The Coalition was launched on the sidelines of the Berlin 2023 Special Olympics World Games, and features representatives from Governments, United Nations (UN) agencies and other institutions.

It is funded by a grant from the Stavros Niarchos Foundation, and aims to expand inclusive sports and education opportunities to more than two million people in more than 150,000 schools over the next three years.

Representatives from Egypt, Gibraltar, Jamaica, Montenegro, Kenya, Iceland, Malta and the United Arab Emirates expressed their commitment to the Coalition at a roundtable event, and support has also been received from Mongolia, China, Ghana, Panama, South Africa and the Seychelles.

Securing engagement from 30 countries in three years has been targeted.

The UN Population Fund and Refugee Agency are also inaugural members, along with the Lions Club International Foundation and clothing giant H&M.

Opening the roundtable event, Special Olympics International chairman Timothy Shriver outlined the challenge faced by the coalition.

"There are 300,000 people with intellectual disabilities in the world - 85 per cent of them never see school," the American official said.

"They are not welcome to school in their community. 

"If they are, it is substandard, segregated, often under resourced. 

"Our movement in 180 to 190 countries around the world is to prepare to marshal a citizen army of advocates and supporters prepared to work to open the school doors, open early childhood centres, open community centres, open sports clubs, so the children who for centuries have been closed out can get in."

Greek Foreign Minister Vassilis Kaskarelis, Kenya's Second Lady Dorcas Rigathi, the United Arab Emirates' Ambassador in Germany Ahmed Alattar, Jamaica's Minister of Culture, Gender, Entertainment and Sport Olivia Grange and European Commissioner for Equality Helena Dalli were among the speakers who underlined the importance of inclusivity at the roundtable.

Lions Clubs International Foundation chair Douglas Alexander suggested a long-term goal would be integration of Special Olympics athletes at the Olympic Games.

"I hope we get to a day that we can remove the Special from Olympics and all Olympians can be in the same arena," Alexander said.

"We can have one Olympics, worldwide. 

"Just imagine how large and how great that would be."

The Coalition members were among a broader group who signed the Berlin Declaration, calling on Governments and the global community to pledge action to promote and invest in social inclusion in education through sport.

Shriver - the son of Special Olympics founder Eunice Kennedy Shriver and nephew of former American President John F. Kennedy - said afterwards the formation of the Coalition and discussions at the roundtable were a landmark in the pursuit of inclusion.

"I think Berlin is already an historic event in the Special Olympics movement, but it's also I think going to be seen as an historic event in the larger global agenda for promoting the power of sport and also putting the inclusion of people with intellectual disabilities on the global agenda," the American official told insidethegames.

"We've talked for generations about inclusion, we've talked for generations about diversity, we're talking increasingly about equity.

"These are critical conversations, but up until now 300 million people with intellectual and developmental challenges have largely been left out of these conversations.

"Today that changed."

Special Olympics Europe Eurasia President David Evangelista also stressed the significance of the Coalition's launch, but insisted there was much work still to be done.

"We're incredibly proud of what the discussions produced at the roundtable today," he told insidethegames.

"There was a very active and pointed discussion about the urgency of inclusive education through sport.

"We had 14 national Governments, UN agencies, corporate leaders, academic leaders.

"There is a myriad of things that still remain undone for the population of youth with intellectual disabilities, and by way of this convening we sent a big and powerful message to the global community that our Coalition will not rest until youth of all abilities are given a chance on the playing field, in the classroom and in the community.

"We're very proud of that, but we remain restless in our quest to make that a reality."

Eight days of competition at the Special Olympics World Games are due to run from today until next Sunday (June 25).