How we work
Our centre is open four days a week from 9am to 4pm, for the parents and carers to come with their children to use all the available facilities. No child is turned away as there is always room for one more! We use a 360 model, child centred approach that focuses on 5 thematic areas as follows.
Health
Medical, Therapy and Nutritional Support: We work with a number of hospitals and different care service providers to make medical and nutritional services more accessible to all children with disabilities. We also offer therapy for our children including Physiotherapy, Occupational Therapy and Speech Therapy. The parents are trained in simple therapy techniques of handling, exercise, positioning, feeding and care for their children.
Home-based Care / Home Visits: Taking healthcare services away from institutions and delivering them directly to the community. Observing parents and career interacting with their child and providing them with the help and advice they need, promoting early intervention and teaching appropriate techniques specific for the individual family and child.
Education
Vocational Skills Training: In August 2010 we started a special class for some of our older children where they are taught different skills such as Crafts, Paper Mache, Tailoring, Housekeeping and Hospitality, Child Care, Life Skills, and Apprenticeships to help them lead independent lives according to their abilities.
Catch-up Classes: The school aims to serve children with mental and/or physical disabilities who are unable to access main stream schools. The goal is to meet each child at his or her level and unlock their learning potential through tailor- made strategies. Our focus is to skill these children and offer them behaviour modification strategies that can enable them get into main stream, and special schools.
Family Empowerment
We focus on the entire family including parents, siblings and carers. This includes social and economic empowerment of families who have children with disabilities. socially, we facilitate families to form support groups, offer them training on different topics including positive parenting, child protection, advocacy, among others. Economically, parents are empowered with skills, knowledge and finances to either set up or scale up their business. They also receive support to join saving groups.
Capacity Building
Income Generating Activities: We believe that every parent should have the opportunity to live dignified conditions with the ability to cater for the needs of their children. We work with organisations including Non-Government Organisations, Community Based Organisations and service providers to improve the quality of their services in areas of child protection and save guarding, project planning and management, disability, care, inclusion among others. We too help build capacity of parents to these children by carrying out trainings for income generating activities after which starter packs are given for them to roll out into business and hence take care of their children.
Over the years, Mukisa has equipped more than 500 families with different skills, ability to start and maintain their businesses.
Advocacy and Awareness
We work with policy makers, law enforcement officers, government, local councils, community leaders and family members on issues concerning persons with disabilities and inclusion. we also participate in an annual awareness day that is aimed at bringing together children with disabilities, actors in the disability space to create a unified voice, improve visibility, and highlight issues concerning persons with disability.