In partnership with WHO and UNICEF, UNDP is supporting Mexico's efforts to ensure full inclusion of children with disabilities.
Every day at dawn, MelitĂłn RodrĂguez and MarĂa de los Santos go out to sell hot bread. The couple live in the town of Tecamalucan, in the southern state of Veracruz in Mexico. They have a 2-year-old son, Charli, for whom they work hard everyday to give him a lifetime of opportunities.
In April 2016, MelitĂłn and MarĂa decided to take Charli to the Yoltzin children's day care centre in their community. They wanted to leave their son in good hands while they went to work. Yoltzin - which means 'little heart' in the Nahuatl indigenous language - is part of the Children's Day-Care Programme to Support Working Mothers. This is an initiative of the Mexican Government that supports mothers, fathers or guardians who work, are job-seekers or students and have incomes below the minimum welfare line, making it difficult to access care services.
Cristina Jiménez works in the day care and welcomed Charli on his first day. As soon as he arrived, she realized that the boy, moved very little compared to other children his age and his legs were not as strong.
"We thought that he was left lying down lot of the time and that he lacked stimulation,” Cristina remembers. “We also saw that he had strabismus," a condition in which the eyes are not aligned. Neither MelitĂłn nor MarĂa mentioned their son´s condition, and Cristina surmised it was because they were unaware or because they feared that he wouldn´t be accepted.
Currently, more than 350 staff at children's day care centres in nine Mexican states are able to identify early warning signs in children that could present potential development challenges and/or disabilities. They are participants in a pilot project led by UNDP in collaboration with the Mexican Government, PAHO/WHO and UNICEF, and with funding from the UN Partnership on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNPRPD).
Thanks to Cristina’s analysis and a directory of organizations supporting the project, Charli was referred to a specialist and diagnosed with motor and visual disabilities, and delayed growth and development. Today he receives specialized treatment and gets the proper care at Las Estancia Infantiles, where his caregivers take care every day to include him in all activities and receives the attention he needs.
In Mexico, 144,000 girls and boys under the age of 6 years old have some disability, about 1 percent of the national population. That is why this project aims to strengthen public policies on early childhood to allow children with disabilities to reach their full potential and fully exercise their rights. This includes the adoption of inclusive care and attention models in day-care centres operated by the Ministry of Social Development (Sedesol) and special training for staff.
The project also supports Mexico’s efforts to comply with the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, an international human rights treaty that the Government signed in 2007.
For families, disabilities mean higher costs of living and loss of income opportunities for members of the household, who have to reduce their work load to take care of their children.
In Mexico there are about 9,200 Sedesol children's centres, each one looking after more than 30 children while their parents work. Thirty percent of these establishments serve up to 5,400 children with disabilities.
Thanks to her training, Cristina now knows how to respond and has support networks that make it easier to refer children like Charli to specialists, supporting the children and their families.
At 2 years old, Charli can now stand up. He plays and participates in activities with his peers. He has integrated himself and his peers treat him like just another kid. They understand when he has difficulty carrying out activities. Looking at him now, Cristina sees a happy child making progress every day.
"With the work done so far at the Yoltzin children's day-care centre, I can say with certainty that this inclusion project for children with disabilities is a great success,” Cristina says. “It’s in urgent need to be carried out formally in all the children's centres and in all institutions that serve young children."
Following the success of this first stage, the project expanded and now covers 6,050 centres in 19 states in Mexico.
"This seed that we sow in the little ones will become in the future a beautiful garden of inclusion based on respect, tolerance and love towards others," Cristina says with a smile.
The project is funded by the United Nations Partnership on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNPRPD), with the collaboration of the Ministry of Social Development (SEDESOL) of Mexico and the Deputy General Directorate of Children’s Centres (DGAEI) in the National System for the Full Development of the Family (SNDIF).
© 2026 United Nations Development Programme
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