Webinar: Gender and disability - Findings from the Girls’ Education Challenge
A blind student at Sebeta School for the Blind checks her answers after taking a geography exam; Sebeta, Oromia, Ethiopia. June 2019. Credit: GPE/Kelley Lynch

The Girls’ Education Challenge (GEC) is the largest global fund dedicated to girls’ education. It was launched by the UK Department for International Development (DFID) in 2012 as part of a 12-year commitment to reach the most marginalized girls in the world. One of its key components is the collection of data for project monitoring and evaluation that also provides wider insights into educational access, learning and inequalities. GEC works in many countries that have made pledges on making education more inclusive for children with disabilities.

This webinar looked at how data can drive disability inclusion in these countries, drawing on experiences from GEC projects including in Kenya and Zimbabwe. The projects have used the work of the Washington Group on Disability Statistics, a group established by the UN to address the need for better measures of disability.

The session explored lessons being learned on the value of data, disaggregated by disability, on learning outcomes and school attendance for marginalized groups of girls. It considered the types of technical input that programs need to address disability inclusion, and how better data using the Washington Group questions can stimulate this process.

MODERATOR: Stuart Cameron, Equity and Inclusion Thematic Lead, GPE Secretariat.

PRESENTERS:

  • Lorraine Wapling, Senior Disability expert, GEC & Equal International
  • Eng. Mike Mutungi, Founder and Chief Executive Officer, I Choose Life, Kenya
  • Mbuso Jama, Senior Impact Adviser, World Vision UK
  • Teresa de Sousa, Improving Gender Attitude Transition Education (IGATE) Program Manager, World Vision UK

DISCUSSANTS:

  • Dan Mont, Co-President of the Center for Inclusive Policy
  • Fredrick Haga, Acting Director, Special Needs Education, Ministry of Education, Kenya
  • Ian Attfield, Senior Education Adviser, South Asia, DfID

Watch a recording of the webinar.

Access the presentations and summary note.

A blind student at Sebeta School for the Blind checks her answers after taking a geography exam; Sebeta, Oromia, Ethiopia. June 2019. Credit: GPE/Kelley Lynch