Project News

The JICA Partnership Programme called "Capacity Building of Independent Living Centres through Creating Accessible Environment" has been conducted in South Africa since September 2016. The programme invited 2 experts from Japan and organised the Independent Living Programme (ILP) training on 20th and 21st February 2017. Mr. Judas Mayevu and Ms. Victoria Japane who play central roles in establishing Self-Help Group (SHG) of persons with disabilities in the project site (Vhembe district, Limpopo province) participated in the training as observers.

About 20 leaders with disabilities who are leading the self-help group activities in Gauteng province participated in the ILP training. The ILP training is designed for enabling participants to facilitate the Independent Living Programme where persons with disabilities learn attitude and skills (how to build interpersonal relationships and how to solve problems) for independent living.

Mr. Judas passionately said that "the training was very meaningful for me because I learnt many important points when I consult persons with disabilities in community. For instance, it is essential to respect other person and to guarantee confidentiality of what other person spoke. There are a number of persons with disabilities facing a variety of difficulties in my village, so I will start preparing consultation work for them."

2 projects will continuously collaborate each other to promote empowerment and social participation of persons with disabilities in South Africa.

Mr Mayevu (right) and Ms Japane (2nd right) participated in the IL programme