Maha Khochen-Bagshaw PhD

International consultant interested in promoting inclusive related policy and practice on school and government levels, a happy wife and a competent swimmer

[Samantha Power @SamanthaJPower]

Starting in early 2025, Elon Musk and the Trump administration began terminating USAID's programs and firing its staff — with Musk himself boasting about "feeding it into the woodchipper." One year ago today, USAID was officially dissolved, its remaining programs haphazardly folded into the State Department. Amid all the lies and misinformation that have followed, some facts about what has actually been lost:

• USAID saved more than 3 million lives a year at a cost of less than $10/month per American. That is what was destroyed. On purpose.
• According to Boston University's Global Impact Counter — which tracked deaths attributable to the cuts until it stopped operations in February 2026 — an estimated 781,000 people died preventable deaths in the first year, including 518,000 children.
• Global child mortality (the number of children who die before their fifth birthday) rose in 2025 for the first time in 35+ years — by 200,000 additional deaths.
• USAID's 50-country disease surveillance network — the system that cut outbreak response times from 2 weeks to 48 hours — is gone. We are now watching an unprecedented Ebola outbreak unfold in real time — with the highest first-month caseload and death rate in modern history.
• Programs reaching 93 million women and children were cut 92%. TB programs cut 56%. Water and sanitation cut 86%. Over 2,000 health facilities permanently closed.
• 25 million fewer people received humanitarian assistance in 2025. The overall humanitarian budget was slashed 74% — from $14.1 billion to $3.7 billion.
• 363 million people face acute hunger in 2026. The famine early-warning system that would have seen it coming went dark for five months.
• $1.7 billion in democracy and governance funding (election monitoring, anti-corruption work, support for independent media and civil society) was terminated.
• 360+ independent media outlets lost funding. Hundreds of legal clinics closed.
• Far from saving money, the Trump administration itself has already said the dismantlement will cost taxpayers at least $19.2 billion in cancellation fees, severance, and penalties. That's more than half of USAID's annual budget — spent on destruction and closeout, not support for vulnerable people.
• American farmers, universities, and businesses are among the casualties too. USAID partnered with more than 3,500 U.S. companies and maintained 17 university-based research labs. Its work with U.S.-based contractors and the private sector generated hundreds of thousands of American jobs and multiplied the return on every dollar spent. Those markets and partnerships are gone.

[OECD Education @OECDEduSkills]

One in five 15-year-old students reported being bullied at least a few times a month across the OECD.

This paper looks at the prevalence, impact and responses to bullying across countries, and what education systems can do to help.

Read here: https://t.co/GFQIw3lj53

[OECD Education @OECDEduSkills]

One in five 15-year-old students reported being bullied at least a few times a month across the OECD.

This paper looks at the prevalence, impact and responses to bullying across countries, and what education systems can do to help.

Read here: https://t.co/GFQIw3lj53

[United Nations @UN]

Human rights are under a full-scale attack around the world.

The consequences are devastating.

We must change course and let human dignity set the direction.

— UN Secretary-General @antonioguterres

https://t.co/qXrRCIgEwR

[Commissioner for Human Rights @CommissionerHR]

Several European countries are considering social media bans for children. We must regulate platforms, not children. We must shift the burden of safety from the children to the corporations that profit from the environment.
I urge caution:
✅ Focus on "safety by design"
✅ Demand algorithmic transparency
✅ Enforce the #DSA & #HumanRights standards
✅ Consult experts, civil society and children
Read my Shout Out👇
https://t.co/9hoST0mpVD

[Global Goals @GlobalGoalsUN]

Children are more than twice as likely as adults to live in extreme poverty. 🧒🚨
Over 400 million children globally live on less than $3 a day. Ending child poverty is a global imperative to break the cycle and build a fairer future for all.
Learn more: https://t.co/coX1QOGlkq

[United Nations @UN]

Friday is #SocialJusticeDay.

Around the world, people continue to grapple with deep inequalities.

Social justice for all means access to quality education, decent work and universal social protection.

https://t.co/uwnxdy9Zw4

[Maha Khochen-Bagshaw PhD @mahakhochen]

Does anyone know why @ATW aren’t picking up phone calls today?

[ALLFIE @ALLFIEUK]

“We are demanding a white paper that ends seclusion, restraint and force, abolishes SEND units and removes all segregated provision that treat disabled children’s education less favourably” - ALLFIE chairperson Navin Kikabhai and director Michelle Daley
https://t.co/dgOZrEWpG0

[Chris Coghlan MP 🔶 @_Chris_Coghlan]

We all know that Local Authorities are financially overwhelmed on SEND, but too often their response is to be desensitised and to breed a culture of denial and dishonesty. We are failing a generation.

I am supporting Measure what Matters, a social initiative, gather the largest qualitative dataset on Local Authority (LA) misconduct on SEND in the country. Hundreds of testimonies on how; routine, indefensible refusals for support are maintained for months, sometimes years, then followed by late concessions within days of a hearing; LAs frequently ignoring court directions, all while tens of thousands of vulnerable children are failing to get the support they need, often out of school and their life chances wrecked.

https://t.co/rgdfulTOu8

[Mel Ainscow @MelAinscow]

Pleased to see the publication of our chapter ‘Using research to promote equity within education systems: roles, challenges and possibilities’ in the BERA-Sage Handbook of Research-Informed Education Practice and Policy @rCldForbes @ @RominMadrid
https://t.co/5oqx9psEXR

[Mel Ainscow @MelAinscow]

Our article "Developing equitable education systems: propositions and barriers" has just been published online in the Journal of Educational Change:
https://t.co/LXNHWW4R5t @ChrisChapmanGla

[Mel Ainscow @MelAinscow]

Reforming Education Systems for Inclusion and Equity addresses the universal challenge of developing forms of education that make a difference for all children …

Source: Routledge & CRC Press
Shared via the Google app https://t.co/j3oTpIltBP

[SEND Action @SEND_Action]

Disabled children’s rights are at stake. Please sign and share the petition: https://t.co/ZiYlX5hAGT

[Yasmine Sherif @YasmineSherif1]

Should be central to any education of any child. It must be at the core of child rearing. This is at the heart of education.

If we haven’t received it at all, or forgotten our humanity, it is imperative to go search for it NOW!

The inhumanity today, right now, is unbearable for any human mind of clarity, excruciating for a heart that feels and unfathomable even for a soul that sees.

We need education on how to be humane.

#StandWithHumanity

[UN Human Rights @UNHumanRights]

#Sudan: Hundreds of civilians have been killed in North Darfur since 10 April & dozens more reportedly died in detention facilities & in attempts to flee violence.

"The suffering of people is hard to imagine, harder to comprehend & simply impossible to accept," says @volker_turk

[UN Humanitarian @UNOCHA]

Since conflict escalated in #DRCongo, those living in displacement have been forced to flee yet again.

Temporary shelters are not safe.

Aid workers are doing their best to deliver but they cannot do it alone.

#DRC is among the hardest hit by global funding cuts.

[HeadteacherChat @Headteacherchat]

School culture is not created by a laminated vision statement, a slogan or even policies, but it is created by what everyone does everyday.

[Kent Page @KentPage]

Joint Pledge by #ECW @BMZ_Bund @FCDOGovUK @IDA_CRPD_Forum & @GlobalEdCluster on #DisabilityInclusion in #EiEPC announced at @GDS_Disability.

The pledge aims to strengthen the collection & use of disability data that reflects a holistic understanding of disability.

By improving data, #ECW & partners will ensure interventions are informed by community needs & local contexts👉https://t.co/deX9NcMWsA

#UN @dutchmfa @eu_partnerships @enabel_belgium @afd_en @fcdoeducation @sida #222MillionDreams

[Education Cannot Wait @EduCannotWait]

"We need to stop asking why inclusive education matters & start asking how we can deliver it. In humanitarian response, disability inclusion must be mainstreamed so every intervention ensures accessibility for children with disabilities." ~#ECW's @MahaKhochen

📍@GDS_Disability