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The 2020 GEM Report assesses progress towards Sustainable Development Goal 4 (SDG 4) on education and its ten targets, as well as other related education targets in the SDG agenda. The Report also addresses inclusion in education, drawing attention to all those excluded from education, because of background or ability. The Report is motivated by the explicit reference to inclusion in the 2015 Incheon Declaration, and the call to ensure an inclusive and equitable quality education in the formulation of SDG 4, the global goal for education. It reminds us that, no matter what argument may be built to the contrary, we have a moral imperative to ensure every child has a right to an appropriate education of high quality.

The Report also explores the challenges holding us back from achieving this vision and demonstrates concrete policy examples from countries managing to tackle them with success. These include differing understandings of the word inclusion, lack of teacher support, absence of data on those excluded from education, inappropriate infrastructure, persistence of parallel systems and special schools, lack of political will and community support, untargeted finance, uncoordinated governance, multiple but inconsistent laws, and policies that are not being followed through.

There is great variation across countries regarding the rehabilitation needs of the population, characteristics of the health system and the challenges that face rehabilitation. For this reason, it is important for each country to identify their own priorities and develop a rehabilitation strategic plan. A rehabilitation strategic plan should seek to increase the accessibility, quality and outcomes of rehabilitation.

To assist countries to develop a comprehensive, coherent and beneficial strategic plan, WHO has developed Rehabilitation in health systems: guide for action. This resource leads governments through a four-phase process of (1) situation assessment; (2) strategic planning; (3) development of monitoring, evaluation and review processes; and (4) implementation of the strategic plan. This process utilizes health system strengthening practices with a focus on rehabilitation.

The Rehabilitation in health systems: guide for action provides practical help that directs governments through the four phases and twelve steps. The process can take place at national or subnational level. Typically phases 1 to 3 occur over a 12-month period, while phase 4 occurs over the period of the strategic plan, around 5 years. The four phases and accompanying guidance are outlined below

The process of developing an expert guided indicator framework to assess governments’ efforts and progress in strengthening rehabilitation in line with the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities is described.  A systems methodology - concept mapping - was used to capture, aggregate and confirm the knowledge of diverse stakeholders on measures thought to be useful for monitoring the implementation of the Convention with respect to health related rehabilitation. Fifty-six individuals generated a list of 107 indicators through online brainstorming which were subsequently sorted by 37 experts from the original panel into non overlapping categories. Forty-one participants rated the indicators for importance and feasibility. Multivariate statistical techniques where used to explore patterns and themes in the data and create the indicators’ organizing framework which was verified and interpreted by a select number of participants.

Globalization and Health (2018) 14:96
https://doi.org/10.1186/s12992-018-0410-5

In support of the run-up to the 2020 GEM Report on inclusion and education, this paper contains summarised content related to disabilities and education in previous Global Education Monitoring (GEM) Reports since 2010. Reports cited from 2010 and 2015 monitored countries in the Global South. The GEM Report started monitoring countries in the Global North from the 2016 Report onwards only.

Topics covered include: compliance monitoring; the role of civil society organisations; lack of data; marginalisation; data on primary school attendance; intersection with other disadvantages; different education related challenges; and ten education policies to counteract marginalisation.

This guide is intended to support countries in embedding inclusion and equity in educational policy. It supports Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 4 on education calls for inclusive and equitable quality education and lifelong learning opportunities for all by 2030. The guide is intended for use primarily by key government education policy-makers working with key stakeholders. The guide provides an assessment framework that can serve to: review how well equity and inclusion currently figure in existing policies; decide which actions are needed to improve policies and their implementation towards equitable and inclusive education systems; and monitor progress. The guide includes evidence that informs the assessment framework, examples of initiatives that are contributing to more inclusive and equitable education systems in different parts of the world, and recommendations for further reading. 

Within the Stakeholder Group of Persons with Disabilities, a working group was created on the Voluntary National Reviews (VNRs) aimed at raising awareness among Organisations of Persons with Disabilities (DPOs) to engage with their governments in the national consultation processes on SDG implementation, with particular focus on the 2017 44 volunteering countries. The VNR working group are compiling an outcome document reflecting the work that DPOs carried out at the national, regional and global levels. A comprehensive report – called the Global Report on DPO Participation in VNR Processes – will be issued in draft form prior to the HLPF and will be updated afterward with concrete findings. 

The report will showcase the national level DPO work carried out in different regions as well as best practices and challenges, and will serve as a case study for Member States. It will additionally be useful for DPOs as a model to engage with their government. The case study will feature the volunteering countries of Denmark, Italy, Sweden, Nigeria, Togo, Kenya, Ethiopia, Argentina, El Salvador, Peru, Guatemala, Indonesia, Bangladesh, India and Jordan.

This is a report of the  Expert Group Meeting on Voluntary National Reviews for the HLPF on 15-16 December 2016 at United Nations Headquarters in New York, USA. 

The report presents an analysis that begins to systematically quantify the scale of the challenge that the world has set itself with the Sustainable Development Goals for the first time.  The authors selected one target per goal – a total of 17 – and projected forward to 2030, grading them from A-F according to how near they will be to completion in 2030. This was based on available projections of current trends sourced from leading institutions, alongside our own where there were gaps. The resulting scorecard shows that unless significant changes are made, none of the SDGs will be met

This paper seeks to develop a study protocol that can assess and improve the provision of rehabilitation services for people with disabilities across the world. The research targets a knowledge gap that exists whereby there are no indicators to reliable identify the performance of rehabilitation systems and monitoring technologies. The paper provides a detailed analysis of the issue before outlining and justifying a choice of methods for data collection and analysis, and the likely impact and use of the study results

BMC International Health and Human Rights, 15:25