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The international symposium "Ensuring the right to quality inclusive education for persons with disabilities: From commitment to action", co-organized by UNESCO, the Leonard Cheshire, and the Ministry of Education of Portugal brought together a wide range of stakeholders across the globe to discuss progress, successes achieved and challenges to ensure full participation and access to quality learning opportunities for all learners.

The symposium aims were to:

• review persisting, as well as new challenges, due to the COVID-19 pandemic that are hindering the fulfilment of the right to inclusive education for learners with disabilities.
• facilitate the exchange of experiences on factors influencing successful inclusive policies and practices for learners with disabilities and strengthen dialogue and cooperation amongst stakeholders at policy and practice levels.
• explore how the inclusion of learners with disabilities in inclusive settings can be more effectively addressed by governments with regards to the commitments of Article 24 of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD), the CRPD General Comment 4 on article 24, and Sustainable Development 4 SDG 4, to ‘ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all.

The programme included:

Opening session - Accelerating efforts towards inclusive education for learners with disabilities. (Video recording: English - French - Spanish)

Session 1 - From legislation to inclusive practices: Re-designing policy frameworks, funding and monitoring arrangements across sectors for inclusive education for learners with disabilities. (Video recording: English - French - Spanish)

Session 2 - Revisiting the teaching and learning process to ensure access and participation of learners with disabilities.

Session 3 - Moving towards inclusive and safe learning environments, including by addressing violence and bullying against learners with disabilities.
 

Closing session - Rebuilding a Stronger Global Disability Inclusive Education System post COVID-19. (Video recording: English - French - Spanish)

This video series is part of the Making It Work initiative, “Access to employment for all in West Africa : let’s make it work”, which sets out good practice for inclusive employment of people with disabilities in West Africa, in line with CPRD Article 27 and makes recommendations for public and private employers, microfinance institutions, governments and their partners so that they become agents of change and commit themselves to inclusive policies promoting access to decent jobs for people with disabilities in West Africa. This part I video examines the “right to set up a micro-enterprise: how can microfinance institutions make it work? How do microfinance institutions give people with disabilities access to financial services to help them start or develop small businesses successfully?”

This video series is part of the Making It Work initiative, “Access to employment for all in West Africa : let’s make it work”, which sets out good practice for inclusive employment of people with disabilities in West Africa, in line with CPRD Article 27 and makes recommendations for public and private employers, microfinance institutions, governments and their partners so that they become agents of change and commit themselves to inclusive policies promoting access to decent jobs for people with disabilities in West Africa. This part III video examines the “right to work: how technical and financial partners can make it work? and how have technical and financial partners or investors contributed to the success of people with disabilities through access to decent jobs?”