WHEREAS we the participants in the Global Forum for Inclusion – Partnering for Action, have assembled in Berlin, Germany to celebrate the 2023 Special Olympics World Summer Games, the largest global sporting event of the year;
WHEREAS the athletes of Special Olympics in attendance and competing in year-round sports training and competition in communities around the world stand firm in their hope of a world where all communities offer sports for people with intellectual disabilities and all schools are welcoming of a diversity of talents and gifts;
WHEREAS all governments in attendance have convened to underscore the need for urgent action to propel inclusive education for students of all ability levels, with a particular focus on students with intellectual disabilities, and in view that improving local sports participation and well-being strengthens communities in general;
WHEREAS the industry leaders in attendance recognize the importance of investing in inclusive education as a material component of Environmental, Social, and Governance performance and credibility, a key to unlocking potential and performance, and a precondition for reaping the benefits of diverse workforces;
WHEREAS the global development stakeholders in attendance recognize and reaffirm the need for increased investment in inclusive education for students of different abilities, especially for women and girls, as well as the role that inclusive sports plays—in every corner of the world—in the academic journey, in values education that fosters social cohesion and promotes human rights, in developing core skills for life and work in the 21st century, and for lifelong health;
WHEREAS academic leaders are committed to supporting research, evaluation, and analytics to strengthen inclusive education especially through sports programming for students of all abilities;
WHEREAS global philanthropy leaders in attendance anticipate investing in the expansion, through sports, of inclusive communities and inclusive education and the role that whole-school engagement can play in strengthening school climates for all students and faculty wherever in the world:
We call upon governments and the global community to pledge action toward (a) creating, coordinating, and integrating appropriate cross-sectoral public policies making inclusive sports in schools part of the academic and educational journey of all students, (b) allocating financing, including official development assistance, adequate to ensure the progressive realization of said policies, starting with ensuring that at least 3% of education budgets support inclusive education programming for students with disabilities, (c) upon achieving at least 3% of education budget for inclusive education programming, continue to striving to achieve an education budget that fully supports a comprehensive education for all students with disabilities, and (d) support especially Special Olympics to offer community-level inclusive sports worldwide.
We call upon all governments worldwide to engage youth with and without intellectual disabilities to inform policy- and decision-making on how best to make schools, sports clubs, and communities fully inclusive for all students and participants, with the engagement of their parliaments and Ministries of Education, Sport, Social Welfare, Economy and International Cooperation and Development.
We, the participants in the Global Forum for Inclusion – Partnering for Action at the 2023 Special Olympics World Summer Games in Berlin, commit to concerted action to promote and invest in the transformative power of inclusive education through sports in every school, in every sports club, in every community, in every nation, around the world.