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Measuring Impact: Monitoring & Evaluation in the Dominican Republic

Walkabout Foundation has been supporting individuals with mobility disabilities in the Dominican Republic for over a decade. Since our first distribution in 2010, we have provided 927 wheelchairs, impacting over 2,200 lives. However, the impact of our efforts extends beyond distributions. As a part of our holistic wheelchair provision, we recognise the importance of follow-up services, ensuring we offer ongoing support and address beneficiary needs post-distribution. 

Following our last visit to the DR, we worked with our local partner to co-design a Monitoring & Evaluation (M&E) survey. The project aimed to measure the impact of the wheelchairs on the lives of our recipients and their caregivers. The local team collected the data between October 2022 and October 2023, following up on 167 past beneficiaries. 

While measuring the impact of a wheelchair or trike on someone’s life, we looked at key areas such as quality of life and wellbeing, independence, repairs, employment, education, social inclusion, and overall wheelchair satisfaction. Amongst our findings were:

1. Quality of Life & Wellbeing

Improved Quality of Life

100% of respondents reported an improvement in their quality of life after receiving a wheelchair. Better posture, enhanced mobility, increased participation in social activities, improved nutrition, and greater independence were among the most common themes reported by recipients.

Social Inclusion

After receiving their wheelchairs, children experienced a 19% increase in community participation, frequently engaging in various activities such as going to church, visiting neighbours, and attending family gatherings outside their homes. 

2. Education

Increased School Attendance

Following the distribution, there was a significant decrease in the number of children not attending school, dropping from 114 to 52 children (almost 50%).

Follow-up initiatives, such as our Monitoring & Evaluation Project, are essential for assessing the long-term impact of wheelchair provision, identifying areas for improvement and providing ongoing support to recipients as their needs evolve over time. The data collected showed that wheelchairs, as part of a holistic approach to disability-care provision, significantly contribute to improving the lives of people with mobility disabilities, despite the many challenges they still face.



Walkabout Foundation Returns to Ghana!

In May 2023, the Walkabout team returned to Ghana for the first time since 2012, to distribute 175 custom-fitted wheelchairs to locals with mobility disabilities across the country.

We worked together with our local partners, Orthopaedic Training Centre (OTC) and Kabaka Foundation. This wheelchair distribution wouldn’t be possible without the support of Tullow Ghana Limited, and we are very grateful for their generosity.

It was an amazing week, filled with joy, happiness and gratitude. We would like to thank every single person who helped make this distribution happen. On behalf of all the beneficiaries whose lives were changed during this distribution, thank you from the bottom of our hearts!

We would like to once again thank our donors and our local partners, for helping us change so many lives and restore dignity, freedom and independence to people with mobility disabilities in Ghana.

200 wheelchairs for children in the Dominican Republic

In October 2022, the Walkabout Team returned to the Dominican Republic to provide 200 paediatric wheelchairs to children in need. For this distribution, we worked together with our partner,Centro de Atención Integral para la Discapacidad (CAID), and a group of volunteers from Team Canada Healing Hands. 

The majority of the kids we met never had a wheelchair before, and for them their new chair represented a world of new opportunities – to go to school, make new friends, and be independent for the very first time. On behalf of all the children whose lives were changed during this distribution, thank you from the bottom of our hearts. None of this would be possible without your support. 

To support our work in the Dominican Republic and provide mobility to kids in need, donate today by clicking below.