Inclusive education in Southern Africa: the SA-IEP programme
Education is the foundation for everything else. SA-IEP makes education systems across the SADC region truly accessible, not just on paper but in classrooms, curricula and budgets.
Inclusive education in Southern Africa is still out of reach for millions of learners with disabilities. Education systems were not built with them in mind. Schools are physically inaccessible. Teachers lack training. Assistive technology is scarce. Where inclusive education policies exist, they rarely come with the budgets or oversight to make them work.
SA-IEP is one of our programmes. It works with our national affiliates across the SADC region.
Barriers to inclusive education
- Inaccessible school buildings.
- Untrained teachers.
- No assistive technology.
- Policies without budgets.
Flagship initiative for inclusive education in Southern Africa
Regional Inclusive ECDE Strategy Framework
SAFOD developed a draft Regional Inclusive Early Childhood Development and Education (ECDE) Strategy Framework. It guides the SADC Secretariat, member states and other stakeholders on making early childhood education available to all and truly inclusive across the region.
SAFOD sent a proposal to the Open Society Initiative for Southern Africa (OSISA). It would support advocacy for the adoption and use of this strategy in six countries, through a three-way partnership. Read more in our regional inclusive ECDE campaign and our ECDE project.
- SAFOD
- TRANAC
- AfECN
- 6 countries
Inclusive education in action
2022 Regional Roundtable Forum
Inclusive education was a core theme at SAFOD's 2022 Regional Disability Roundtable Forum in Johannesburg. MIET Africa and AfECN joined to assess progress and share evidence. They also named what governments must do differently to close the gap between policy and classroom reality.
#InclusiveYoungVoices
Youth Ambassadors in five countries were trained to speak up for their right to inclusive, quality education. They challenge the systems that exclude them. Education was a core theme of the project in Botswana, Namibia, Mozambique, Zambia and Malawi.
Related work to inclusive education in Southern Africa
Education cannot be the last sector to include persons with disabilities. SA-IEP makes the case that it must be one of the first, and that the investment needed is not charity but obligation.