From school to the workplace, people with disabilities in Mozambique face stigma and discrimination. They are far less likely to be educated and can find it impossible to get into work. Lucy Lamble travels to Sofala province to see how a new initiative is opening up opportunities and transforming lives

Subscribe and review: iTunes and Soundcloud, and join the discussion on Facebook and Twitter

In Mozambique, as in many developing countries, people with disabilities face extra challenges from the start. At least half of the world’s 65 million school-age children with disabilities are not in primary or lower secondary school; between 80–90% of disabled adults are unemployed.

Lucy Lamble meets Tom Shakespeare of Light for the World to find out about a project that is changing attitudes in classrooms and workplaces around Sofala province, in central Mozambique. She speaks to 11-year-old Marta, and her family, about the equipment and support that have allowed her to attend school. Farmer Mateus Mbazo and chef Joana Nhantote – with her employer, Dauva Barrientos – discuss routes into the workplace, and Sofia Joaquim describes how a loan helped her set up a small business selling second-hand clothes. It’s an initiative with great potential, but can it be made to work across the whole of Mozambique?