Strengthening inclusive approaches in Rwanda through GESI Analysis and GIS mapping

Group Submission Type: Formal Panel Session

Proposal

With a focus on enabling all children to have literacy-supportive, stimulating, and safe home and community environments, inclusive approaches are at the heart of a large-scale education project in Rwanda supported by this panel of authors. This five-year project fosters partnership with communities, families, and caregivers to support and nurture the well-being and learning of children building on local assets to foster sustainability and increase home and community literacy activities among pre-primary and primary aged children, including those with disabilities.

Now finishing its first project year, this project has so far conducted three major assessments that position the project to 1) develop interventions that are transformative for gender equality and social inclusion (GESI), 2) inform decision-makers how best to direct resources based on GIS mapping to reach the most strategic locations, and 3) embark on a Social Behavior Change (SBC) strategy that will better empower parents and caregivers to read to their children and children with disabilities (CWDs), use positive and playful parenting. This panel discusses the findings and application of these assessments to the Rwanda context as the project, its partners, and local stakeholders increase collaboration to build lifelong learning opportunities that are socially and ethically just for Rwandan children, including those with disabilities, their caregivers, and parents.

Formative research conducted by UNICEF shows that stigma towards children with disabilities is strong. 42.8% of respondents agreed that “The majority of families in their community that have a child or children with disabilities try to hide them” and 51.9% stated that “The majority of families in their community that have a child or children with are ashamed of him or her” (UNICEF, 2021). The project combined these and other findings into an initial GESI analysis that will be later followed by a full GESI assessment that mixes qualitative and quantitative data to determine the social norms that drive gender inequalities and social exclusion. Analysis of these challenges and assets in communities informs a GESI action plan that will be integrated with broader SBC research action planning. The analysis ascertains: (a) which children are commonly excluded from home, community, and school-based learning in terms of access, well-being, participation, and decision-making and what actions are needed to include them; (b) current levels of agency and empowerment among excluded children and their parents and ways they can be enhanced; and (c) in what formal systems, do gender and social norms limit education for certain groups and how may such limitations be addressed through advocacy and SBC. As a result of this early assessment and action on behalf of this project, we expect to improve inclusion of all children into learning opportunities at school and at home and ensure that such practices are sustained on the part of parents and communities beyond the life of the project.

Often during implementation, partners struggle with applying an approach that is well designed and confirmed to fit a global need but might be unable to reach each unique communities in a uniform manner. Interventions risk missing out on an opportunity in serving communities equitably if they do not have detailed localized information with which to apply interventions. While interventions are designed to be responsive to needs based on extensive program design and a well-researched and tested Theory of Change, there are often equality and access issues and a need to ensure that distribution of resources not only match with government statistics but are able to be further refined over time in order to create a virtuous cycle of reflecting progress while reassessing where there is need. The project seeks to enhance the concept of targeted programming through training community members in participatory GIS mapping augmented by a targeted Action research cycle leading to a Social Behavior Change Strategy. These mappers collect data from a wide variety of local institutions: Community Libraries, Early Childhood Development (ECD) centers, Model based ECDs, School based ECDs, Community based ECDs, Reading Clubs, Centers for PLWDs, Humanity & Inclusion’s Model schools, and Home Based ECDs. Developing such a system with the ability to update over time allows for real-time decision making and allows for the possibility of more equitable distribution of resources based on the needs of communities.

As a project fundamentally focused on ensuring all forms of inclusion, all possible measures are being taken to ensure a well-informed approach early in the project life cycle. The above-mentioned assessments are some of the leading examples of such efforts. At the same time, we are eager engage in a robust discussion with our audience on ways to incorporate greater forms of inclusion to ensure that our target population is reached equitably and sustainably. Audience participants that bring different lenses: gender, disability, localization, and other forms of marginalization can help us to consider what our early assessments may have missed and how the project may improve its inclusive approaches and ensure sustainability beyond the next four years.

Sub Unit

• Inclusive Education SIG

Chair

• Alisa Michelle Phillips, World Vision

Individual Presentations

• Improving literacy learning opportunities for children with special educational needs and children with disabilities in Rwanda - Christine Tuyisenge, World Vision Rwanda

• Participatory GIS Community Mapping for Improved Decision-Making in Rwanda - Arnaud Sadrick Igabe, Three Stones International