Despite all effort undertaken in the frame of Education for All (EFA) and the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) for free, compulsory, and quality elementary education for all children and youths, especially with respect to developing countries education for all (lifelong and of high quality) is still challenged regarding the dimensions of inclusion: access, acceptance, participation and learning achievement (Booth, Ainscow, Black-Hawkins, Vaughan, & Shaw, 2000; Kalambouka, Farrell, Dyson, & Kaplan, 2005 as cited in Artiles, Kozleski, Dorn, & Christensen, 2006, p. 67). Various parts of the population for example still are without access to education, or students drop out prematurely from the formal educational system. However, it is remarkable that international efforts towards inclusive education strongly stimulate and interrelate with processes of change which take place on political and societal level as well as in the concrete schools in developing countries. Accordingly it can be stated that transitions with regard to efforts of the development of a common understanding and the implementation of inclusive education in an international perspective are strongly interrelated with complex transition processes especially within developing countries, which is our focus here.

Furthermore it has to be emphasized that applied research is still lacking to pinpoint the mechanisms that determine the success or failure of inclusion in educational systems in developing countries. Financed by the German Federal Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Development, under the mandate of Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH the international research consortium Research for inclusive education in international cooperation (refie) conducted a detailed investigation about the implementation of inclusive education in two pilot countries, namely Guatemala and Malawi.

The overall guiding research questions were: How is the concept of Inclusive Education constructed on the different levels from various perspectives in Guatemala and Malawi? Which success factors of and barriers to inclusive educational systems can be identified in order to draw conclusions for further developing cooperation measures? The specific research questions are structured and oriented on the above mentioned four dimensions of inclusive education (ibid.), namely Access, Acceptance, Participation and Learning Achievement. This research project focussed on Access, Acceptance and Participation on macro, meso and micro level.

The research identifies how educational systems can be structured more inclusive and what the success factors and barriers are in doing so. In terms of potential for improvement, the research formulates concrete recommendations for action, particularly with respect to targeting disadvantaged population groups for inclusive education.

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