Addis Ababa, Ethiopia - Charlotte McClain-Nhlapo, USAID's global Coordinator for Disability and Inclusive Development, and world-renowned lawyer and advocate for rights of persons with disabilities and children, visited Ethiopia this week to advance support to people with disabilities and facilitate their inclusion in the country's development process.

Ms. McClain-Nhlapo participated in an Africa-wide round table on Disability Inclusive Development sponsored by the Embassy of Finland where she highlighted best practices from countries around the world to mainstream disability into development cooperation. She also met with officials from the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs and the Ministry of Education, and with USAID implementing partners, Ethiopia Center for Disability and Development and Handicap International.

USAID Coordinator for Disability and Inclusive Development Charlotte McClain-Nhlapo Visits Sabiyan Primary School in Dire Dawa, a model school for facilitating access to children with special needs.

Marc Bonnenfant, USAID Ethiopia

Following meetings in Addis Ababa, Ms. McClain-Nhlapo travelled to Dire Dawa to visit Sabiyan No.1 Primary School, one of six pilot schools where Handicap International receives USAID support to work with communities, teachers and local groups to enable children with special needs to attend school.

The pilot program increased the number of children with special needs attending schools; facilitated physical access to buildings and to bathrooms; combatted stigma and improved attitudes towards children with disabilities; and demonstrated how inclusion of children with disabilities can be done by schools, communities and government. The expansion of the program will add reading corners for disabled children, in keeping with the main Ministry of Education and USAID collaboration on improving reading for all primary school children.Based on the experience of the six model schools in Dire Dawa, Harar, and Jijiga, USAID will now provide additional funding, nearly one million U.S. dollars, to extend the program to a total of 49 schools in Oromia, Harar, Somali and Amhara regions and in  Dire Dawa and Addis Ababa.

Ms. McClain-Nhlapo noted that: "Ethiopia is making great strides towards achieving the MDGs, such as universal access to primary education. USAID wants to ensure the country fully achieves that goal and which requires addressing the challenge of educating vulnerable children, including children with disabilities. The cost of exclusion outweighs the cost of inclusion. It makes economic sense--it's a good investment in human capital."

See Also

Press Release and Charlotte McClain-Nhlapo Bio [PDF, 55KB]

Remarks by Charlotte McClain-Nhlaop at the Disability Inclusive Development Round Table

USAID Ethiopia Education