Celebrating our partners: Empowering people with disabilities in Zimbabwe

On a recent project visit to Zimbabwe, our CEO Kirsty Smith and Programme Manager Elfreda Whitty visited LOREWO, an amazing partner that we have been delighted to work with over the last five years.

LOREWO (Local Rehabilitation Workshop) is an organisation of people with disabilities working to supply, maintain and repair wheelchairs and assistive devices, as well as providing training in their use. LOREWO was established in 1999 and has served to increase opportunities for people with disabilities to participate in all aspects of community life, through employment, training and provision of assistive devices. The organisation aims to alleviate poverty by creating jobs and increasing opportunities for people with disabilities to participate in their communities.

We have worked in partnership with LOREWO for our SAGE project, Supporting Adolescent Girls’ Education. Over the last five years, our SAGE project has supported highly marginalised, out-of-school girls in Zimbabwe to access an education and the life-changing opportunities that brings, helping them to go on to further education, training or employment.

LOREWO have worked with us to identify girls with disabilities and the barriers they face in accessing education, and to ensure they have the right assistive devices. The team have fitted grab rails at the newly built education hubs, provided wheelchairs, and trained community members in wheelchair repairs.

“We have been so impressed to see how professional and dedicated the team are. Even when projects and funding come and go, they are a model of excellence in the continued support they provide to communities.” Elfreda Whitty, Programme Manager, CBM UK

The SAGE project has been hugely impactful, and as it comes to an end, we celebrate the work of our fantastic partners at LOREWO – we couldn’t do any of this without them!

Image: Staff at LOREWO working on building new wheelchairs