Integrated Wheelchair Provision for Rehabilitation of People with Disabilities

A man with a mobility related disability is fitted for a wheelchair. Photo: International Nepal Fellowship

Implementing Partner: International Nepal Fellowship (INF)

Funding Period: April 2009 - March 2012

Amount: $650,000

Purpose: Provide appropriate wheelchairs and mobility devices to people with disabilities in Nepal

Project Components

• Identify strategies to support persons with disabilities in accessing education, health services, and employment opportunities and in participating in their communities
• Provide mobility devices (WM3 3-wheelchairs, 4- wheelchairs, and ground mobility devices) to approximately 1,254 people, based on each individual's specific needs
• Make home modifications for approximately 97 wheelchair users
• Ensure that all people in need of a wheelchair are aware of and can access project services. Link people with disabilities to community based rehabilitation services to create broader awareness in the community of those services, to create an accessible environment for them, and so that they can take advantage of opportunities to engage in income generating activities
• Provide approximately 60 persons with spinal cord injury treatment, rehabilitation, an appropriate wheelchair, and house modification


Photo: World Institute on Disability

• Train staff on how to prescribe, assemble, repair, and maintain wheelchairs and how to modify a home to accommodate the needs of a wheelchair user
• Extend a wheelchair provision facility in the Mid West Region (Surkhet)

Through this project, USAID provides holistic care to persons with disabilities by initially screening and treating clients to ensure that a wheelchair is the best intervention, and then by assessing, prescribing, and fitting each wheelchair to the individual. The project trains wheelchairs user and their caregivers to ensure that wheelchairs are used safely and maintained appropriately. It also conducts follow-up home visits with all wheelchair recipients, and recommends home modification to clients. It anticipates supporting 10 percent of all clients for significant modification of their homes.