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Launched in 2018 in partnership with the International Disability Alliance, Inclusive Futures set out to demonstrate that disability inclusion is not only possible, but essential to achieving sustainable development outcomes.

Working across Bangladesh, Kenya, Nepal, Nigeria, Tanzania and Uganda, the programme brought together more than 20 consortium partners and more than 200 organisations of people with disabilities to test, refine and scale approaches that improve access to education, employment, healthcare and social participation.

By the time the programme closed in March 2026, it had exceeded many of its original targets. The final report reflects also on the projects around inclusive education and the learning from it. It also talks about risks from political activities, heat waves, how these disrupted projects and how these risks were mitigated or managed.

Read the report.

Read more information about the closure of Inclusive Futures. 

For many families in Pakistan, access to support for children with disabilities remains limited. Parents often lack the financial resources or information needed to seek specialized care, which can affect children’s opportunities to learn and progress through mainstream education. With support from GPE, UNICEF and the Special Education Department, the government of Punjab aims to reach more than 23,000 children with assistive devices, including providing over 3,500 children in Lahore with hearing aids. The program has also trained 10,591 teachers (6,818 women – 64%) in government schools on inclusive learning pedagogy, classroom adaptations, and techniques for supporting children with diverse learning needs, and supported inclusive education policy development, laying foundations for institutionalizing inclusive education across Punjab’s school system.

Read the blog.

Within hours of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, the first refugee families arrived in Căușeni in Moldova.

“When the refugees started to come, civil society and the community came together and did all we could to help end their nightmare,” says Ana Schiopu, manager of the civil society organization, Raza Încrederii (Ray of Hope), a member of the national education coalition APSCF in Moldova.

Raza Încrederii helped refugee children to access education and gained insight into the barriers children and their families faced. These experiences helped the education coalition APSCF to identify broader challenges affecting refugee children’s education and well-being across Moldova. Through its advocacy and participation in national policy processes, APSCF contributed to the development of key policies and practical solutions aimed at ensuring access to education for refugee children and promoting their inclusion in Moldovan schools.

Read the blog. 

A report by Education Cannot Wait – Breaking Barriers: Understanding Educational Exclusion in Crises – estimates that 258 million school-aged children and adolescents now have their education affected by crises worldwide. Of these, 93 million are entirely out of school, while millions more remain enrolled but struggle to learn under conditions that undermine their progress and increase their risk of dropping out.

The study finds that educational needs are highly concentrated: of the 182 million crisis-affected children living in the world’s 20 most severe crisis contexts, 74 million are out of school – representing nearly 80% of all out-of-school crisis-affected children identified in the study. The evidence is clear: conflict and climate change are rolling back hard-won gains in education.

Read the report.

An Education Cannot Wait-funded project run by Inclusion International and the International Disability Alliance with Asdown Colombia and Fédération Nigérienne des Personnes Handicapées (FNPH) has produced free tools for teachers, families, OPDs and humanitarian actors, in up to four languages (mostly English, French and Spanish, with some in Arabic).

The tools built on three years of learning, 2023 to 2026, from projects in Colombia and Niger. The tools are for different groups, including OPDs, Humanitarian Actors, Schools and Families.

Access the resources.

In Northern Uganda, girls aspire to secure livelihoods and economic independence. Yet, many girls drop out of school or complete their education without the practical skills and confidence to fulfil these aspirations.

The current education systems remain largely exam-oriented and insufficiently responsive to the lived realities of girls. This disconnect raises critical questions about how education systems can better support girls’ aspirations, strengthen their agency, and promote livelihood pathways in Northern Uganda.

The author argues that justice-oriented education would move beyond helping girls stay in school to ensuring learning that equips them with the skills, dignity, and opportunities needed to shape their own futures.

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Recent Echidna Global Scholar research in Zimbabwe found that training is the strongest predictor of whether teachers can actually put gender-responsive pedagogy (GPR) into practice, not teacher gender, years of experience, or school location. When teachers internalized GRP as part of their professional identity, inclusive routines were described as the norm rather than the exception. The challenge is not teacher motivation or willingness, but the availability of structured, ongoing support systems. In the absence of guidance, mentoring, and follow-up support, teachers reported reverting to traditional classroom dynamics that privilege more vocal or confident learners and reinforce stereotypical roles.

Read the blog.

With support from the UNESCO Institute for Lifelong Learning (UIL), through a project funded by the Global Partnership for Education (GPE), Chad is embarking on an ambitious reform aimed at strengthening and expanding learning opportunities for young people and adults who are excluded from the formal education system. An important milestone has been reached with the completion of two national assessments. One message emerged clearly from the consultations: existing literacy and non-formal education programmes must evolve to better respond to learners’ needs while strengthening the capacities of those responsible for delivering quality education.

Read the article.

In this blog, Isabella Kempf, Director of the UNESCO Institute for Lifelong Learning, reflects on an Oxfam report from 2026:

“Oxfam asserts that we are moving towards an ‘era of global oligarchy’ marked by unprecedented concentrations of economic power. While Oxfam’s analysis focuses on the implications of oligarchic power for global health, taxation and international cooperation, these dynamics are also deeply connected to global trends in education: cuts of funding for education in international cooperation; growing inequality driven by the expansion of private education; and the declining prioritization of education as a human right and public good.”

Mrs Kempf also writes: “Another major trend reinforcing educational inequality is the privatization of education. ..In low- and middle-income countries, children from the richest 20% of households are 10 times more likely to attend private school than the poorest 20%, raising serious concerns about equitable access to quality education and the financial burden placed on low-income families. Closely related is the rapid expansion of shadow education in the form of private tutoring, often driven by neoliberal education policies. In countries such as Greece, Mauritius and Myanmar, over 70% of students across all grades reportedly participate in private tutoring.”

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For many children with disabilities in Malawi, going to school is only the first step. The greater challenge lies in whether the school environment is equipped to support their learning, participation and overall well-being. While inclusive education has gained momentum in recent years, many schools in Malawi still lack adequate adaptive resources, leaving learners to face barriers that prevent them from enjoying their right to education, contributing to national development and inspiring future generations.

In the blog from Link Education, the authors show the successes of the RISE project (Realising Inclusive and Safe Education Project). So far, the RISE Project has distributed 708 assistive devices to learners with disabilities, enabling them to participate more effectively in classroom activities and reducing obstacles to learning. In addition, the project has supported the operationalisation of 20 resource rooms in selected schools, equipping them with furniture, mattresses, toys and stationery to create safe, welcoming and supportive learning environments. These interventions particularly benefit girls with disabilities, who often face multiple layers of exclusion.

The authors note: “Achieving truly inclusive education, however, requires sustained commitment from everyone.”

Read the blog.