We brought together six Master Trainers from Pakistan who were trained in Nepal, alongside their Nepalese counterparts, which enabled both sets of trainers to see how things were done in neighbouring countries and enabled them to interact with other therapists who worked in a different context to them.  The Master Trainers came from Aga Khan University Hospital, Ziauddin University Hospital and the two local NGOs ACELP and MEANS Institute. A local coordinator in Pakistan has been recruited to arrange the logistics and organise the first eight-day training of the Lady Health Workers.  The six Master Trainers that were trained in Karachi planned the initial roll-out in Karachi to organisations running community programmes. Currently, 15 community health workers are receiving training and have identified families with special needs children who can benefit from the newly acquired skills.

Bakhtawar, one of the Occupational Therapists from Pakistan that undertook the training in Nepal said: “I learnt a lot more about the relevant standards and simpler ways of management techniques for cerebral palsy and developmental disorders. I feel pretty well-equipped with knowledge of how to manage these cases at home and I am confident enough that I can deliver the gained knowledge to our community health workers and implement the disability management rules in our underprivileged areas.  The MAITS’ trainer got the learning message across by breaking everything down into simplified sections. She gave a complete manual of managing criteria and had a very good knowledge of the standards. I must say, a very good mixture of theoretical and practical training.”

Translations of resources for parents, which teach families more about their child’s disability and techniques they can use to support their children ranging from exercises to feeding techniques will be made available in the local language, Urdu.  This resource will also be available on the MAITS’ website in our resources section in Urdu where we have a library of resources in different languages to share.