“We Too Can Grow” (WTCG)
“We Too Can Grow” (WTCG) is an early intervention programme for families of Children With Disability (CWD) in Nigeria. The programme started in September 2007 as an initiative to serve the families of Children with disabilities in the society. The necessity for a community-based intervention became apparent from a disability-awareness show embarked on by the Children’s development Centre (CDC) Africa, a non-governmental organisation based in Lagos Nigeria, across the six geo-political zones in Nigeria. The awareness that increasing number of families of children with impairments are lacking access to health care or rehabilitation came up in their interactions with Community leaders and head of households. In those communities visited, the CDC conducted a developmental fair to assess the situation of these families and estimate the statistics of ChildrenWith Disabilities in each locality.
A programme that will cater to the needs of Children With Disabilities, bringing intervention to their doorstep and a breath of hope for these families bore by WTCG. At the moment, six centres have been set up in the western states of Nigeria. The criterion for joining the programme is a child with any forms of impairment under eight years. The demographic characteristics of families utilising the service largely are middle and low-income earners, whose main source of income are farming, petty trading and artisan-ship. Referral from paediatric neurology clinic, the Community Health Practitioners and sign-posting from families using the services are the channels through which families join the intervention. At the moment, over seven hundred and fifty families are utilising the service in six centres located in four states in Nigeria. WE TOO CAN GROW
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