This project builds the capacity of organisations of persons with disabilities to become advocates for inclusive education.

Inclusive education supports the inclusion in quality education of all learners, with and without disabilities. It involves an on-going dialogue between various actors in society about the best solutions for eliminating barriers to learning. Inclusive education is often wrongly assumed to be only about education for learners with disabilities. Ironically, organisations of persons with disabilities (OPDs) are not always strong advocates of inclusive education.

OPDs have an important role to play in inclusive education dialogue and their voices should be heard for several reasons, including:

  • OPD members have direct experience with the education barriers facing learners with disabilities, and can help find solutions.
  • OPDs can collaborate with schools to pinpoint gaps, and can lobby national authorities for changes to policy, plans and budgets.
  • OPDs can actively mobilise parents’ support for inclusive education.

OPDs need knowledge on inclusive education and a clear vision for the education system’s future so they can engage effectively with schools and education authorities.

As part of the Together for Inclusion (TOFI) programme in Uganda, EENET is supporting Norwegian Association of Disabled (NAD) and National Union of Disabled Persons of Uganda (NUDIPU) to improve OPDs’ knowledge and understanding of inclusive education, so they can:

  • actively support school inclusion and monitor progress;
  • develop evidence-based policy advice and guidelines to support advocacy at different levels;
  • develop a strategic awareness-raising approach for inclusive education.

Read more about how we are doing this.