All Handicap International’s education projects are developed and implemented in collaboration with local and national education partners. These partners are typically children with disabilities and their families, local community leaders and groups, local education authorities, the ministries of education, social affairs and health, and Disabled Peoples Organisations.
Before beginning any education project, Handicap International works alongside education partners to carry out a base line survey about education in that country. The information from the survey will tell us about the current education situation in the country, the education provision for children with disabilties, and the challenges faced by disabled learners to access quality and relevant education. The survey also looks at the roles, responsibilities and current activities of the different education partners, including international non-governmental organisations and donors to ensure that our future work is collaborative and complementary.
© C. Smets / Luna for Handicap International
Once this general information about education in the country has been gathered Handicap International takes part in a series of workshops with partners. These workshops take place at local and national levels. The workshop facilitators are skilled in ensuring that everybody has an opportunity to join in the discussions. This can mean making sure a Sign Language interpreter is available, or that the language used is ‘jargon free’! With the ultimate objective being the inclusion in education for children with disabilities, these participatory workshops offer individuals and groups the opportunity to voice their concerns and offer suggestions on how to reach this shared goal of inclusion. During some of the workshops the participants will review the broader country education policies and goals. This is very important as all of Handicap International’s work must take place within the existing education system and infrastructure to make sure it is sustainable in the longer time.
The next stage is to collect together the information from the survey and the workshops and compile it into a working document for all to use. The work from this document is also used to obtain funding for our education work. We receive money from both private and institutional donors for our education work.
Our Education Teams
The majority of the work we do in any given education project is carried out by the partners themselves and not by Handicap International staff. This approach aims to build the capacity of the education partners in that country to ensure that the work can be continued over time and that it is not restricted to the project life cycle, which is typically three to four years.
Broadly speaking, Handicap International education teams are comprised of a project manager, an assistant project manager or technical advisor, up to 10 field staff and a communications assistant. All education projects are supported by Handicap International’s inclusive education advisors.
