Kigali, September 24— Special Olympics Rwanda (SOR) hosts 61 delegates from 14 African countries, along with representatives from the USA, for a three-day workshop on Unified Champion Schools at the Marriott Hotel. The event will highlight Rwanda’s continued success in inclusive education.
Special Olympics Rwanda’s implementation of inclusive education through the unified Champion Schools program has become a model for other African countries, with some eager to learn from its success.
In his welcome remarks, Pastor Deus Sangwa, chairman of the board for Special Olympics Rwanda, expressed pride in hosting a significant event. He also emphasized the positive impact of the initiative on the community and pointed out Rwanda’s desire to share its journey and experiences.
“Special Olympics Rwanda is extremely proud to host this keystone event and to share its experiences and activities. Unified Champions Schools has had a great impact in the program communities, from primary schools, secondary schools, to universities, and we are glad to be sharing our practices,” said Pastor Sangwa.
Four years ago, Rwanda became the first sub-Saharan country grant recipient of the three-year Special Olympics Unified Champion Schools project initiative—collaboratively established by Special Olympics International and His Highness Sheikh Mohamed Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, President of the United Arab Emirates and ruler of Abu Dhabi—which also included Argentina, Egypt, India, Pakistan, and Romania.
Special Olympics Rwanda has 20,172 registered athletes and unified partners. The mission of Special Olympics is to provide year-round sports training and competition for people with intellectual disabilities, breaking down barriers so that they can be full members of their community.
Unified Champion Schools (UCS) has been operating in Rwanda since 2020, reaching 210 schools across the country, to help students with intellectual disabilities connect and interact with their peers without disabilities.
Building upon the success of the past four years, during which Special Olympics Rwanda achieved “Regional Hub of Excellence” status for its high-quality programming, this workshop aims to extend this excellence to new programs across the region.
By sharing their expertise, Special Olympics Rwanda aims to elevate UCS programming and underscore the importance of inclusion in education. Today, 41 program countries across the Africa Region have 3,735 unified schools and 759 Unified Champion Schools.
Speaking about the UCS expansion and Rwanda’s selection, Mr. Charles Nyambe, president and managing director of Special Olympics Africa Region, highlights Rwanda’s capacity to spearhead the adaptation of the UCS project. He envisions this as positioning Rwanda as an important example for other programs globally.
He said, “A critical element for this global expansion was empowering a select group of programs to adapt the UCS programming model for their local context and opportunities and serve as a model for UCS implementation to other programs in their region and around the world. Special Olympics Rwanda was selected as a global leader, out of over 190 eligible countries where accredited Special Olympics programs exist.”
The workshop, themed “Excellence in Action—Expanding Unified Champion Schools across Africa,” will resume tomorrow with a showcase of the UCS model featuring Basketball and Handball at Lycée de Kigali.
The event will conclude on Wednesday, September 26.
