Most of those suffering spinal injuries are from poor backgrounds and work as manual labourers. Many patients at CRP will be unable to return to their previous employment after suffering paralysis. If a spinally injured person cannot earn a living to support his or her family, the physical and emotional rehabilitation at CRP will be of little value. To address this need CRP runs vocational training projects which aim to enable trainees to live financially independent lives.
CRP's Madhab Memorial Vocational Training Institute works comprehensively in assessing the needs of a potential trainee, securing a place in an appropriate course and assisting with job placements on completion of the course. Courses currently offered are:
- Certificate course in computer applications: This is three- month course is affiliated to the Bangladesh Technical Education Board.
- Electronics repair: This four-month course equips students with the skills to repair a variety of household electronic items, e.g. televisions, radios, video recorders. Most trainees will establish small businesses on completion of the course.
- Tailoring: This three-month course trains students in all aspects of the tailoring trade. Experience has shown that this course is very relevant to the needs of disabled people with many trainees starting their own businesses.
- Shop Management: This is a one-month course which ensures that the trainees understand how to manage a small shop, keep stocks and do simple calculations.
The percentage of trainees who gain employment or establish small businesses is very high. Recently, CRP also began offering vocational training to disabled people whose need for re-training are identified by Community Based Rehabilitation (CBR) workers.
Post training follow-up is an important part of assessing the impact and continuous development of the programme. This is done through home visits and by sending questionnaires.