Child Support Tanzania (CST) began in 2008 and has a disability-inclusive education centre for early years children. It is the only centre of its kind within a 1,000-mile radius and without it, the students it reaches would otherwise have no formal early educational opportunities. In the absence of quality state education for children with disabilities, CST offers a vital service to children and their families, whilst also aiming to bring about wider scale change through government advocacy and training of neighbouring primary schools.

CST also supports and empowers parents through its parent support groups and uses a Community-Based Rehabilitation (CBR) approach to mobilise individuals within the community to help them challenge the barriers faced by their children with disabilities.

CST, one of the founding members of the Able Child Africa Network, has grown significantly over the past 10 years and now serves children with hearing and visual, intellectual, and physical impairments. 

The financial capacity building from the Able Child Africa Network has brought CST to a new level. At the start of the journey, we were managing finances on paper. Now, we have electronic financial systems that we understand, and procedures in place to manage the financial risk of the organisation.

– Noelah Msuya, Director and Founder at CST