April 5 Virtual Launch Event: USAID's Guidance for Promoting Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility in Educational Materials

Wednesday, April 5
10am-11:00am EST

The Basic Education Coalition is honored to host the virtual launch of USAID's Guidance for Promoting Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility in Educational Materials. 

This guidance equips development workers to identify and create educational materials that promote equity and inclusion across the education continuum, from pre-primary through higher education, and within the populations they seek to serve.

What is promotion of equity and inclusion in educational materials, and why is it important?
Responsible and effective promotion of equity and inclusion in educational materials means:

  • Understanding the context in which the materials will be received, particularly demographic composition and intergroup relations;

  • Understanding the interactions between interventions within a given context and how such interactions are affected by group relations; and

  • Acting upon the understanding of these interactions to minimize negative impacts and maximize positive impacts of educational materials, to empower marginalized groups.

Educational materials that do not promote equity and inclusion can worsen marginalization. For example, if children or youth from one group have less access to requisite technology for distance learning materials, or if materials use derogatory slang terms to describe a marginalized group, those materials will reinforce systemic exclusion.

The event will also launch an exciting new Universal Design for Learning video by the Basic Education Coalition's Gender & Social Inclusion working group.

BEC Welcomes Opportunity International as a New Board-Level Member!

Welcome to BEC!

Opportunity International (Opportunity) is a global non-governmental organization based in Chicago, USA. Founded in 1971, Opportunity designs, delivers, and scales innovative financial solutions that help families living in extreme poverty build sustainable livelihoods and access quality education for their children. Opportunity equips families with the tools and training they need to build their businesses, send their children to school, provide for their families, and break the cycle of poverty. In 2021, Opportunity reached 18.7 million clients, 97 per cent of whom are women, through 104 partners, facilitating loans worth $2 billion.

Launched in in 2009, Opportunity International’s Education Finance initiative (EduFinance) is the global leader in unlocking private capital in the affordable private education sector today. The goal of EduFinance is to help accelerate an end to the global education crisis of 619 million children and youth either out of school or in school but not learning. Opportunity’s approach helps more kids go to school and stay in school, while systemically improving the quality of education schools provide. This work is accomplished much faster and more effectively by investing in local parents and educators who, impatient with waiting for their local public schools to improve, build their own affordable private schools to provide the quality education they envision for their children. To date Opportunity has established EduFinance portfolios in 30 countries in Africa, Asia, Latin America, enabling the investment of $564 million to 15,000 schools through 134 banks and financial services companies cumulatively.

Opportunity’s model uses catalytic capital to leverage investment from local financial institutions into low cost schools in emerging markets. Opportunity provides expert technical assistance to socially-focused financial institutions that are committed to the shared goal of access to education for all. Opportunity supports them to develop, launch and grow sustainable education lending portfolios through the provision of training and support in market research,  financial product design for school improvement and school fees, staff training, and access to a suite of proprietary back office systems improvement.

Opportunity enrolls affordable private schools in a development program to improve the quality of education children receive and foster an enabling environment for learning. Through training to teachers and administrators, accompanied by mentoring of teachers and classroom staff, the program builds the human capacities to run more sustainable institutions and offer higher quality of instruction to students. Opportunity also assists school leaders to assess key education quality metrics within their schools and then assists them to develop and implement plans to increase their performance in their areas of priority.

The combination of increased access to finance to invest in schools and the coaching, mentoring and, internal assessment and improvement together lead to creating the conditions where more children can learn and thrive. Looking ahead, Opportunity has set an ambitious goal to accelerate the growth and adoption of this model in order to reach a cumulative 19.3 million children and youth in at least 30 low- and middle-income countries by the end of 2025.

Visit the Opportunity International and Opportunity EduFinance websites to learn more:

www.opportunity.org

www.edufinance.org

BEC Welcomes Inclusive Development Partners as a New Member!

Welcome to BEC!

Inclusive Development Partners (IDP) is a unique, woman-owned small business that leverages unparalleled expertise in the field of inclusive development to achieve policies, practices, and programs in corporate, governmental, and civil society sectors that ensure international development, humanitarian aid, and government services reach all members of society.

IDP’s transdisciplinary team uses a scholar-practitioner model to translate research to practice in more than 20 countries, on behalf of a multitude of diverse stakeholders. IDP has extensive technical expertise in a wide range of issues related to inclusive education, including teacher professional development, policy, systems change, Universal Design for Learning (UDL), policies and programs for individuals with diverse disabilities, parent engagement, monitoring and evaluation, and capacity building of diverse actors including educators, government officials, and DPOs.

IDP also recognizes and values the importance of engaging local actors as active participants and contributors to policies, programs, and research and evaluation. Partnering with local individuals and organizations is critical, as it affirms and honors the lived experiences, cultural intricacies, and social and political capital of all citizens, especially those with disabilities.

IDP ensures that all individuals, including persons with disabilities, have access to quality education. A sample of IDP’s work includes:

  • Conducting the USAID-funded Multi-Country Study on Inclusive Education (MCSIE), a four-year evaluation of USAID inclusive education activities in Cambodia, Malawi, and Nepal.

  • Leading a USAID-funded review of inclusive education programming implemented and coordinated by USAID Missions in the Asia region (with assistance from RTI International, the prime) to identify any gaps or potential incentives to improving the education sector’s response to inclusion.

  • Working with UNICEF in Jamaica to conduct a situational study on school-to-work transition for youth with disabilities and developing a detailed manual to guide Jamaican educators in leading the process of school-to-work transitions for students with disabilities nationally.

  • Serving as a subcontractor under RTI International on the USAID-funded Transforming the Education System for Teachers and Students in Liberia (TESTS), where IDP supports eight teacher training institutions (TTIs) assess and improve the extent to which their teacher preparation programs are supportive of women and persons with disabilities.

  • Supporting the Education Commission’s Innovative Pedagogies project, funded by the LEGO Foundation, by serving as the technical expert on inclusive pedagogies and developing an inclusive pedagogical framework for countries to evaluate their strengths and gaps.

  • Developing a Universally Designed Assessments (UDA) toolkit for the World Bank, as well as piloting an accessible early grade math assessment (EGMA) in Tajikistan.

Visit IDP’s website to learn more: https://www.inclusivedevpartners.com/

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Don't Miss BEC Member Presentations at CIES!

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The 2023 CIES program is chock-full of excellent BEC member presentations, during which they’ll share their technical expertise in areas such as Anti-Racism, Diversity, and Inclusion; Early Childhood Education; Education Technology; Gender & Social Inclusion; Monitoring, Evaluation, Research, & Learning; and more.

Click here or on the below image for the full program of BEC member presentations.

We look forward to seeing you there!

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This Week! Don't Miss BEC Members VIRTUAL Presentations at CIES

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The 2023 CIES program is chock-full of excellent BEC member presentations, during which they’ll share their technical expertise in areas such as Anti-Racism, Diversity, and Inclusion; Early Childhood Education; Education Technology; Gender & Social Inclusion; Monitoring, Evaluation, Research, & Learning; and more.

Click here or on the below image for the full program of VIRTUAL BEC member presentations.

BEC Welcomes Sightsavers as a New Member!

Welcome to BEC!

Sightsavers’ vision is a world where no one is blind from avoidable causes and where people with disabilities can participate equally in society. We work in more than 30 countries worldwide across five thematic areas to deliver our overarching vision: inclusive education, eye health, refractive error, social inclusion and neglected tropical diseases.


Our work in inclusive education

There are an estimated 240 million children with disabilities around the world, and almost 29 million of these children live in Africa. We believe that every child has the right to a quality, inclusive education. By working with governments, policy makers and partners, we commit to remove the barriers currently faced by people with disabilities to make sure no child is left behind. Every girl and boy should be able to experience the transformative power of education and be able to fulfil their dreams. Our work is guided by the principle to ‘leave no one behind’ and driven by a systems approach, as articulated in our inclusive education strategy. We are committed to supporting governments in lower income countries in their efforts to achieve SGD 4 and embed disability inclusion into their national education plans and programmes. We also partner with organisations of people with disabilities across sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia to ensure people with disabilities have a meaningful say in education decision-making. We acknowledge that transforming education is a collective effort and we’re dedicated to actively contributing to the global and national movements working to achieve Sustainable Development Goal 4 on education, which is not possible without addressing barriers for inclusion.

We promote inclusive education, with three overarching goals: to increase the capacity of schools and communities to provide inclusive education; to increase the capacity of ministries of education to support schools and communities to deliver inclusive education; and to strengthen policy frameworks, education sector plans and donor/ country commitments to promote inclusive education.

For example, in Senegal and Nigeria, we’re training teachers to support children with disabilities in their classrooms, and during the school closures caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, we supported teachers, parents and pupils to learn remotely with accessible technologies. In Malawi, our early learning centres teach all children together so that children with disabilities can learn alongside their peers. In Uganda and Pakistan, we support the government to develop inclusive education modules for their teacher training colleges and we have supported the Ministries of Education in Sierra Leone and Liberia in the formulation of their new education sector plans. We support efforts in Mali and Pakistan to make assessments accessible for children with sensory impairments. Sightsavers regularly calls on governments and institutions to fund education efficiently and equitably at global forums such as the Transforming Education Summit and the Global Disability Summit.


Visit Sightsavers’ website to find out more.

BEC Welcomes Global Childhood Academy (GCA) as a New Member!

Welcome to BEC!

Global Childhood Academy (GCA) is a for-profit corporation based in Washington, DC, dedicated to impacting childhood worldwide. GCA is a multilingual edTech platform with a mission to upskill educators and other professionals serving children under the age of 9. 

GCA is a learning management system (LMS) customized by educators to support training providers, NGOs, and organizations involved in training, credentialing, and upskilling educators, social workers, police officers, health professionals, policymakers, and other professionals serving children. 

GCA is different from any other LMS because we provide two primary benefits to our clients. First, our LMS clients receive comprehensive support uploading, managing, and monitoring their synchronous and asynchronous learning events. We know how hard it can be for an organization to stay up-to-date with global trends for digital e-learning transformation, winning back lapsed learners and increasing digital learner engagement. That’s why GCA’s support services allow our clients to focus on their program while we handle all the rest. We provide a white-labeled version of our LMS for our clients so that they can launch their courses in under 30 days.

The second powerful benefit is that GCA allows clients to partner with other providers on the platform. GCA makes it easy for clients to share their educational resources safely and securely with other training providers worldwide. Streamlining global partnerships helps our clients grow into new markets and regions by partnering with previously vetted and dedicated providers. Being part of the GCA platform allows you to quickly launch your learning events and choose from quality content created by our other partners. 

Currently, GCA’s clients include Arabian Child Corporation, Housman Institute, Amnesty International, Zeal Education Group, Bright Start Foundation, Voice of the Child Association, Empowering Communities Global, CUPID Consortium, and many other organizations serving children around the world. 

Visit the Global Childhood Academy website for more information: http://globalchildhoodacademy.com/

Create a Free Account on the GCA platform to browse hundreds of vetted courses and learning resources for early educators, social workers, police officers, health professionals, early education leaders, and other professionals serving children. 

For information on how to partner with GCA, contact: info@globalchildhoodacademy.com

Don't Miss the Latest BEC Newsletter!

Check your inbox for our newsletter! It's full of news, resources, and highlights from members and partners such as @LinkEducationUK, @IREXintl, @WorldEd, @luminos, @1977Creative, @AIRInforms, @food4thehungry, @worldreaders, @USAIDEducation, @cies_us, and more.

Read the newsletter here or by clicking on the image below.

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BEC hires Kitty Close as new Director of Government Relations!

Kitty is a passionate foreign and development policy professional with over five years of experience working on Capitol Hill. She previously served as Foreign Policy Advisor to Congresswoman Lois Frankel (FL-21), a Member of Congress on the House Appropriations Committee and State and Foreign Operations Subcommittee, where she advised the Member on issues ranging from advancing access to basic education around the world to women’s economic empowerment, maternal and child health, and more. Prior to that, Kitty worked for a senior member on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, where she specialized on regional and issue specific portfolios, including the Western Hemisphere, South and Central Asia, East Asia and the Pacific, global health, human rights, and global women’s issues. Kitty has a master’s degree in U.S. Foreign Policy and National Security from American University and a BA from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She looks forward to working with BEC (alongside colleagues on Capitol Hill, from USAID, and in the Administration) to continue advocating for international basic education.

BEC members can reach Kitty Close at kclose@basiced.org.

BEC Welcomes Link Education International as a New Member!

Welcome to BEC!

Link Education is a UK-based international education not-for-profit, working to improve the futures of children and youth living in some of the most marginalised communities in the world. Link has over 30 years of experience supporting governments, schools and communities in Ethiopia, Malawi, Rwanda and Uganda.

Link brings hope to vulnerable communities, helping them to become more resilient and escape the cycle of poverty. Link focuses on raising standards of teaching and learning in schools, as well as building life skills and promoting inclusion for the most marginalised.

Link has a vision of a world where all children have access to good quality education, giving them a strong foundation to build a brighter future. Taking a top-down and bottom-up approach to transform education, Link supports broad system and school-wide improvements while recognising the need for more tailored, localised support to overcome specific challenges.

Across the countries of operation, Link’s programmes are consistent with national priorities, the African Charter 2063 and the Sustainable Development Goals. Link’s five strategic goals focus efforts on system strengthening, education in emergencies, building resilience to climate change, sustainability and advocacy. Cross-cutting factors including gender, inclusion, safeguarding and wellbeing are embedded across all Link’s programming.

Link’s work includes:  

·       Leadership training in mentorship, inclusive and climate resilient School Improvement Planning (SIP) development, and supporting Communities of Practice

·       Teacher training in numeracy, local language literacy, and improved gender, inclusive, and social and emotional pedagogical practices.

·       Community awareness raising in SIP roles and responsibilities, SIP monitoring, child protection and safeguarding.

·       Middle tier capacity strengthening via training, inclusion in activity monitoring for adaptive management, and data collection and analysis for greater accountability and advocacy.

·       Support to learners in lifeskills, vocational opportunities, accelerated learning, catch up classes, and improved resources.

A range of approach papers, which briefly explain Link’s models of working, can be found here.

Link is an agile organisation, innovative in programming and structure, and welcomes partnerships and joint implementation. Link takes a proactive approach, and develops creative and holistic solutions to education system challenges e.g. developing a sport for change programme integrating netball skills with sexual reproductive health and rights, and working with school management committees to create checklists that make monitoring school improvement plans easier.  

Link works through local partners so activities are contextual and operate through government structures, making the work both sustainable and scalable. An emphasis on capacity strengthening and shared learning ensures that Link’s excellent work can be replicated and have a lasting impact.

Visit Link Education’s website to learn more:

Website - https://linkeducation.org.uk/

Principles of working - https://linkeducation.org.uk/strategy-and-vision/

Impact -  https://linkeducation.org.uk/our-impact/

Banner photo: Room to Read