Inclusive sport for the kids living with a mental handicap

Project supported by El Youssr

The association El Youssr was created in 2005 to ensure reception, education and socialisation centres for children with mental disabilities. The association works to support children through an inclusive and participative approach aimed at ensuring their social and professional inclusion.

Initiated by Elyoussr Association, the project focuses on the renovation of a multidisciplinary field designed to provide the children living with a mental disability (autism, Down’s syndrome, intellectual deficiency) an appropriate venue for relaxation, sporting practice, education and well-being. The project is estimated at €20,900

Context

Morocco (about 35 million inhabitants) has «over 347,000 persons living with a mental handicap» namely 23% of the total 1.5 million disabled you can find in the kingdom, Sabah Zemmama told AFP, the President of the National Union of the Associations Working in the field of mental disability (Unahm – 2014).

«Only 10,000 of such people» are under care, Mrs. Zemmama regretted, highlighting the fact that «half of them are hosted by associations asking for more support to be able to provide care, education, and training services» to the children in priority.

In this context, Elyoussr Association runs 16 classrooms reserved for the children with a mental disability at Ibn Toufail School in Salé, Morocco. 1,300 children have already benefitted from the association’s activities. These days, the existing sporting field is in such a condition that makes the practice of sport impossible. Besides, the socio-sanitary circumstances associated with the coronavirus pandemic and the health risks has obliged the association to reinforce the sporting facilities for the children’s protection and well-being.

So will renovating and developing the field facilitate the development of two complementary components: the first is the creation of a sporting offer that is complementary to the educational offer and the second is to create a sporting offer in Salé, by using the infrastructures to deliver various activities such as courses, tournaments, etc.

Goals

Promote sport as a practice among the children living with a mental handicap and building an environment that enables them to grow and thrive and is conducive to their development;
Develop the offer for regular courses and training sessions for the children (football, basketball, and handball) as well as for events (tournaments, contests, etc.)
Diversify the professional training offer for the persons living with a disability and reinforcing beneficiary support and monitoring;
Help the association to generate income by renting the pitch for its activities’ viability;
Position the school as a place for prevention and for the promotion of sport.

Activities

Reinforcing extracurricular activities and leisure for the benefit of the children living with a disability;
Assisting the young for participation in international Paralympic contests
Organising courses, round tables, lectures and awareness days on children’s mental diseases;
Organising workshops for the parents on issues relating to the rights to education and to the socio-professional integration of the persons living with a mental handicap;
Providing paramedical care and organising medical consultation days for the children.

Impact

About 200 children aged 3 to 16 and living with a disability shall be this project beneficiaries
Reinforcing continuous training for both the educational team (30 female educators) and the paramedical team (9 health professionals)
The association has already set up 16 classrooms for the benefit of over 1,300 youngsters living with a mental disability.