TİKA Supported Children with Special Needs in Bosnia and Herzegovina on the International Day of Persons with Disabilities

Turkish Cooperation and Coordination Agency (TİKA) provided a logopedics set to Angelus Day Care Center for Children with Special Needs, operating in Domaljevac, Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Established in 2015 in Domaljevac, located in northern Bosnia and Herzegovina, Angelus Day Care Center for Children with Special Needs provides free therapy to children under the supervision of a special education specialist, a logopedist, and a psychologist. The center also serves children from Orašje, Gradačac, Bosanski Šamac, and Brčko Autonomous District. Located in a building allocated by Centar Municipality, the center can only provide care services to 41 children with special needs due to its limited capacity and holds an average of 3,000 personal therapy sessions a year. TİKA provided a logopedics set for the improvement of the therapies offered to children with speech and hearing impairment. The device will contribute to the treatment of children with speech, language, voice, swallowing, or hearing impairment.

In his speech at the ceremony, Petar Dujmenović, the president of the association, noted that before the project, children with language and speech impairment would go to Sarajevo or Zagreb, the capital of Croatia, a neighboring country, for therapy. He added that some children could not complete their treatment due to the difficulty in crossing borders caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. He thanked the people of Turkey for providing children with access to local therapy opportunities with the logopedics set donated as part of the project.

In his speech, Muhammed Ünal, TİKA’s Coordinator in Sarajevo, said he was pleased with the project, which aimed to increase the effectiveness of the integration of children with disabilities into the society and education system. Ünal stated that they implemented projects with the awareness that everyone has the risk of becoming a person with disability, and that they were aware of children with special needs not only in December, but at all times.