Promoting quality education for all.

January 20, 2021 -- 

Summary of Global Disability Summit: Inclusive Education Thematic Workshop

In advance of the 2022 Global Disability Summit, global partners organized the Global Disability Summit: Inclusive Education Thematic Workshop on January 20, 2022, which recognized the numerous barriers to education for learners with disabilities. The workshop highlighted the strategies that world leaders, policymakers, international organizations, civil society organizations, funders, and other advocates are taking to ensure inclusive quality education for all, including learners with disabilities.

The speakers emphasized that the COVID-19 pandemic has significantly revealed and exacerbated systemic inequities in education access for learners with disabilities, particularly for the most marginalized groups, including displaced children and youth in emergency, crisis, and refugee settings. Presenters from around the world shared ideas to accelerate progress and overcome challenges including a lack of awareness surrounding disabilities; limited funding and capacity for implementing inclusive curricula; and a lack of training for learners with disabilities, their parents, and educators.

We are committed to advancing quality, inclusive education for all, including all learners with disabilities, and look forward to the 2022 Global Disability Summit.

To watch the recording of the Global Disability Summit Inclusive Education Thematic Workshop, please click here. Event materials are located here.

The speakers of the event included:

  • Refaat Sabbah, President of Global Campaign for Education
  • Sue Swenson, Board Treasurer for International Disability Alliance
  • Linda Etim, Special Assistance to the President and Senior Director for Development, Global Health, and Humanitarian Response, National Security Council, USA
  • Josh Josa, Disability Inclusive Education Specialist, USAID
  • Alexander Bankole Williams, Advocacy Chair, Ghana Defederation of Disability Organizations
  • Penny Innes, Head of Disability Inclusion Team, Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office, UK
  • Dr. Magreth Matonya, Director of Inclusive Education, Tanzania Ministry of Education, Science, and Technology
  • Alexander Matei, World Vision Syria Response, Advocacy, and Communications Director
  • Charlotte McClain-Nhlapo, Global Disability Advisor, World Bank Group
  • Khansa Maria, MPhil in Development Studies Candidate and Rhodes Scholar from Pakistan, University of Oxford
  • Jaime Cruz Juscamaita, Self-Advocate (Peru), Inclusion International/Empower Us
  • Dr. Ernestine NGO MELHA, Founder and Executive Director, Association d’Aide à l’Education de l’Enfant Handicapé (AAEEH)
  • Dragana Ciric Milovanovic, Director, European Regional Office, Disability Rights International
  • Jennifer Rigg, Executive Director, GCE-US and Co-Chair, Inclusive Education & Early Childhood Community of Practice

Thank you to the global partners and co-sponsors who made this event possible, including:

  • Association d'Aide à l'Education de l'Enfant Handicapé (AAEEH)
  • Catholic Relief Services (CRS)
  • CBM
  • Civil Society Action Coalition on Education for All (CSACEFA)
  • Disability Rights Fund & Disability Rights Advocacy Fund
  • Disability Rights International
  • Education Cannot Wait
  • Education for All Coalition
  • Ghana Federation of Disability Organisations (GFD)
  • Global Campaign for Education
  • Global Campaign for Education-US
  • Global Disability Summit
  • Global Education Monitoring Report
  • Humanity & Inclusion
  • Inclusion International
  • International Disability Alliance
  • International Disability and Development Consortium (IDDC)
  • Keystone Human Services International
  • Leonard Cheshire
  • Norwegian Association of the Blind and Partially Sighted (NABP)
  • Partnership for Early Childhood Development & Disability Rights (PECDDR)
  • PDRC International
  • Salzburg Global Seminar
  • Save the Children
  • The Action Foundation
  • The World Bank
  • UNESCO International Institute for Educational Planning
  • UNICEF
  • USAID
  • World Vision

We encourage everyone to register for the Global Disability Summit in February 2022 here!