Unveiling the Invisible: Experiences and lessons learned from implementation of Inclusive Education programming in West Africa

• In Event: Decreasing vulnerability: Inclusion in education and community resilience

Proposal

In a world of increasing conflict, insecurity, and extreme weather events, those living in the margins without the resources or skills to respond or adapt are and will continue to be the most affected.

Children are the most vulnerable to these conditions. Particularly children living in extreme poverty, from ethnic or linguistic minorities, from mobile populations, and living in remote and rural geographies. When you add disability to these factors of vulnerability children very often move out of the realm of marginalized to invisible. When the very existence of these children is hidden, there is little question about their ability to access the services or education that can provide them with the skills needed to have agency over their lives, contribute in meaningful ways to their communities and become change makers toward a more sustainable planet.

The Towards a universal access of vulnerable girls and boys to a quality primary education project is part of a regional inclusive education program aimed at improving the access, enrollment, and retention of vulnerable girls and boys in quality primary education, particularly girls and boys with disabilities. The project draws on 18 years of experience that Humanity and Inclusion has in implementing inclusive education programs and works to bring children out of the shadows and help them gain the skills and competencies that are needed to be change agents for their own lives.

The project employs a twin-track approach aimed to help OOSC overcome the obstacles to their education. The project: 1) establishes multi-sector care for targeted children via strengthened links between stakeholders associated with school (health, education, social, community and parents) and 2) creates ‘bridge’ mechanisms that offer an education adapted to children’s specific needs and supports the children’s inclusion in mainstream schools.
An example of this type of mechanism in Togo is that of "itinerant teachers". These professionals provided by the Ministry of Education, support regular teachers in the classroom to teach deaf, blind or children with intellectual impairments. Finally, these teachers are an important support for all students with learning difficulties, whether or not related to the disability.

Moreover, the project builds the capacities of key MOE staff to design inclusive education systems, make the current schooling models more inclusive and advocate to keep the issue of OOSC at the top of the regional agenda.

The project has enrolled 32.341 of the most marginalized girls and boys aged 6 to 16 into primary education in ten countries in western and southern Africa (Benin, Burkina Faso, Guinea Bissau, Liberia, Madagascar, Mali, Niger, Senegal, Sierra Leone and Togo).

This presentation will look at specific ways in which the project has effectively changed attitudes, behaviours, practices and policies toward children with disabilities therefore enabling them to access an education. It will explore the lessons learned from integrating CWD into mainstream classrooms with a particular focus on how inclusive education not only builds agency within the child, but has the potential to change communities.

Author

• Sabrina Muire Hervey, Education Above All/Educate A Child