Community Based Rehabilitation (CBR) is a strategy for rehabilitation, equalisation of opportunities, poverty reduction and social inclusion of people with disabilities. Its holistic approach is addressed by five components of health, education, livelihood, social and empowerment.
CBR as comprehensive it is, is our strategy.
Over the last decades, the ‘disability concept’ has evolved from a medical model to a social and human rights-based approach. The adoption of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, in 2006, was one of the major international milestones in this development. At CDMD we believe that people with disabilities should have the right to enjoy health, well-being and full participation in any activity within the community.
Similarly, we recognise disability not as an individual ‘problem’, but also consider society’s failure to take into account people with disabilities. We focus on the strengths of each person and value potential. Our goal is to encourage people with disabilities to become more effective agents of change in their own communities.
At CDMD we treasure teamwork and networking to develop our program and its direction. Collaboration with all relevant sectors—from the clients and their families up to national government, and even international levels—is essential to implement CBR successfully. We unite and work together with our clients, who are always the centre of what we do.
To visually represent community-based rehabilitation, the World Health Organisation has introduced a CBR matrix. We have categorised our work according to the matrix’s key components. Click on each component to learn how we work and what we do:
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