the country. It comes as our last phase of the year due to the big chunks of funds required. For 2027 we target atleast 5 of these classes. 4. Our bonus phase is to partner with skin care institutions or health and medical institutions that focus on skin to provide a minimum of ten sunscreen and educative camp sessions. This will be majorly to empower those living with albinism.
How do you encourage other people to join your project or learn about the problem you’re working on? If you have a new idea, tell us how you will do this in the future.
We plan to encourage others to join us by making engaging social media content, collaboration with local community organisations when conducting sessions and conducting sessions in schools, churches and colleges.
