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context
According to the 2011 World Disability Report, there are between 93 and 150 million children in the world with disabilities under the age of 14. In Africa, it is estimated that 6.4% of children in this age group have moderate or severe disabilities, and less than 10% of children with disabilities under the age of 14 attend school.
Currently, an estimated 65 million primary and secondary school-age children have disabilities, nearly half of whom are not attending school.
The exclusion of children with disabilities from education has negative economic impacts at the family, community and national levels. The educational deficit experienced by children with disabilities may be one of the greatest barriers to earning income and long-term economic well-being as adults. Recent studies have shown that educating children with disabilities can lead to positive wage benefits, but the costs of labor market exclusion of persons with disabilities range from 3% to 7% of a country’s GDP.
In 2017, the World Bank and USAID established the Africa Disability Inclusive Education Program, a $3 million trust fund to increase children’s chances of attending primary school and to design and implement inclusive education programs across Africa.
The Africa Disability Inclusive Education Programme funds activities implemented by the World Bank that draw on USAID programs, World Bank projects and analytical work to benefit students with disabilities in Africa.
Expected outcomes are:
Increased use of evidence-based program and policy recommendations, and tools by African governments and development professionals for the design and implementation of inclusive education interventions; and Increased access and enrollment of boys and girls with disabilities in targeted African countries. Specifically, the program will promote strategic use of resources for disability inclusion and provide flexible support for emerging needs and priorities in project preparation.
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strategy
Children with disabilities around the world face cultural, economic and social barriers both within and outside the education system that directly or indirectly affect their ability to access a quality education, including:
1. Supply-side barriers: Physical access to school buildings, classrooms, toilets and surrounding areas; transportation to get to school; inaccessible learning materials; inflexible curriculum, teaching methods, examinations, teachers’ and educators’ knowledge of inclusive teaching methods; discrimination on the basis of disability.
2. Demand-side barriers: stigma and attitudinal barriers, parental and family misconceptions about children’s learning capabilities, family resources and caregiving dynamics, financial support, welfare regulations and eligibility criteria.
Addressing the myriad individual, community, and systems-level barriers to disability-inclusive education requires a comprehensive ecosystem approach to designing and implementing inclusive education goals.
The Africa Disability Inclusive Education Programme provides advisory and analytical support across three pillars:
Pillar 1: Expanding the evidence base on educational inclusion of children with disabilities – Strengthen the evidence base on economic, social, and system-level structures that affect inclusion of children with disabilities, and the return on investment of different types of policy and program interventions to support inclusive education in Africa. Pillar 2: Supporting demonstration activities – Expand the evidence base on “what works” to promote social inclusion of children with disabilities through small grant support to World Bank teams operating across Africa. Successful grant recipients will help advance the design and implementation of government policies and activities for educational inclusion of children with disabilities in the region. Pillar 3: Disseminate knowledge compiled from funded analytical work through policy and knowledge briefs, recommendations for program and policy changes, fact sheets, blogs, webinars, educational videos, and social media platforms.
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result
analysis
Several studies are underway, including:
A quantitative study using data from over 20 countries in the African region, focusing on (i) measuring disparities in educational outcomes and the marginal impact of different types of disabilities on these outcomes, (ii) developing an economic case for investing in children with disabilities, and (iii) documenting successful interventions through a series of analytical reports and knowledge products. A mixed-methods diagnostic will be conducted in four countries – Ghana, Tanzania, Zambia and Malawi – to generate new data and knowledge on the capacity of education systems to promote the participation and achievement of children with disabilities. The analysis will focus on policy environments and resource allocation, inclusive education environments, and social services that support educational participation.
Domestic intervention
The program provided grants of approximately $1.5 million for activities in seven countries in the African region: Ethiopia, Ghana, Lesotho, Liberia, Senegal, Gambia and Zambia.
Ethiopia: This activity will evaluate the operation of Inclusive Education Resource Centres (IERCs) to promote inclusion in mainstream schools. This will be achieved through a diagnostic of existing IERC pilots. The study aims to identify a cost-effective, scalable and sustainable model for rolling out this initiative under the General Education Quality Improvement Programme for Equality in Ethiopia (GEQIP-E), supported by the International Development Association (IDA), UK Department for International Development (DFID), Finland, Norway and UNICEF. Based on the study findings, an implementation plan will be developed to support the establishment of around 700 IERCs aimed at ensuring inclusive and quality teaching and learning environments and providing appropriate support to children with disabilities in mainstream schools, in line with the goals of the Ethiopian Education Sector Development Programme V, which serves as a framework for education development in the country. Award: $100,000. Gambia: This activity builds on the ongoing work of the Special Education Unit in The Gambia to ensure that children with disabilities attend school, stay in school and receive support in the learning process. The activity aims to improve the quality of learning for children with disabilities by creating tools to improve the government’s capacity to collect appropriate data, and by training classroom teachers, itinerant teachers, and school principals on inclusive education. It also aims to launch a community engagement campaign. Data and results from the activity will inform the development of a proposal for an inclusive education fund to provide demand-based assistive devices to children with disabilities in public schools. Grant amount: $197,000. Ghana: The activity supports systematic strengthening, education, and social inclusion activities at the primary school level with two main objectives: i) to establish a framework for converting existing special needs schools and community assessment centers into inclusive education resource centers while supporting pilot training of new competencies for staff, and ii) to raise community awareness through strengthening civil society networks. Grant amount: $250,000. Lesotho: The overall goal of the activity is to increase government and stakeholder knowledge of inclusive education in primary schools for children with disabilities in Lesotho. This will be achieved through the development of an integrated training module on inclusive education including basic screening and teaching strategies, preparation of a policy note on school-age children with disabilities, and dissemination of information on advocacy activities to raise public awareness on the need to support children with disabilities. The project outcomes will further enhance the quality of activities under the Lesotho Education Quality for Equality Project (LEQEP). Award: $250,000. Senegal: The overall objective of this activity is to improve data on children with disabilities to inform evidence-based decision-making and improve identification of children with disabilities at the community and school levels. This will: The Education Sector Policy Framework Study will focus on collecting data on factors that determine the social and economic conditions of children with disabilities. Additionally, the activity will focus on developing basic screening tools to identify children with disabilities at the school and community levels, and teacher training modules on inclusive education. Grant amount: $190,000. Zambia: The primary objective of this activity is to provide technical support to the Ministry of General Education (MOGE) on the provision of education to children with disabilities under the Seventh National Development Plan. The activity will help improve teachers’ pedagogical skills and knowledge to address the learning needs of children with disabilities. Interrelated activities on teacher training and support include reviewing pre-service and in-service teacher education curricula to identify gaps and prepare approximately 50 resource persons on inclusive education pedagogy to strengthen inclusive education. The activity will also support an audit of the availability and use of inclusive education materials in schools, and further support the development of experts on inclusive education pedagogy. Based on the findings of the study, recommendations will be made to MOGE. Additionally, the project will support capacity building. The award is aimed at education administrators and helps guide schools on planning, managing, monitoring and evaluating inclusive education, and raising community awareness. Award: $250,000.
Results and implications will be updated as they become available.
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event
1. COSP11 Side Session – Equity and Inclusion in Education for Children with Disabilities
The program supported a side event on equity and inclusion in education at the 11th Conference of the Parties to the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (COSP11). The session focused on supporting effective solutions at the global and national levels to promote inclusion of children with disabilities and improve their participation, achievement, and learning in education. In addition to the World Bank and USAID, the event was co-sponsored by UNICEF, DFID, and Leonard Cheshire. The Minister of Gender, Children, and Social Security of the Republic of Ghana was the keynote speaker.
2. Technical Learning Series on Inclusive Education in Africa
The Disability-Inclusive Education Technical Training Series in Africa, organized by the World Bank in collaboration with UNICEF and the United States Agency for International Development, brought together representatives from development partners and Ministries of Education from 12 countries in the African region, including Kenya, Tanzania, Malawi, Mali, Rwanda, Ethiopia, Gambia, Ghana, Lesotho, Liberia, Uganda, and Zambia. The series consisted of three webinars followed by a three-day in-person workshop held in Nairobi, Kenya, from October 23 to 25, 2018. The technical training series helped to increase knowledge on effective disability-inclusive education policies, plans, and practices among donors, governments, and civil society in Africa, facilitating regional sharing, collaboration, and capacity building.
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