• Course announcements and reflections
  
• New developments
• 10 year anniversary of Enablement

• A CBR Management training programme of 3 weeks for partners (37 participants) from CORDAID, SKN and SLF in India.

• The annual CBR course in March Nepal was carried out with a group of 18 participants.

• A CBR management training programme for the Pakistani CBR network, which is supported by ICCO-Kerken in Aktie during July 2008 with 16 participants from various places in Pakistan.

• A new CBR Management training programme with 25 participants at ALERT in Addis Ababa in Ethiopia during November/December 2008.

• The regular 4-week International Course in Management of Disability and Rehabilitation in The Netherlands during September/October with (a minimum number of)  7 participants coming from Kuwait, Sir Lanka, Lesotho, The Netherlands.

• A 2-day training programme in Disability and HIV-AIDS in The Netherlands during November 2008.

• Besides, workshops focusing on disability and CBR of usually half a day were given on various locations.

Assignments:

• As part of the implementation of the disability policy of  the Netherlands Leprosy Relief a series of assignments have taken place in order to further strengthen and develop rehabilitation programmes for people with disabilities (mainly due to leprosy) in a number of countries: i.e. Nepal, Nigeria. Visits were paid to these two countries. Early 2009 baseline studies will be performed and further developments will take place.

• October 2008; research meeting at the University of Stellenbosch in South Africa (project approved and funded by SANPAD)

Long-term developments:

• Signing of a contract with the University of Applied Sciences  of Leiden to contribute towards capacity building at the Kwame Nkrume University (KNUST) in Ghana

• Approval of research study focusing ion evaluation research, executed by the University of Stellenbosch with the Vrije Universiteit in Amsterdam and Enablement as Dutch partners.

• The joint development of a Disability and Development module as the start of a Master programme in Disability & Development at the Athena Institute of the Vrije Universiteit in Amsterdam. The first module started on the 23th of November with 18 internal students from the VU and 2 external participants. Enablement plays an important role in curriculum development and lecturing in this course.

Assignments for 2009:

• January: capacity building and coaching of disability study in Nigeria.
  
  
• January and August: curriculum development and workshops in Kumasi at Kwame Nkrume University (KNUST) in Ghana as part of a NUFFIC funded capacity building programme in Ghana.
  
  
• March 2007: CBR course in Nepal in association with BIKASH training centre.
  
  
  
• March 2008: follow-up assignment for the Netherlands Leprosy Relief – Nepal.
May 2008: CBR training in Nigeria for staff and partners of the Netherlands Leprosy Relief. Participation in the first national Nigerian CBR conference in Abuja.


• 25th of March to the 7th of April 2009: Training of Trainers in CBR, The Netherlands (is confirmed).
  
  
• September 2009: 3-day training in presentation skills by Fiona Post.
  
  
• November-December: 4-week International Course in Management of Disability and Rehabilitation.
  
  
• November 2009: CBR course in Ethiopia, ALERT training centre.

10 year anniversary of Enablement

The activities of Enablement were formally started in August 1999. During that time it was merely a continuation of the activities that previously were executed under the flag of the University for Applied Science in Leiden. However, due to re-organisations and a lack of commitment towards the upliftment and empowerment of people with disabilities in developing countries these activities had to be terminated.

Now almost ten years later Enablement has a good track record in the field of disability and development and especially in the field of community based rehabilitation. In order to celebrate this occasion a book (both hard copy and an electronic version) will be produced with at least 10 case studies from 10 different people in 10 different circumstances in 10 different countries. This publication is written for educational purposes and will be edited by one of the most remarkable and renowned writers on disability and development.

New developments

It has been a privilege to work for so many years together with so many different partners; in different continents and different countries. The activities of Enablement are rapidly growing and it is becoming more and more evident that it is important to move office to an accessible place somewhere in the Western part of The Netherlands. It is also become g clear that the administrative work, secretarial and logistical work requires at least a part-time employee. We hope to welcome during the tenth year of existence of Enablement an office manager, preferably someone with a disability as we strongly believe that we should practise that what we are preaching!

I am grateful for the ongoing collaboration with Roelie Wolting and Toni Kofi and would like to thank them for their commitment towards the further development of essential, practical and immensely necessary capacity building of both activists and professionals. It is hoped that the collaboration with Henk van Apeldoorn, Hanneke Verhoeven and Fiona Post in the more than necessary proposed training programmes focusing on Trainers of Trainers will yield in more collaborative work. Last but not least it should be mentioned that the proposed development of a Masters in Disability & Development is a joint effort with Wim van Brakel of the Royal Tropical Institute in Amsterdam.  

A new website will be launched in the first few months of 2009: www.cbrtraining.com: a new website entirely devoted to CBR training only in order to ensure better access to the scarce information that can be found on the world-wide web about CBR training.

I would like to thank you all for your trust, collaboration and friendship during the past year. I hope that this collaboration will continue during 2009 and would like to wish you all a joyful, health and happy 2009 and for those for whom Christmas is a special moment I wish you all a blessed Christmas.

Huib Cornielje