Sport’s victory over handicap

Context

In Côte d’Ivoire, the visually impaired people within the population are many. According to the figures published by the 2014 Population and Housing General Census (RGPH), they are estimated to be more than 69,825 that Is over 3% of the Ivorian population. Coming mostly from rural areas, they are known as a socio-cultural, economic, political, and educational group lagging behind with limited access to literacy or learning a trade likely to improve their socioeconomic condition. Only 30% of visually impaired people in Côte d’Ivoire can indeed read and write (source: FISMA).

Faced with this social emergency, FISMA has introduced this tailored programme likely to ensure an integration into sport, health care, and literacy to better meet the challenges to their socio-professional insertion.

Objectives

• Facilitating the social insertion of illiterate visually impaired girls using the practice of sport and literacy in Braille
• Introducing illiterate visually impaired girls to sport and enlisting them into FISMA’s various clubs
• Encouraging illiterate visually impaired girls’ access to information and health care
• Promoting these girls’ socio-economic insertion through the practice of high-level sport.
• Helping upgrade the image of the girls, improving the family environment, and fostering their professional insertion through self-employment

Activities

• Identifying illiterate visually impaired girls and awareness raising sessions for the families and local authorities
• Staging practice sessions and judo, cécifoot and athletics contests
• Training and sensitising on reproductive health, notably on risky pregnancies and family planning, oral hygiene, nutrition, and ophthalmology

Impacts

• 300 visually impaired girls have been introduced to sport (athletics, judo, and cécifoot), including the 30 best athletes selected in the national teams
• A 50-person team spread out and trained into FISMA census and sensitisation methods
• Some assistance brought to the political authorities, NGOs and private institutions working for social causes

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