Education’s missing millions: including disabled children in education through EFA FTI processes and national sector plans

This study focuses on how the Education for All Fast Track Initiative (FTI) Partnership is tackling the challenges of disability and inclusion. Its purpose is to assess the disability responsiveness of FTI processes and education sector plans thus far; formulate recommendations to strengthen current processes, tools and partnership mechanisms; and identify new opportunities through which the FTI can better address the issue of disability and education.

The study reviews the FTI endorsement guidelines and processes with reference to disability and inclusion, including donor assessments of plans and analyses the 28 country education sector plans endorsed by the FTI between 2002 and 2006.  The report also provides two detailed country case studies on Ethiopia and Cambodia.  A review of policy and practice in other selected countries, some of which are now preparing for FTI endorsement, is also presented.

The study also looks at the extent to which the FTI Education Program Development Fund (EPDF) has
focused on disability and inclusion and at donor perspectives and harmonisation in relation to disability
and inclusion. In reviewing country plans, the study took as its starting point that plans should meet several criterion.   It was found that no country met all the above criteria.This was expected given the many other challenges countries face to improve education services. A number of FTI-endorsed countries, particularly those which are approaching universal primary education, do now have education sector plans which address the inclusion of disabled children. However, in a number of countries, policies and provision for disabled children remain cursory or have not been implemented.

This report recommends that the FTI Partnership play a greater role in catalysing increased responsiveness to disability by:

• promoting policy dialogue and promising practice within the Partnership, with both partner countries and donors
• acting as a policy ‘champion’ for inclusion, advocating the critical importance of the participation of disabled children to the achievement of UPC, in order to increase both political and funding commitments to ensuring their inclusion

The report also makes a number of recommendations for how the FTI could help to close gaps in data, policy, capacity and financing.