Achieving the Overall Goal

Discovery will involve generation of data and evidence on physical disability affecting mobility among children aged less than¹⁸ years. Through rigorous data collection and analysis, we will develop quality data on physical disability among children in sub-Saharan African countries disaggregated by nature and severity of disability, age and sex, country, and area; we will not only measure child physical disability in terms of the affected body structure and functions, but also in terms of child’s activity and participation by assessing societal and environmental factors. We will also generate much needed data on availability of such ADs as wheelchairs among disabled children in sub-Saharan Africa; and on the cost of disability to families and societies in Africa. The main goal of discovery is to harmonize child disability measurement and determine the true size of child population that need wheelchairs by producing reliable, valid and comparable estimates across sub-Saharan countries.

Development will encompass creating unique global partnership to change the ecosystem of wheelchair production and procurement in sub-Saharan Africa. We will conduct market landscape analysis on wheelchair production and supply; employ a collaborative model involving experts from industry, private suppliers, governments and NGOs. We will work with (a) national, regional and global wheelchair manufacturers to establish local production and assembly facilities in several sub-Saharan countries; and (b) governments especially in countries with an enabling environment and political will to buy-in and invest in building local wheelchair production, procurement and supply. The goal of development is to establish strong local production and supply system for appropriate and affordable wheelchairs in Africa through innovation in wheelchair development technology. The process will be guided by the use of User Centered Design (UCD) and Participatory Design (PD) methods⁴ to ensure produced wheelchairs meet the needs of users.

Delivery will build on work under discovery and development and ensure that every child with physical immobility gets appropriate wheelchair in sub-Saharan Africa. 
We will use a systems approach to build and strengthen delivery mechanisms and service provision in each country. Working with our partners in government and private sector, we will create distribution models that can be used by companies, governments, and NGOs to reach every child needing a wheelchair.