History of SPAT

In the period 2011-2016 the SPAT project was carried out on 24 special need schools and 2 rehabilitation centers in and around Addis Ababa, the Capital city of Ethiopia. Every week the project reached an average of two thousand children with a disability. Thanks to this project, a whole generation of children with a disability in Ethiopia were raised with sports and movement, which was not common practice previously. Besides the school activities, large inclusive sports events were organized, which contributed to creating positive awareness about having a disability in Ethiopia. During this time the project was completely financed by Respo International.

From 2016 subsidies for the SPAT project declined sharply, and as a consequence many activities had to be downsized. The number of participating schools was limited and fewer events were organized. Following these developments, a new strategy of social entrepreneurship was introduced. A new vision was created that could allow Dires for Development to generate their own income to sustain the SPAT project, instead of solely relying on donations and subsidies. The Ethiopia Experience (TEX) was established as a tour and travel company in cooperation with Dires for Development and professionals in the tourism industry. TEX’s mission was to generate income for Dires for Development by organizing tours and travel programs within the country. Step by step, this initiative proved to be successful and Dires for Development managed to become less dependent on donors and to generate more income through TEX every year.

In 2019, the SPAT project celebrated its 10th anniversary, a conference and an inclusive sports festival were organized in Addis Ababa for this occasion. In that year the main donor Respo International ceased to exist and The Long Trail took over full responsibility for all operations and finances. In 2019, half of the budget for SPAT was generated through the travel company TEX, and half came from donations. Especially the contribution of the Dutch charity ‘Vrienden van Effatha’ was essential.

In the same year, the SPAT project was also introduced in Kenya, in the Kwale region in the Southeast of the country. The project is there specifically aimed at Deaf and hard of hearing people and is coordinated from the Deaf Centre, a social project for Deaf people that was established by the Dutch NGOs Umoja Foundation and ‘t Groenland. The Deaf Centre has sports accommodations and a guesthouse.

Because of the Covid-19 pandemic all income supplied through tourism has stopped, and this has led to acute financial problems for the project in Ethiopia. Thanks to extra support from Vrienden van Effatha, the project is still active in Ethiopia. We are currently searching for new donors and other ways to generate income to sustain long-term goals with the SPAT project.