West Africa – SENIA

Africa Chapter, Chapter Updates, West Africa

Student Documentary-Disability Awareness in Abidjan, Cote d’ivoire

Students at ICSA through the Service Learning Program created a documentary to raise awareness about disabilities in Abidjan. They began this process by researching about the laws that impact people with disabilities, interviewed specialists in the field and community members, then embarked on a field trip to spend time with the students at our partner special institution AIM. They feel privileged to be embraced by the AIM community and our school is proud of them for being leaders and advocates of inclusion.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1xoXc1BurUkjNCnocKWXeEhihbmk3SctM/view?usp=sharing

Africa Chapter, Chapter Updates, West Africa

Student visit to partner special school in Abidjan

Through our Service Learning program our students visited our local partner special school, Imagine Le Monde. They planned this visit to spend time with the students with various needs. They performed a play about the Rainbow Fish which was interpreted for our hearing impaired audience. We all joined in on the fun and made friendship bracelets and got creative with face painting, with our friends. The students interviewed students and teachers as part of their documentary project. The documentary will inform the community about the experiences of people with disabilities in Cote d’Ivoire. They also interviewed a sign language trainer who will visit our school for a teacher training session in Sign Language.

Africa Chapter, Chapter Updates, West Africa

Empowering local Teachers in Abidjan

This month we held a teacher training workshop for our local partner school Luke International School with a focus on Understanding Special Needs. This was also an effort to empower educators on how to make learning and the classroom environment more accessible for students with needs. During the discussion a look at the local laws which advocate for people with disabilities’ and the cultural influences that affect how disabilities are viewed were explored.

West Africa

SENIA 2022 Watch Party with local teachers

This year’s watch party was an opportune time to invite local teachers to discuss the state of special needs in the Abidjan Community. The event allowed for discussions about how we as educators can create more inclusive environments for our students. We found many commonalities in the challenges we face around raising awareness about neurodiversity and disabilities. In the next year we will begin teacher training and sharing of best practices to build teacher capacity!

West Africa

Visit to Association Imagine le Monde

The SENIA West African Chapter Committee discussed the status of special education in the local community of Abidjan. The history of civil war in Cote d’Ivoire is in the backdrop of a society who is hopeful for the future. Sadly, as is the case in most African countries, children with special needs remain side lined from governmental support. Local policies and laws are vague and in some instances impractical, due to the limited resources available. The adoption of transitional organizational policies from the NGO community provides some hope for equity and inclusion, however, there are still a cultural and religious barrier influenced by limited awareness about disabilities.

As a committee we visited the Association Imagine le Monde. The visit was enriching and exposed the committee to the realities of special needs institutions in Cote d’Ivoire. AIM is one institution that brings hope to the community, doing amazing work in creating opportunities for students with more intensive needs. They give their students access to education, practical life skills and vocational skills. AIM is a safe place to grow and learn and the facilitators parental support, with seminars on how to raise students with special needs. We are grateful to be a partner school and the committee will be working to sustain these relations with them, through vocational projects to assist the adults with disabilities to receive sheltered employment.

West Africa

December 2021, SENIA Conference at ICSA!

The SENIA West African Chapter hosted the first SENIA Virtual Conference in December 2021 at ICSA. In attendance were 20 elementary, middle and high school teaching staff. This was a much needed opportunity for professional development, awareness about diversity in learning and reducing stigma associated with special needs.

The event was highly interactive with participants engaging in discussions on the platform with other teachers in international schools across the world! This brought our community closer to other schools and inspiration was ignited about how we can create more inclusive access points for our students. The presentations were enjoyable with many moments for deep reflection and discussion. This was a great opportunity for teachers to reflect on best practices, to become advocates in demystifying special needs in Cote d’Ivoire.