Scottish Government launches the RISE Project

The £7.5 million Realising Inclusive and Safe Education (RISE) project will work in eight districts across Malawi, Rwanda and Zambia, and reach 422 government schools, 5,952 teachers and school leaders, 402,981 learners of which 10,031 have a disability, and support 16 resource centres.

At the launch of the project in Zambia Angus Robertson, Scotland’s Cabinet Secretary for the Constitution, External Affairs and Culture, said

“Thanks to many months of discussion and cooperation between everyone here today, I’m delighted that in the 20th year of the Scottish Government’s International Development Programme, the partnership between our countries has taken another significant step forward on the journey towards a goal that I know that we all share, access to quality education for all.”

Representatives from the Zambian Ministry of Education and other stakeholders also attended the event.

Launch events will be held in Malawi and Rwanda later this month.

Despite the critical importance of education, children with disabilities or special educational needs are frequently left behind. A lack of inclusive infrastructure in schools is a major barrier, as is a lack of training and resources for teachers, inadequate assistive devices for the children, and discrimination. According to UNESCO, children with disabilities are 2.5 times more likely not to go to school than their non-disabled peers. In rural Rwanda only 8.4% of children with disabilities attend school, whilst in Malawi children with disabilities make up 4% of total primary school enrolment and only 4% of primary schools (209 schools) have specialist teachers.  

RISE is delivered by Link Community Development Malawi, Chance for Childhood in Rwanda and School to School in Zambia, is managed by Link Education International and funded by the Scottish Government.  This consortium will draw on extensive experience to co-design and deliver, alongside government partners, Organisations of People with Disabilities (OPDs), schools and communities, a project that will meet the diverse needs of the RISE participants. RISE will run from July 2024 to March 2029.