Working Group

Basic Information:

1. Introduction:

Since Salamanca Statement, Government as well as NGO sector is working to promote Inclusive Education in Bangladesh. In relation to that Bangladesh government especially MoPME has designed and implemented PEDP-I, PEDP-II & PEDP 3. Similarly, different NGOs, INGOs, UN agencies are also working individually and collectively with the government for inclusive education. To make education system inclusive, many of the initiatives of these organizations have merit to support each other, share resources and have the scope to raise collective voice for advocating inclusion. Considering the necessity of such collective effort, several organizations including ActionAid Bangladesh, ADD International Bangladesh, Asian Center for Inclusive Education (ACIE), CBM International Bangladesh, Disabled Rehabilitation and Research Association (DRRA), Plan International Bangladesh, Save the Children Bangladesh, UNESCO Dhaka felt that a common working platform can assist them to work on inclusion in a collaborative manner. Inclusive Education Working Group (IEWG) is the product of such thoughts.

For the above mentioned purpose several preparatory meetings & workshops were held. A daylong workshop was held on 31st July, 2017 where the vision, mission, objective and activity wise milestones had been fixed. This TOR have been prepared for guiding the activity of IEWG.

2. Nature of IEWG:

IEWG is a voluntary and collective initiative of its members. The group is completely activity, interest and programme/project based. It is a vibrant working group which will abstain from having any formal structured body. There will be no election or selection process, no committee and hierarchy among the group members. There will be no permanent secretariat rather the role of secretariat will be rotated among the members. Two representatives from each member organizations will be selected to represent their respective organizations in the Working Group. ‘An Initiative of IE Working Group’ will be written in all the activity of IEWG

• Organize national level events and initiatives jointly or mutually as per need

• A slogan/cue/logo will be designed that represents best to IE Working Group

3. Vision:

Playing as a catalyst in achieving equitable, inclusive and quality education for ALL Learners by ensuring access, active participation, achievement and acceptance at all levels.

4. Mission:

Develop a pro-inclusive attitude among stakeholders as well as making policies, systems and practices aligned with the notion of equity and inclusion in education.

5. Objective of Inclusive Education working Group

With an overarching objective of ensuring inclusiveness in the education at all levels, the IEWG will work –

• To demystify the concept of Inclusive Education and develop common understanding of the relevant actors on the concept.

• To play the role of a ‘Knowledge Sharing Platform’ for the member organizations with updated knowledge and relevant experiences on IE for promoting inclusive education for all.

• To work as a proactive working group for advocacy and lobbying at local, national, regional and global level for promoting good practices in terms of inclusive education and facilitating implementation of government policies in accordance with UNCRPD and SDGs to ensure inclusion of all, specifically in primary education.

• To collaborate and coordinate with relevant Government agencies, CSOs, Donors, DPOs, Networks/Forums and Media to mainstream best practices regarding IE.

• To form a ‘Resource Pool’ comprising the technical experts on IE from member organizations, government agencies, CSOs and DPOs in order to enhance the capacity of IE practitioners.

6. Scope of Work:

IEWG will be intervening in the following thematic areas where it will be felt appropriate and relevant for ensuring the education at all level inclusive –

• Education policy review and policy advocacy

• Research and knowledge generation on inclusive education

• Awareness raising

• Promotion and protection of all learners in relation to education

• Being responsive to different vulnerable groups (e.g. disability, gender, ethnicity and disadvantaged people)

• Resource & information sharing for promoting inclusive education

• Provide technical support for implementing inclusive education

• Promotion of good practices/models/frameworks of inclusive education

• Monitoring and tracking the progress of SDG 4 achievements

7. Membership

Any interested organization working with Inclusive Education can become a member of IEWG by expressing interest. The Secretariat will share any such interest for membership through group email or in Quarterly Meeting for endorsement from other member organizations. The membership will be granted with the consent/endorsement from the members. All organization who will join in this group will be treated as General Members.

• Eligibility of General membership:

Any interested development focused organization who have experience or is working in the field of Education, Inclusive Education is eligible to become a member.

• Role of the general members:

IEWG members irrespective of categories must participate in the group’s activities on an equitable experience and capacity basis. They should devote time and resources (financial/human/logistics/knowledge) towards IEWG’s need. To conduct different activities to achieve the goal of the working group, general members will have to play following roles:

• Conceptual Idea generation of the IE working Group

• Develop and finalize the annual activity plan

• Support in conducting planned activities

• Provide financial and resource support to technical member in different activities

• Networking and Collaboration

• Support to organize different event

• Fund Raising

• Authorize a ‘technical member’ to provide technical support

Eligibility of Technical Member:

Any interested organization/academic institute having technical capacity in the field of education, having national and international networking, potential to work as a think tank, reinforce advocacy with government, collaborate with academic institute, development partners, government and practitioners at national and international levels; which would provide support to the group for conducting study, developing technical papers, identifying advocacy area and developing advocacy notes/strategy papers.

Role of Technical Member:

– Conceptual idea generation of advocacy activities the IE working Group

– Technical Paper/ Proposal development

– Resource Mobilization

– Editing and publication

– Maintain liaison & involve relevant technical people

– Organize different events

– Networking and Collaboration (National and International)

– Budget Preparation

– Play lead role in case of sensitive government advocacy related issues.

– Conduct agreement on behalf of IEWG

– Use their own account

– Select ‘technical team.

• Cancellation of Membership:

1. If any member wants to withdraw their membership role, they have to inform it formally and place the issue in a working group regular meeting.

2. If any member doesn’t participate in regular meeting and not contribute financially in any event of working group for a period of one year, then their membership will be cancelled through a meeting of IEWG.

3. If the activity of any organization seems against the core values of the working group, the membership of that organization will be cancelled as per the decision of working group regular meeting.

4. Visibility & Branding:

For organizing any initiative or event, members of the IE working group will take decisions based on the discussion in the working group meeting and accordingly documentation of the meeting minutes will be made, shared and circulated. The same (or next) meeting will fix the objective(s) of that initiative or event, methodology, tentative time and budget, key target group and stakeholders, financial and technical contribution from member organizations and technical organizations. The branding or visibility issues will be ensured as per following;

• Any initiative or event under this group will be recognized and acknowledged as “An Initiative of IE Working Group”. In that cases logo/slogan/cue of IE Working group will be used as appropriate.

• For organizing any initiative or event under the banner of IE working group, member organizations will be able to contribute technically and financially. In case of similar financial contribution, the initiative will be recognized and acknowledged as “Joint Initiatives” where all contributing organization’s name and logo will be used in all printed and visible materials. In case of printed documents along with IEWG logo/slogan and report, names and logos of contributing organizations will be present in the cover and credit page along with IE Working group logo/slogan.

• In case of differing financial contribution, organization that provides major financial contribution will be recognized and acknowledged as “Organizer along with IE Working Group” and other contributing organization(s) will be recognized and acknowledged as “Co-organizer” where all contributing organization’s name and logo will be used in all printed and visible materials.

• If any organization of this working group will not being involved as financial contributor but is involved in the review and validation process of any activities, organization name including personnel name and designation will be acknowledged in the credit section based on the decision in the working group meeting. ACIE will be recognized and acknowledged as the technical support provider in the working group. Like other member organizations, ACIE will be able to contribute technically or financially in organizing any initiative or event. ACIE name and logo will be used in relevant printed and visible materials. In case of printed documents and report name and logo of ACIE will be present in the cover and credit page like other member organizations.

• In case of sensitive advocacy initiatives with government counterpart, the technical member (ACIE) of the working group could be recognized and acknowledged as core organizer and other members will be recognized and acknowledged as co-organizer.

• This decision will be made through a common understanding of all IE working group members.

• In case of any special occasion or circumstances except the above issues, IE Working Group will make final decision for visibility and branding issues as appropriate based on the discussion at working group meeting.

9. Structure and management of IEWG

The decision making body of IEWG will be the General Body which comprises all the members of the IEWG. A rotating Secretariat on voluntary basis will coordinate and manage IEWG’s activities and will provide secretariat support for 2 years. The Secretariat will call for need based meeting and will coordinate the meeting. Meeting can be done both face to face and online. It is expected that at least one representative from each organization will be present in the meeting on behalf of the respective organization. A quarterly meeting with the participation of all General Members will be held to update all the members on the latest development and take necessary decisions. A ‘Technical Team’ may be formed by the Technical Member to implement a specific activity/plan/event/task based on need.

10. Resourcing IEWG

The prime source of IEWG’s fund will be the contribution of the group members. The contribution from the members may be event based. However, the particular event/activity/task should be aligned and incorporated in the group’s annual work/activity plan or be announced to the General members and endorsed by them.

11. Review

IEWG’s performance will be reviewed quarterly. This Term of Reference (ToR) remains a guiding living document. Any amendment, addition or omission of clauses can be done with consent of the majority member organizations.