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LEARNING MUST GO ON: Recommendations for keeping children safe and learning, during and after the COVID-19 crisis

April 2020

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This brief highlights some of the potential impacts of school closures (associated with the impact on the COVID-19 on children) with a focus on the most marginalised, including those already living in crisis and conflict contexts. It provides recommendations for governments and donors, together with partners, to ensure that safe, quality and inclusive learning reaches all children and that education systems are strengthened ready for the return to school

Including children with disabilities in preschool education. Experiences of Plan International Mozambique

PLAN INTERNATIONAL
August 2018

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Between 2015 and 2017, Plan International Mozambique worked together with communities supporting 106 preschools in rural Mozambique. In late 2016, an approach was piloted in 18 community-based preschools to support them to be disability-inclusive. The overall goal was to increase the number of children with disabilities enrolled in Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) centres delivering quality early learning opportunities. The pilot took place over a 12 month period. Summarised findings about the current status of inclusion in preschool programmes run by Plan International Mozambique, case studies and lessons learned about the inclusion of children with disabilities in these programmes are provided.  

 

They describe five aspects that need to be considered to remove barriers and ensure that children with disabilities can access and benefit from early childhood education:

1. Work directly with the parents of children with disabilities

2. Address individual physical and medical needs of children with disabilities

3. Build the skills and confidence of caretakers

4. Equip and build a strong implementing team

5. Build evidence on what is happening and what (doesn’t) work

Let me decide and thrive - Global discrimination and exclusion of girls and young women with disabilities

PLAN INTERNATIONAL
December 2017

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Girls and young women with disabilities have the right to make decisions over their own bodies and live free from violence and fear. Yet, on a global level, they are the people least likely to enjoy their sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR). Compelled by this reality, Plan International and the Office of the UN Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities have joined forces to ensure young women and girls with disabilities can exercise choice and have control over their bodies. The Let Me Decide and Thrive initiative is supported by in-depth, critical field and desk research and aims to empower girls and young women with disabilities, raise awareness of their plight among stakeholders, and work to secure their sexual and reproductive health and rights.

This research found that the barriers to SRHR confronted by girls and young women with disabilities are overwhelming: infantilisation and disempowerment; forced sterilisation, abortion, and contraception; disproportionate suffering from all forms of violence; substantial barriers in accessing justice; discriminatory attitudes, norms, and behaviours rendering them invisible; and a lack of accessible and appropriate SRHR information and services.

Guidelines for Consulting with Children & Young People with Disabilities

PLAN INTERNATIONAL
December 2016

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What is this document?

This document provides a guidance on the importance of consulting with children with disabilities. It provides practical suggestions for consulting with children and young people with disabilities in a variety of situations. It aims to equip individuals working on child rights with the knowledge and skills necessary to communicate with children with a variety of disabilities.

This document sets out tips and suggestions for the entire consultation process including: planning for the consultation, general considerations for consulting with children with disabilities, specific tips for communicating with children with different types of impairments, and some case study examples. 

Who is this document for?

This document is a guide for Plan and partner staff on how to work with children to ensure that children with disabilities are consulted with and heard in Plan programmes. This could include:

• Field staff

• Researchers and consultants

• Community leaders and members

• Government officials

• Facilitators and trainers

• School teachers

• Plan National Office and Country Office staff

These guidelines can be used in all contexts including at a national policy level, in communities, during development projects and in humanitarian settings.

Impact area overview: the right to inclusive quality education

PLAN INTERNATIONAL
July 2016

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A review by Plan International of their work in the area of inclusive education is presented. Rights associated with inclusive education, education targets in SDGs and global education intitatives and trends are outlined. Issues associated with inclusive education implementation and what needs to be done are discussed. The experience, standards, priorities and strategies and advocacy of Plan International are reported.

Early childhood development and child protection in emergencies

PLAN INTERNATIONAL
UNICEF
July 2016

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This purpose of this technical note is to support child protection in emergencies personnel to programme appropriately for 0 to 8-year-old children. It extends the basic content included in UNICEF’s Early Childhood Development in Emergencies: Integrated Programme Guide to help UNICEF staff and partners implement quality programmes in emergency settings. Preparedness key activities and response key activities are listed. Two case studies are presented: one from Uganda and the other from Syria.

Protect us! Inclusion of children with disabilities in child protection

Hannah Kuper
Morgon Banks
Susan Kelly
Nambusi Kyegombe
Karen Devries
June 2016

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Children with disabilities experience very high levels of violence, according to this research from Plan International and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. The new study carried out in Uganda and Malawi provides valuable insights into the lives of children with disabilities. Key findings include: 

- Girls and boys with disabilities experience extremely high levels of violence: 84% of children with disabilities surveyed reported having experienced some form of violence at school in the previous week.
- Girls with disabilities were more likely to report emotional and sexual violence than girls without disabilities.
- Children with disabilities find it difficult to access community-based child protection mechanisms, due to a range of barriers including environmental barriers, social barriers and institutional barriers.

This extremely important piece of research shows that if we don’t explicitly include, we exclude. In line with the aspiration of the Sustainable Development Goals to “leave no one behind” and with the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, we therefore call upon Plan International and all other development actors to work together to stop the widespread violence against boys and girls with disabilities, and take concrete steps to include them in child protection mechanisms.

Practice note : collecting and using data on disability to inform inclusive development

BUSH, Asahel
CARROLL, Aleisha
JAMES, Kathryn
July 2015

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This Practice Note provides guidance and tools for the collection and use of data and evidence on disability at a program level, to inform inclusive development practice and outcomes. It includes sections on why to collect information about disability; how to make mainstream data collection processes disability inclusive; planning for data collection throughout the project cycle; and methods and tools for collection of data to support disability inclusion

The document is the result of a collaboration between Plan International and the CBM Australia-Nossal Institute Partnership for Disability Inclusive Development. It was prepared in the context of growing interest among international development agencies in the disability inclusive practice, and the collection of evidence to underpin this. It draws on some of the experiences and learning arising from Plan’s work to strengthen disability inclusion within its development programs and the CBM-Nossal Partnership’s work to strengthen disability inclusion within the Australian development sector

Include us in education! : a qualitative research study on barriers and enablers to education for children with disabilities in Nepal

ZUURMOND, Maria
et al
December 2014

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A 2013 Plan study across 30 countries found that children with disabilities were on average 10 times less likely to go to school than children without disabilities. This report presents the findings of a follow-up second phase to the research with a qualitative study on barriers and enablers to education for children with disabilities in Nepal. The research looks at the experiences of 21 children aged 6 to 16 years (8 of them had dropped out of school while one had never been enrolled) through in-depth interviews conducted with 21 families (20 caregivers and 13 children), 9 key informant interviews, and visits to two special schools and one integrated school. The report presents the findings and makes recommendations for the way forward

Include us in education! : a qualitative research study on barriers and enablers to education for children with disabilities in Nepal : executive summary

December 2014

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A 2013 Plan study across 30 countries found that children with disabilities were on average 10 times less likely to go to school than children without disabilities. This executive summary report presents the findings of a follow-up second phase to the research with a qualitative study on barriers and enablers to education for children with disabilities in Nepal

Include us! : a study of disability among Plan International's sponsored children

PLAN INTERNATIONAL
MONTEAT-VAN DOCK, Adrienne
December 2013

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This study report reveals that children with disabilities in developing countries are being held back from an education. Based upon Plan’s dataset of 1.4 million sponsored children, the report compares sponsored children with a disability to those without, from 30 countries worldwide
Key findings include: children with disabilities are 10 times more likely not to attend school when they do attend school; their level of schooling is below that of their peers; and children with disabilities are much more likely to have had a serious illness in the last 12 months, including malaria and malnutrition. The findings will help Plan and other researchers and organisations to improve responses to the needs of children with disabilities, particularly their health and education

Child-centred DRR toolkit

FARAG, Phoebe
HAWRYLYSHYN, Kelly
2010

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This toolkit is designed to help people working for international, national and local non-government organisations working with children in supporting community-based disaster risk reduction work. The toolkit has four modules:

  1. Training children on Disaster Risk Reduction through the hazard, vulnerability and capacity assessment
  2. Planning, monitoring and evaluating child-centred disaster risk reduction programmes
  3. Action planning with children on Disaster Risk Reduction
  4. Advocacy with children on disaster risk reduction

I'm a teenager : what happened to my rights?

HALFORD, Stuart
et al
November 2004

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This book covers 15 issues affecting the world's young people, such as sexual exploitation, child labour, crime and punishment, HIV and AIDS, and early marriage and motherhood. Chapter 13 deals with issues facing disabled youth including prejudice, abuse and lack of education. The book describes Plan International's work around the world addressing youth issues

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