In June 2025, DeafKidz International held the first of three planned dissemination events at the Garden Court Hotel in Ndola, Zambia. These events aim to engage local governments, child protection professionals, and key stakeholders in understanding the importance of the DeafKidz Defenders programme, building support for its continuation, and strengthening our collective response to protecting deaf children from abuse.
The event was a collaborative effort from the DeafKidz International team. Pheko, our Community Lead, took on the role of MC, guiding the event with great energy and warmth. Agness, our Programme Manager in Zambia, opened the event, respectfully acknowledging the presence of government officials. Althea shared the programme’s Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning (MEL) outcomes, highlighting the impact achieved to date.
Our CEO, Debra, provided an insightful overview of DeafKidz International’s mission and ongoing work in Zambia, while Yvonne Manovo led an engaging session that encouraged attendees to reflect on the question: “What can we all do to protect deaf children in Zambia?” This inspired a lively and productive discussion, with participants sharing ideas, challenges, and opportunities for future collaboration.
We were honoured to welcome members of the Zambian government, who spoke about the programme’s progress and expressed hope for continued partnership with DeafKidz International to ensure the safety and inclusion of deaf children across the country.
The event concluded with a shared commitment to work together to prevent abuse and uphold the rights of deaf children in Zambia.
We now look ahead to our second dissemination event in South Africa this August and the final event in the UK in September 2025. We are excited to share our findings with the wider public later this year.
If you would like to learn more, volunteer, fundraise, or donate to support our work, please get in touch at info@deafkidz.org – together, we can ensure that no deaf child is left behind.