Sightsavers at the CIES education conference 2025

Sightsavers is showcasing its inclusive education projects at the Comparative and International Education Society (CIES) global conference in Chicago on 22-26 March 2025.

This year’s conference theme is ‘Envisioning Education in a Digital Society’. Sightsavers is joining leading academics, donors, practitioners and global policymakers at CIES to call for education that is accessible for every child.

Our education and research teams will be sharing tried-and-tested approaches to inclusive education at all levels of the education system, and demonstrating why the Sustainable Development Goals cannot be achieved without addressing the needs of children with disabilities.

Sightsavers will present in six sessions at the conference. More information and presentation locations can be found on the CIES conference website.

Saturday 22 March 

Safely at school: reducing the risks of school-related gender-based violence for children in Sierra Leone

• Time: 1:15-2:30pm
• Speaker: Dr Steven Kaindaneh

This presentation shares findings from a community-based participatory action study into school-related gender-based violence (GBV) affecting children with disabilities in four rural junior secondary schools in Sierra Leone. Children with disabilities encounter multiple forms of school-related GBV and frequently experience challenges in reporting these. However, children are also able to explain how they believe these challenges can be addressed.
Read more about this research
Read our blog about this research

Sunday 23 March

Poster presentation: Illuminating challenges to and facilitators of inclusive learning environments faced by pre-school children with disabilities in Kenya through documentary photography

• Time: 9.45-11am
• Speaker: Sheru Muuo

This poster shares preliminary findings from the documentary photography component of a study exploring children with disabilities’ learning environments in mainstream pre-schools in Mombasa and Homa Bay, Kenya. The photographs taken by teachers illustrate often unaccommodating learning environments for these children yet also show how teachers have developed and adopted a range of strategies to support their inclusion. The poster is based on work which is part of the Schools2030 research programme.
Read more about this research
Read more about our partner Schools2030

Monday 24 March

Panel: Disability inclusion in education management and information sessions

• Time: 9:45-11am
• With presentation by Sightsavers: Learnings from the use of the Washington Group Short Set questions to identify functional difficulties among children in Pakistan’s annual school census
• Speaker: Dr Julia De Kadt

Sightsavers’ panel brings together presentations documenting experiences with disability-inclusive education management information systems in five different countries. The panel aims to synthesise emergent learnings, build dialogue on the topic and identify priority areas for further research.

We share learnings from a mixed-method study on Pakistan’s inclusion of four of the Washington Group short set questions on disability in its 2023/2024 annual school census. Findings highlight the scale and complexity of the undertaking, while identifying areas for attention in strengthening the collection of disability data in future iterations of the census.
Read more about this research

Wednesday 26 March

Teachers championing inclusive education using education technology: a case of continuous professional development in Uganda

• Time: 2.45-4pm
• Speaker: Jacqui Shepherd

Working with the Ministry of Education in Uganda, Sightsavers helped to develop a series of modules to support teachers’ continuing professional development in inclusive education. One of these modules focused on the use of educational technology. This presentation shares our understanding of this technology and our learnings around how teachers use it.

The digital divide: meeting the needs of learners with disabilities in low and middle income settings

• Time: 2.45-4pm
• Speakers: Veronica Stapleton

As an organisation, Sightsavers is interested in increasing dialogue around the use of different technologies for children to access their right to a quality education. How can equity in access to technology be achieved for children with disabilities in low-cost settings? Are high tech solutions the only way of supporting children with disabilities to access a quality education?