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Our Story

The Enabled Children Initiative (ECI) is an independent non-profit organization, registered in the United States as a 501(c)(3), with a branch office in Afghanistan (registration number 465). Additionally, ECI also operates as a local NGO in Afghanistan known as Enabled Children Initiative Afghanistan Organization (ECIAO) with registration number 5995. Our organization is dedicated to supporting children with disabilities in Afghanistan.

ECI’s founder, Lael Mohib, started the organization’s activities in 2010 with fellow board members Siavash Rahbari, Karen Dahlgren, and Laila Nazarali, when they all met while volunteering with orphans and abandoned children with disabilities in Kabul, Afghanistan. Today, the organization has grown to deliver six programs across six provinces of Afghanistan, with over 50 Afghan employees.

Our Mission

  • Provide safe spaces for children and youth with disabilities to access their rights to education, healthcare and basic services

  • Increase awareness and understanding of disability across Afghanistan

  • Promote inclusion for persons with disabilities

  • Support dignified lives for persons with disabilities

Our Vision

A more inclusive Afghanistan, where persons with disabilities are embraced and respected by their families and communities, and have equal access to education, healthcare, and employment opportunities to reach their full potential as human beings.

 

What We Do

Through our 6 programs across 6 provinces, we provide residential, educational, income generation support and emergency aid to children and youth living with disabilities in Afghanistan, and their families.

  • We fund a private care home, with an in-home school, called Window of Hope, for orphans and abandoned children with disabilities.

  • We run a school for children with disabilities, the Enabled Children School.

  • We support families living in poverty to support their disabled child within the home and raise awareness in local communities, via our Community-Based Disability Awareness & Support Program.

  • The Mirza Gul Family Fund provides in-home education for 7 children in Nangarhar who became amputees after stepping on a landmine.

  • Our Social Integration program equips youth with disabilities with vocational skills and helps integrate them into society.

  • Our Emergency Relief Fund supports families in poverty & affected by disasters who have a member with a disability.

  • We also advocate for the rights of persons with disabilities in Afghanistan, helping families understand their child’s rights, get children enrolled in school, or access healthcare and treatment.

 
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Guiding Values

  • We believe disability is not inability.

  • We believe in inclusion and integration of children with disabilities, and keeping families together.

  • We believe people with disabilities deserve a dignified life and equal opportunities to education, employment and other human rights.

  • We believe in empowering and enabling families and children with supportive services, giving a ‘hand-up’, instead of a ‘hand-out.’

  • We believe in volunteerism and making our funds go a long way. 90% of funds raised goes directly to programs.

  • We believe in partnerships and collaboration, so we can learn and improve our work.