Download Africa
Motivation's regional office in South Africa is responsible for the coordination, planning and implementation of our programme activities throughout Africa.
Key to the sustainability and effectiveness of our programmes is working in partnership at every level. We collaborate with governments, international organisations, civil society groups and training institutions. We prioritise the development of a wide range of training so that we can ensure that skills development and professionalisation remain central to the development of the capacity and infrastructure of wheelchair service provision and DPO development in Africa.
Wheelchair Technologists Training Course
Working with the Tanzanian Training Centre for Orthopaedic Technologists (TATCOT), Motivation developed the world's first Wheelchair Technologists Training Course (WTTC). The one year course equips students with both technical and clinical aspects of wheelchair provision and prepares them to effectively manage a comprehensive wheelchair service. The course is now internationally recognised and accredited by the International Society of Prosthetics and Orthotics (ISPO), and promotes the need for professionals trained in this discipline. The course is now run independently and Motivation continues to support TATCOT to increase their capacity to develop the course and become a resource for the international promotion of training in wheelchair technology. Motivation's programme is supporting WTTC graduates as they return to their home countries and establish wheelchair services.
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Motivation set up the first Wheelchair Technologists Training Course with the Tanzanian Training Centre for Orthopaedic Technologists |
Students from Zambia and Zimbabwe work on a wheelchair jig | Training trainers in wheelchair mobility skills with disabled people's organisations in Africa |
The Wheelchair Service Network
Since its inception in 2000, seven intakes of students have graduated from nine African countries: Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi, Namibia, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
Following the success of the WTTC, Motivation and TATCOT are planning to expand the range of training courses available to include short courses in wheelchair assessment and prescription skills, technical skills of wheelchair repair and modification, and an advanced module to train students in providing supportive seating for people with more complex needs.
As a parallel programme to address wheelchair provision in environments where local production is not viable or cost-effective, service providers are trained in assembly and production of Motivation's 'Worldmade' wheelchair design, which is imported ready to assemble and fit to the user.
Motivation's capacity builders are working with the Pan Africa Wheelchair Association (PAWA) to provide technical and capacity building support to wheelchair services and to promote the professionalisation of services across the continent. Regular visits are made to partners to evaluate progress and set targets for future development.
As part of an ongoing programme of training, past WTTC graduates are visited by TATCOT trainers to monitor their services and to train them in new designs and skills. In 2006 and 2007, short training courses in supportive seating provided graduates with increased skills to address the more complex needs of children with cerebral palsy. The scope and range of this type of input will be developed further over the next two years (2008 - 2010).
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Capacity building work with the women's sub-committee of the Kilimanjaro Association of the Spinally Injured (KASI) in Tanzania |
Map showing countries
in Africa that graduates of the Wheelchair Technologists Training
Course (WTTC) in Tanzania have come from |
A tricycle produced
by Disacare, a disabled people's organisation in Zambia that Motivation
is working with |
Disabled People's Organisations
As the network of professional wheelchair services expands to new areas, Motivation Africa is supporting local disabled people's organisations (DPOs) to collaborate with service providers to ensure that people with mobility disabilities have access to an appropriate wheelchair - the first step to being able to claim their wider rights.
Motivation also works with DPOs to ensure that disabled people's rights are recognised by policy makers. This is key because unless disabled people are able to influence the policies that affect them, their needs will not be met and they will continue to be marginalised within society.
Our 2005 - 2007 capacity building programme provided training for each partner DPO in managing, monitoring, fundraising, planning, budgeting and reporting, so that they are better equipped to advocate for the rights of their members and facilitate peer group training and other initiatives.
To date, Motivation has worked with DPOs in Tanzania, Uganda, Zimbabwe, Zambia and South Africa. The planned introduction of DPO partners in Ethiopia and Kenya will further widen the scope and impact of this work.
The Future: Motivation Africa 2007 - 2010
We have structured our country programmes around four levels of intervention.
Focus countries are those in which we are committed to delivering a range of appropriate interventions to address all the areas identified in our circle of need. For the years 2007 - 2010 our focus countries are Tanzania, Uganda, Zimbabwe, Kenya, Zambia and South Africa.
In network Countries we are supporting graduates of the WTTC and those International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) rehabilitation staff who have trained on our Wheelchair and Postural Support training course. Network countries for 2007 - 2010 are Angola, Ethiopia, Namibia and Nigeria.
Programme countries are those that currently have some specific programme activity that is more intensive than the usually reactive inputs to network countries, but that are not yet as comprehensive as in focus countries. Our current programme countries are Malawi, Sierra Leone and Mozambique.
Research countries have been identified as those that we have a particular interest in working with once funds, capacity or opportunities arise. Motivation has received requests from research countries, but is not in a position to offer any meaningful collaboration at present. However, we would be keen to conduct further research because the partners or environment are felt to fit into our objectives in the region. Research countries can move to become programme or network countries, depending on funding or partnership opportunities that arise in the 2007 - 2010 period. Currently our research countries are The Gambia, Sudan and Lesotho.
Motivation Africa Regional Office
Ward D
Western Cape Rehabilitation Centre
Private Bag X19
Mitchell's Plain
Cape Town 7789
South Africa
t: +27 (0) 21 371 3629
e: info@motivationafrica.org.za