Community outreach
Community outreach activities are vital to identify children with disabilities and encourage families and caregivers to enrol them in regular schools. In our inclusive early childhood development and education (ECDE) programme in Kenya, our partner OPDs in Homa Bay and Turkana County led community outreach activities to change the attitudes of parents, teachers and communities, who previously thought children with disabilities had no place in mainstream education and should stay at home. This resulted in 600 children with disabilities (living in varied settings, from rural homes to a refugee camp) being able to access inclusive early education.
Peer-to-peer support for parents
In our Support Mainstreaming Inclusion so all Learn Equally (SMILE) programme in northern Nigeria, our OPD partners produced a parent support guide to give parents of children with disabilities information about how to support their children’s education and where they can go to access available medical and social support services. As a result of this, and thanks to efforts to raise awareness of the importance of inclusive education within communities, 280 children with disabilities were enrolled in eight Kaduna state primary schools, significantly exceeding the number envisaged at the beginning of the project.
Accessibility guidance
Across our education programmes, OPD partners have guided teachers, school-based management committees and teacher-parent associations on how they can make learning accessible for children with different disabilities. In our Education for All programme in Bangladesh, our OPD partners are carrying out accessibility audits and helping to complete school improvement plans at 45 project schools in the Narshingdi and Sirajganj districts, to make them more inclusive and accessible for children with disabilities.
Strengthening local systems
A key objective of our education programmes is to improve national systems so they become more inclusive of children with disabilities. This involves working with our OPD partners to identify and strengthen any knowledge, resource or skills gaps, and supporting them to work alongside education officials in government committees to influence how policies on inclusive education are made and implemented at a local and national level. In Kenya, our local OPD partner has been able to successfully advocate for inclusive education provision to be included in county development plans and budgets.
Even when our projects have come to an end, our OPD partners will continue to work with local government authorities to ensure children with disabilities get the support they need to access good quality education.
