Nationwide platform for all disability-related information in a low-income country

In 2021, EnableMe Kenya launched an interactive online platform to support people with disabilities and their relatives who have no other access to relevant information. The portal provides information on more than 200 topics and had more than 70,000 visitors between 2021 and 2022.

In 2021 EnableMe Kenya, an NGO based in Nairobi, launched an interactive online platform for persons with visible and invisible disabilities. They use expert knowledge, peer-support, and expert advice to support persons with disabilities in Kenya. The focus is on communities that lack access to information on health, education, economic empowerment, and assistive devices. The portal offers information on more than 200 topics and had more than 70,000 visitors between 2021 and 2022.

Problems Targeted

People with disabilities do not always have a safe environment to discuss issues that are important to them as a minority group in society.

Solution, Innovation and Impact

EnableMe Kenya is cooperating with Light for the World and United Disabled Persons of Kenya for the implementation of the project. The online platform provides information to people with disabilities in Kenya on a variety of topics, including inclusive education, family and relationships, assistive technology, economic empowerment, leisure, mobility, and living with a disability. It is targeted towards communities that lack access to information on these important topics. Users can not only access information but can also interact by raising questions and having discussions with others who may be facing similar circumstances. Moreover, the organization targets caregivers, parents of persons with disabilities, and experts in disability inclusion. EnableMe Kenya has grown from fewer than 1,000 monthly visitors to the website in 2021 to more than 15,000 by mid-2022. EnableMe Kenya also uses online events to advocate for the inclusion of persons with disabilities and to support mainstreaming disability, reaching 10,000–20,000 with monthly social media events.

Funding, Outlook and Transferability

EnableMe Kenya is grant funded. Light for the World is responsible for fundraising and for establishing partnerships for further growth. Other partners for supplying funds are SightSavers and CBM Global (both large international NGOs) and the Kilimanjaro Blind Trust. In the coming years, EnableMe Kenya aims to support more people with disabilities across Kenya, along with their relatives, friends, and others interested in the topic. Each year the content will be reviewed and renewed, with an aim of adding a minimum of 50 new articles. Other plans include the creation of a community of followers on social media and linking them with online self-help groups.

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