Our Visit to Des Moines

In September 2007, an Egyptian delegation consisting of the Together for Family Development network board members, Mrs. Mona Antar and Mr. Bassem Seroufim, spent 10 days with partner churches in the Presbytery of Des Moines.

by Bassem Seroufim, TFD Board member

We had a chance to visit schools, centers working with disabled children, government and health facilities, and farms. We also met representatives of Des Moines Presbytery churches to exchange knowledge and information on the work of TFD in Egypt and the major success related to our advocacy campaign to integrate children with disabilities into our public schools.

We spoke in a number of churches about the work of TFD Network in Egypt, about the Egyptian context, and the NGOs sector in Egypt and its role in development of local communities. Special focus in all discussions and speeches was on the unique position and role of the TFD network in Egypt and its impact on the life of marginalized groups.  During our visit, the Coordinating Committee of the Joining Hands Des Moines program met with us to discuss the strategic direction of TFD network in Egypt. It was a very important meeting where all agreed on certain strategic objectives that will lead the work of the TFD for the coming years. By the end, the mission and its outcomes was very highly appreciated by the Americans and Egyptians alike and considered one of the most successful visits.

Governor of Alexandria to replicate Village of Hope Inclusion Model in all primary schools.

by Mrs. Nada Thabet, TFD Board of Directors Chairperson, and Village of Hope Director

Village of Hope is implementing a pilot model project to train teacher's aids to effectively work with disabled children in inclusive classrooms. I am working with the Dean of the Faculty of Kindergarten at Alexandria University. We have selected two professors as lecturers- one on child psychology and one on children's curriculum and teaching methodologies. These professors are responsible for training and preparing teacher's aids to implement the project.

The professors chose the six best 2007 university graduates in primary education for a teacher's aid program of training and preparation. On November 25 the lecturers began their program and participating schools were selected. From the six candidates, four will be selected to begin serving as teacher's aids the second week in December. By that time a modified curriculum using interactive teaching methodologies will be ready for use. Each of the four will go to a different primary school to teach in a classroom where children are enrolled who have a mild disability and had been identified to participate. The four teacher's aids will use a modified curriculum developed for them as well as appropriate teaching methodologies. They will be responsible for identifying the most effective methodologies of integrating and teaching children with disabilities.

The director handling the project with me is a wonderful man. He is training the teacher's aids about necessary qualifications, how to communicate, and how to deal with the school staff, other teachers, the school principal, everyone in the school.

The governor of Alexandria heard about this project and when it is successfully completed, he has asked that it be replicated in all of Alexandria's primary schools.

Raising Voices for Inclusive Education: Campaign Update

by Nancy Collins

The 1996 Child Law amendment, stating the right of children with disability to public education, has been sent to Parliament. The 2007-8 session of Parliament began on Tuesday 6 November. Staff and member organizations of TFD Network recognize that members of the Education Committees of the People's Assembly and the Shura Council must be fully informed about the amendment to Article 77 of the 1996 Egyptian Child Law. In November, TFD staff began a campaign to speak with members of the Education Committees of both houses of Egyptian Parliament about the proposed amendments.

Egyptian Ministry of Education Develops 5 Year Inclusive Education Plan
The Egyptian Ministry of Education has developed a five year plan (2007-2011) which includes a goal to "provide quality and equal educational opportunities to and ensure inclusion of children with special needs in mainstream general education schools." Objectives related to children with special needs are the following:

1. To include 10% of children with mild disabilities (152,800 children) in mainstream basic education schools and improve the quality of provision. This objective includes establishing resource rooms in each of 5040 participating schools, providing training and professional development to teachers and specialists, recruiting and training assistant teachers, implementing a multi-level curriculum and establishing a system to monitor the progress of the mainstreamed children.
2. To improve the quality of education in 50% of existing special education schools to serve children with severe and multiple disabilities
3. To establish a supportive inclusive environment through modifying laws and policies regarding education of children with special needs, and implementing public campaigns and awareness raising events.

TFD has begun promoting the Ministry of Education five year plan for Children with Special Needs to concerned stakeholders.

Funding to implement the plan is expected to come from G8 countries.

Education for All (EFA): Will it happen?

Background
The work of TFD Network is closely related to the global Education for All campaign. EFA goals and strategies were agreed by 185 world governments at the World Education Forum in Dakar, Senegal in April 2000. EFA goals include ensuring that by 2015 all children worldwide, particularly girls, children in difficult circumstance, and those belonging to ethnic minorities, have access to a complete, free and compulsory primary education of good quality. This EFA goal is mirrored in Millennium Development Goal 2- to achieve universal primary education by 2015.

While great gains have been made in ensuring that children worldwide have access to an education, much more remains to be done. 77 million children today have no access to school. Of these over one-third are estimated to be disabled children. Tens of millions drop out and hundreds of millions are in schools where the quality is woefully inadequate. These problems confront Egypt as well as sub-Saharan Africa.

Will there by sufficient funding?
In order to change the situation, developing countries require the funds for program implementation. At the 2005 G8 Summit in Gleneagles, Scotland, G8 countries promised to increase development assistance, including aid for education, by $50 billion by 2010. It was clear from the outset that this funding increase could be achieved only if civil society maintained strong and consistent pressure on the G8. At the 2007 G8 summit in Heiligendamm, Germany, the G8 repeated their pledges but did not offer any binding implementation plan. Spokespersons for the German advocacy network who attended the summit indicate the reality of G8 Official Development Assistance (ODA) is way behind promised levels. NGOs and activists are now looking ahead to the 2008 Summit in Japan.

Will there be enough teachers?
Global estimates indicate 18 million new teachers are needed by 2015 to get all children into school, into classes with 40 or fewer pupils. Egypt will require thousands of new teachers in order to meet the EFA goal. However, policies of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) have required many poor countries to freeze or curtail teacher recruitment.

The IMF was established in 1944 to ensure the health of the international macro-economic system. It uses loans to help members balance their economy and thus stabilize the international system. This gives the IMF immense power in the developing world where it provides many loans. At least 21 countries have signed loan agreements with the IMF which explicitly include caps to the public sector wage bill. Even countries without the caps are constrained in their spending because of other economic policies included in the loan arrangements. Influence is also felt in countries which do not have a loan agreement, because of the power and influence of the IMF.

Generally agreements are made between the IMF and the national Ministry of Finance in closed meetings; the Ministry of Education is not included and budgets are not linked to national education plans and goals. National governments often feel powerless to challenge the macro-economic measures and fear that challenging the IMF will lead to withdrawal of other funding sources.

Fair Trade
Thanks to encouragement from Partners for Just Trade (JH Peru), TFD Network has begun planning implementation of a Fair Trade intervention to improve quality of life for the poorest of the poor in Egypt including persons with disability. In conventional trade, the producer generally receives only 1% of the retail price consumers pay. But in Fair Trade, the producer receives 30-45% of the retail price. In addition to paying a fair price, Fair Trade secures the rights of children, protects the environment, and develops producers' capacity and independence.

Although Fair Trade is not well known in Egypt, two TFD member organizations have extensive Fair Trade experience, and are working with producer groups. TFD expects to draw upon their knowledge and training expertise to develop its capacity to identify and develop small groups of artisans and agro-producers. TFD hopes to begin shipping products to Partners for Just Trade in second quarter 2008.

Egyptian Just Trade Handicrafts*
*Pictures courtesy of Fair Trade Egypt".

Stay tuned!

Visit TFD's updated English and Arabic website: www.tfdnetwork.org