Community Action Group Empowers the Blind
An issue-focused community action group, or iCAG, distributed MP3 players preloaded with health awareness materials to 423 blind persons in Baghdad. The effort was supported by a grant from the Iraq Community Action Program (ICAP), which is implemented in Baghdad by IRD.
Members of a an issue-focused community action group receive MP3 players preloaded with health awareness material.
Modeled after similar geographically-based community action groups representing each of Baghdad’s residential neighborhoods, iCAGs focus on cross-cutting issues of concern to residents throughout the city – from youth and women’s empowerment to improving access to basic services for disabled citizens. The current initiative grew out of a need to expand health awareness training to include blind persons, whose access to braille textbooks and other multimedia tools is severely limited or overlooked entirely. Identifying the problem, say ICAP staff, was a large part of the project’s success and is due to the effectiveness of the iCAG model.
By giving voice to marginalized and vulnerable populations, these nascent civil society organizations are helping ensure that smart, impact-driven assistance is delivered to those who need it most.
Filed Under: Civil Society, Conflict Mitigation, Health & Hygiene, Capacity Building, Education, Middle East & North Africa, Iraq