About Patan CBR

History

Patan Community Based Rehabilitation Organisation (Patan CBR) is a non-profit organization established in 1995 AD. Initially providing rehabilitation services to just 60 children within the historic town of Patan, it has since expanded to cover three districts of Nepal - Lalitpur (including Patan), Kathmandu and Nuwakot.

Patan CBR provides services for children with disabilities including:

• Day-care centre
• Home visits
• Play groups
• Assistance to educational institutions
• Training and skill development

See the Our activities page for more information about our activities.

It has been estimated that, before the establishment of Patan CBR, 90% of children with disabilities were completely ignored by their family members and communities - the treatment of disability was such that even parents would not expose their sons and daughters to society. Due to intensive efforts by Patan CBR, awareness within communities has been improved and parents are now willing to refer their children to centres and organizations providing CBR facilities.

Altogether, 13 staff and 20 paid volunteers are involved in Patan CBR.

An impossible job?

The region covered by Patan CBR - Lalitpur, Kathmandu and Nuwakot districts, has a total area of around 1900 square kilometres. The area includes the cities of Patan and Kathmandu, but two-thirds of the district lies in hilly and remote areas, communities that can only be reached on foot.

It is estimated that around 4.5% of the population of the area - over 80,000 people - suffer from some form of disability. This number includes around 40,000 children.

The most common type of disability is physical, but other disabilities are frequently encountered - visual, hearing, mental etc.

An impossible target in such a diverse area and with our limited staff? This is where the CBR methodology starts to work. Our small, highly-trained core staff of ‘rehabilitation facilitators’ works with and trains local volunteers, families, teachers etc to ensure the rehabilitation occurs where it is needed - in the community.

Funding

We receive very little funding from the Nepal government and rely on donations and sponsorship from charitable organizations and individuals. We are particularly thankful to our main sponsor, Save the Children Norway (Redd Barna).

See the How you can help page if you would like to help us.