DeafNET Centre of Knowledge

DeafNET's objectives are achieved through facilitating and promoting education, development, training, social services, spiritual and mental well-being. The objectives are furthermore achieved through the promotion of Sign Language and other preferred means of communication of persons with hearing loss, including appropriate utilisation of assistive devices. DeafNET is committed to contributing to the implementation of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and fully supports the UN's Eight Millennium Goals to make the world a safer and better place that makes provision for the unique needs of deaf persons and their families in the operational area of DeafNET.

What skills and resources were you able to draw from the community for this project?

Expertise, Knowledge and Partnership

The achievements

Since DeafNET aims to empower the Deaf with skills, one of the projects it started, is a Beekeeping project. The purpose of the project is to contribute to poverty alleviation and also to promote sustainable development initiatives for Deaf people within the rural areas in Africa. We have started this project in Uganda as a pilot project. There was an overwhelming response after a needs assessment was conducted in National Association for the Deaf in Nigeria, Uganda, Kenya, Ghana, Tanzania, Sierra Leone and Swaziland. It clearly shows that beekeeping is a project that can address poverty and specifically among the Deaf community in the rural communities.