RYTHM foundation champions sustainable community project for differently-abled

Committed to nurturing sustainable development through empowering vulnerable communities in Sri Lanka, the RYTHM Foundation has championed a sustainability community project to addresses the needs of the differently-abled community in Kandy.

The social impact arm of the Hong Kong headquartered QI Group, partnered with the Women’s Development Centre (WDC) to provide personalised rehabilitation services to youth and children through a Community Based Rehabilitation (CBR) programme.

So far, 11 CBR centres have been established in the Kandy district and WDC is hoping to further expand this model by adding on five new centres in Kelebokka, Hanguranketha, Udapalatha, Pasbagekorale and Harispaththuwa.

An ongoing project with a duration of three years, which began in May 2019 and will end in April this year, the programme also involves home visit based therapeutic intervention. Currently 416 individuals have benefited from the initiative.

Parents of differently-abled children have been given expert know-how and guidance on meeting the special health and education needs of the children. The youth beneficiaries have been given vocational and livelihood training. Of the approximately 25 youth who were trained, nine have found successful jobs while two received support to start a small business and have become entrepreneurs.

The current social scenario viewed through the Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) report of the Sri Lankan Department of Census and Statistics shows that as of 2019, approximately one out of every six  people in Sri Lanka are multidimensionally poor. 

Multi-dimensional poverty includes various deprivations experienced by economically challenged people in their daily lives ;poor health, lack of education, inadequate living standards, dis-empowerment, poor quality of work, the threat of violence, and living in areas that are environmentally hazardous, are just some of these factors. In addition, those with disabilities are more likely to experience these shortfalls given the fact that the opportunities available to them are limited.

In addition to direct help, the programme also covers fostering a sense of social inclusion for the disabled within their communities which extends to cultural and religious events as well.

The aim of RYTHM Foundation is to ensure the long term sustainability of every collaborative project. 
“Our goal is to ensure that even after the collaboration with our partners end, the community we helped will have the tools they need to continue their efforts to affect long-lasting change,” said Umayal Eswaran, Chairperson of RYTHM Foundation.