Who we work with

Placing the child at the heart of our education activities

Handicap International believes that the most important person in the journey towards inclusion in education is the child.

© J.Clark for Handicap International

The child is at the heart of our work and is surrounded by key people, both in their family and community, who are the most influential in terms of contributing to their educational success.

Whilst the institutional actors (authorities) have a key role in bringing about change in policy and practice, it is the people at the grass roots level (families and communities) who are best placed to make change happen and ensure its effectiveness.

We believe that:

• Disabled children should be empowered to make their voices heard and take an active role in their education
• Parents should be supported to understand the benefits of educating their disabled child.
• Community leaders should take responsibility for raising awareness and bringing about disability equality in education.
• Local organisations should draw from local positive experience to inform and train those working in education all levels.
• Local education authorities should work with parents to find ways of including all children in schools and non formal learning environments. These authorities can bring about change beyond the local level to regional and national levels.
• Ministries of education should be supported to develop education policies which are inclusive of disabled children.