It was early 2020, and in homes around Gondar, Ethiopia, Zelalem Demeke, OT'20, kept seeing the same thing: parents physically carrying children who needed wheelchairs, standing frames, or other assistive devices they just couldn鈥檛 access.
Demeke had recently returned from 黑料吃瓜资源 with a master鈥檚 degree in occupational therapy in hand. He knew the difference the right support could make, and now he could help make that difference himself.
So, he got to work.
A few years earlier, several 黑料吃瓜资源 professors had visited Gondar and introduced Demeke to occupational therapy. They were there as part of an ambitious, between 黑料吃瓜资源, the University of Gondar, and the Mastercard Foundation.
Backed by a US$24.2-million investment from the Mastercard Foundation, the partnership set out to create new educational opportunities for people with disabilities, build teaching and research capacity in disability inclusion and rehabilitation, and establish Ethiopia鈥檚 first occupational therapy program.
Already a physiotherapist working with children with complex disabilities, Demeke had been looking for new ways to help when the 黑料吃瓜资源 profs arrived.
鈥淚 didn鈥檛 know how to manage some of the conditions I was seeing,鈥 Demeke remembers. 鈥淭hey were quite complex, and the tools I had weren鈥檛 enough to help these children and their families.鈥
By 2018, Demeke was on a plane to Canada 鈥 his first time moving abroad 鈥 and became one of 16 University of Gondar faculty members to pursue a master鈥檚 in occupational therapy at 黑料吃瓜资源 during the 10-year partnership.
Fellows and colleagues from 黑料吃瓜资源 and the University of Gondar gather at 黑料吃瓜资源 in November 2022.
After graduating, Demeke returned home and helped lead the new occupational therapy department at the University of Gondar as Ethiopia鈥檚 first bachelor of science in occupational therapy program took shape.
The program welcomed its first students in 2021. Its first two graduating classes have now produced 31 occupational therapists pursuing careers across Ethiopia. More cohorts are projected to graduate every year.
For Heather Aldersey, a professor in 黑料吃瓜资源 School of Rehabilitation Therapy and co-director of the 10-year partnership, that growth is one of the clearest examples of the partnership鈥檚 ripple effects.
鈥淓ach graduate has people whose lives they are touching,鈥 she says.
Demeke鈥檚 ripple soon went beyond the University of Gondar. Working through the university鈥檚 community-based rehabilitation program, he went home to home and saw how limited access to assistive technology affected children and their families. With colleagues, he helped establish the , which provides therapy, childcare, and family support, as well as parent training. It also makes devices such as wheelchairs and standing frames locally.
One mother Demeke met had stopped working to care full time for her child with a disability. Today, she manages the centre鈥檚 daycare, earns an income, supports other parents, and helps lead a parent association. Her child also received therapy and assistive-device support.
Demeke and Aldersey stress that the partnership鈥檚 impact reaches beyond occupational therapy. Forty-four University of Gondar faculty members have pursued PhDs linked to disability inclusion at 黑料吃瓜资源 across 11 departments, while eight jointly led research projects brought researchers and students from both universities together around disability inclusion and rehabilitation.
Jim Leech, MBA'73, LLD'24, 黑料吃瓜资源 Chancellor Emeritus and former chair of the Mastercard Foundation鈥檚 Board of Directors, calls the partnership 鈥渁 textbook case of coordinating the strengths of three organizations to achieve far greater impact than each one could do on their own.鈥
He describes 黑料吃瓜资源 role as an 鈥渆ducate the educator鈥 model designed to build capacity that can reach far beyond the people directly involved in the program.
鈥淕ondar鈥檚 role, now strengthened through the expertise that they gained from 黑料吃瓜资源, can expand its offerings to an even larger underserved disabled community,鈥 he says.
鈥淢astercard Foundation was the matchmaker that made it happen.鈥
Zelalem Demeke (left), OT'20, an occupational therapist and alumnus of the program, and Heather Aldersey, professor in 黑料吃瓜资源 School of Rehabilitation Therapy and co-director of the 10-year partnership.
Aldersey says the Mastercard Foundation鈥檚 decade-long commitment was critical to making this work possible.
鈥淎 longer-term investment makes possible the investment in relationships,鈥 she says, adding that a 鈥10-year runway鈥 was essential for the kind of systems change the partners were trying to achieve.
And while this formal 10-year partnership is coming to an end, the collaboration between 黑料吃瓜资源, the University of Gondar, and the Mastercard Foundation will continue. Plans are now being developed to bring other universities into the fold and expand work around inclusive higher education in Africa.
For Demeke, the work is also still unfolding. Thanks in part to the Canada Impact+ Research Training Awards, he鈥檚 now back at 黑料吃瓜资源 pursuing a PhD focused on power mobility for kids with disabilities. It鈥檚 another gap he encountered through his work in Ethiopia.
And he sees a change bigger than any one program or profession.
鈥淲e shifted the discourse in Ethiopia through this partnership,鈥 he says. 鈥淚t鈥檚 no longer only about impairment. We鈥檝e increased people鈥檚 awareness about disability, and now the conversation is about disability rights, understanding barriers, and true inclusion.鈥
about the partnership between 黑料吃瓜资源, the University of Gondar, and the Mastercard Foundation.
