What we do

SHRUTI undertakes a range of activities in collaboration with its partners in the areas of advocacy and awareness raising, service provision, capacity building, quality education and networking to promote the rights and empowerment of people who are Hard of Hearing and Deafened (HoH/d).

Advocacy

SHRUTI has been continuously advocating for people with hearing loss since its establishment. We advocate to the Government, policy makers, planners, executers and local authorities for the rights and needs of all groups of hearing loss people, not only of severe and profound hearing loss but also of mild and moderate hearing loss, who have not been recognised by Nepalese policies and acts. SHRUTI also advocates for people with hearing loss in accessing quality education, employment, medical services and assistive devices, such as, hearing assessments, Hearing Aids and Cochlear Implant, and the communication, such as, captioning and note taking, as per their needs.

Awareness Raising and Sensitization

We increase awareness about the needs and rights of people, who are HoH/d in schools and communities by facilitating community meetings, distributing brochures, creating awareness videos, publishing newspaper articles, participating in radio programs, organising events on World Hearing Day, and organising training for teachers, parents and other stakeholders on how to communicate better with people with hearing disabilities. We also educate people who are HoH/d on their rights to education, health care, communication and participation in decision-making processes through the provision of training on the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD) and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Service Provision (Ear Camp, Hearing Assessment, Counselling, Captioning Service, Itinerant Service)

SHRUTI works with local hospitals to support the early identification and intervention, such as: hearing assessments in primary schools, a free ear camp to provide communities with hearing tests and treatment options, the distribution of hearing aids and speech therapy for people diagnosed as being HoH/d. SHRUTI also provides regular counselling for people who are HoH/d and their family members to support them with identifying their needs and to inform our advocacy activities with the government and local authorities. SHRUTI also develops captioners, and promotes and provides captioning service to the meetings, training, workshop and seminars for the accessibility of hearing loss participants. Similarly, we also provide itinerant services (on the spot mobile services at school) to the children with hearing loss studying in mainstream schools to promote quality education in inclusive education. SHRUTI has also developed a mobile application called “SHRUTI Sanchar” which provides quick information to people who are HoH/d and find it difficult to access to radio and television with news updates and alerts on emergency situations.

Capacity Enhancement

SHRUTI works with partners such as MyRight, DDP, Workability Japan, Amrita Craft, and the Ministry of Women, Children and Senior Citizen of Nepal Government to provide opportunities for people who are HoH/d to develop or enhance skills in the areas of information technology, cooking, accessories making and handicraft development, and other skills as per the individual needs, such as graphics, webpage design, video and photography, video editing; etc. After the completion of the training, SHRUTI also facilitates internship and job placements for people who are HoH/d. SHRUTI also provides training for the teachers of primary school, caregivers, and parents to help them better address and support the needs of children, who are HoH/d at school and home.

Network Expansion

We regularly attend international trainings, workshop and conferences organised for people, who are HoH/d, such as a training on the UNCRPD organized by the IFHOH, CRPD-SDG bridge course organised by the IDA, “Deaf Child International Development” organized by the Royal Kentalis with the support of Erasmus, etc.; CRPD Committee meeting, UN meetings, Hard of Hearing Congress meetings; etc. Representatives of SHRUTI also participates in learning visits in the Netherlands and Sweden.

We also have coordinated volunteer exchanges through the European Volunteer Services Project (funded by the European Union) to facilitate the exchange of skills and knowledge between people, who are HoH/d in Nepal, Spain, Greece and Romania. We also promote the capacity building of our own staff who are HoH/d through participation in international and national programs, such as the IFHOHYP Study Program in Budapest, CRPD training of APFHD in Bangkok and many learning programs conducted by other I/NGOs and DPOs in Nepal. SHRUTI has started to expand hard of hearing and deafened people’s network within Nepal to have a unified voice on the issues and needs that can be strongly put forth and addressed at the local level. So far, SHRUTI has formulated hard of hearing and deafened groups and provided CRPD and DPO management training in four districts, namely Chitwan, Banke, Rupandehi and Kaski. Two district level hard of hearing associations have been registered under the coordination of SHRUTI.

Promotion of Inclusive Education

To promote the inclusive education, SHRUTI has its own experts in education, psychology and language and communication development to provide itinerant service to the children with hearing loss studying in mainstream schools. SHRUTI regularly visits schools studying children with hearing loss and coaches school teachers for the accessibility needs of hard of hearing and deafened learners. SHRUTI also provides trainings to the parents for the development of language and speech of their hearing loss children. Similarly, SHRUTI regularly provides sensitization trainings on hearing loss to school teachers and parents, and provides inputs and suggestions to the decision makers responsible for the inclusive education.

Research and Development

SHRUTI has also been conducting research works, regularly. Recently, SHRUTI conducted a post COVID impact assessment with hard of hearing and deafened people. SHRUTI has also published a manual targeted to the teachers teaching students with hearing loss in mainstream education and parents who have hearing loss children. SHRUTI is also involved in the study team of the Inclusive Education Report: Realities facing hard of hearing learner in Nepal and Uganda published by IFHOH. SHRUTI also coordinates in publishing real stories and experiences of hard of hearing and deafened people in national newspaper. Similarly, SHRUTI also offers internship to students of different colleges studying sociology and social works subjects, and supports them for the research on hearing loss in fulfillment of the partial requirement for the course of thesis writing in bachelor and master degrees. The president of SHRUTI has been awarded a fellowship by IFHOH/IDA to conduct a research on Post COVID Access to Healthcare in Nepal for Hard of Hearing People.