The INEE Secretariat is pleased to share several INEE Minimum Standards Training updates and a range of new tools to enhance contextualized trainings on the INEE Minimum Standards. We give you highlights of MS trainings conducted in 2009, update you on new Minimum Standards training materials and a soon to be accessed Trainers’ Database.
Click here to read more of today’s listserv message.
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Two new UNESCO publications that draw together current research and document promising practice on the issue of responding to and preventing political and military attacks on education staff, students, teachers, union government officials and education facilities were released this month.
Education Under Attack 2010 documents the trends of attacks since 2007 and highlights a tragic rise in violent attacks over the past few years:
The number of attacks on schools, students and staff nearly tripled in Afghanistan from 2007 to 2008, up from 242 to 670;
In Iraq, 71 academics, two education officials and 37 students were killed in assassinations and targeted bombings between 2007 and 2009.
In Colombia, 90 teachers were murdered from 2006 to 2008.
In Pakistan, 356 schools were destroyed or damaged in one small region at the centre of the battle between the army and the Taliban;
In India, nearly 300 schools were reportedly blown up by Maoist rebels between 2006 and 2009;
In Georgia, 127 education institutions were destroyed or damaged in the conflict that took place in August 2008;
In Gaza, more than 300 kindergarten, school and university buildings were damaged, some of them severely, in the three weeks of Israel’s Operation Cast Lead spanning 2008-9.
The global report defines the scope of the issue, discusses challenges of data collection and analyses the motives behind the attacks. The report also documents some of the known short- and long-term impacts of attacks on affected communities and education systems as well as some of the prevention and protection measures that have been undertaken. Finally, the report examines the response to these attacks in terms of national and international monitoring and reporting, including combating legal impunity, and makes a series of recommendations for future action.
The accompanying publication - Protecting Education from Attack: A State-of-the-Art Review - presents key discussion points and 13 papers written by researchers and practitioners active in the field of protecting education from attack. The review also includes findings from an expert seminar held in Paris last year. The volume takes critical stock of knowledge on prevention and response with respect to both international law and interventions on the ground. Essays go into depth on particular elements of this phenomenon, including attacks on higher education communities and attacks against humanitarian aid workers. Several papers also deal with the debates surrounding the issue of applying and potentially strengthening the international legal provisions relating to these criminal acts.
To read the INEE listserv message on this topic click here.
To access a list of resources produced by other organisations working on this issue, click here.
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Dale Buscher is Director of Protection at the Women’s Refugee Commission.
Even before the earthquake struck, some 800,000 persons in Haiti were living with disabilities, including 200,000 children. An estimated 194,000-250,000 people were injured in the earthquake, many of whom will suffer long-term disabilities. Handicap International estimates that there are at least 2,000 new amputees.
People with disabilities are often overlooked, neglected and forgotten in disaster relief and humanitarian response. Yet they are among the most vulnerable of the affected, particularly if they have lost their traditional caregivers-extended families and neighbors. The organization I work for, the Women’s Refugee Commission, has identified problems faced by displaced people living with disabilities in settings around the world-and proposed solutions. We have outlined some key activities to help the people of Haiti who have sustained disabling injuries.
Humanitarian agencies and others working in Haiti must take these people’s needs, concerns and abilities into account when designing and implementing programs and activities in order to promote access, inclusion and the full participation of persons with disabilities. This is true whether providing shelter, food, water and sanitation, health services, education or livelihoods.
Since people with disabilities are often kept hidden out of sight or are unable to reach registration centers, special efforts must be made to locate and register them to ensure they receive the services they need.
Dozens of makeshift camps have sprung up around Port-au-Prince. As the crisis continues, it is likely that more long-term camps will be established. The shelters in these camps—as well as latrines, water points and bathing areas—must be accessible to all, and people with disabilities, including women, should be involved in decisions about where they are located. As planning for reconstruction gets underway, people with disabilities should be included, to make sure that permanent shelters, schools, health centers and other public buildings are accessible to everyone.
We saw disturbing pictures of near-riots as desperate people have fought to get food and water at distribution points. In such situations, the likelihood of people with disabilities getting anything is remote. They should be prioritized in food and water distributions, and arrangements should be made to deliver rations to those who are immobile.
Access to health care, including reproductive health services, is critical. Doctors and other health care staff, both those working with humanitarian agencies and Haitians, need to be trained on disability issues, and specialized treatment and assistive devices must be provided. There will be a great need for prostheses, and experts to fit them.
Many of the newly disabled are children and young people. Temporary and reconstructed schools must be made accessible to them, and it is important that children with disabilities be mainstreamed into regular schools and classrooms whenever possible. Children with specific learning needs should receive special educational services. This will mean providing appropriate training and support to teachers to equip them with the skills to address the learning needs of children with disabilities.
Besides having special needs, people with disabilities have great potential. Taking advantage of their skills, experiences and expertise, they should be tapped as program staff, project resource persons and program participants. They should also be included in skills training, income generation and employment projects, including cash- and food-for-work projects.
Those living with disabilities were underserved in Haiti prior to the earthquake and were often shunned and stigmatized. The emergency response and reconstruction efforts provide an opportunity to amend past neglect and discrimination and assist persons with disabilities to live richer, more dignified lives. Designing interventions that take into account the specific needs and abilities of people with disabilities can have an enormous effect on improving their well-being and their protection.
Click to download the Women’s Refugee Commission’s Persons With Disabilities and the Humanitarian Response in Haiti: Key Messages and Guidance for Action in English, French and Creole.
Click here to download the INEE Pocket Guide to Inclusive Education.
Charlotte Balfour-Poole is an education specialist and a member of Save the Children UK’s Emergency Response team. She recently flew to Haiti to support the education efforts on the ground. She shares her experiences and stories of children affected by the disaster.
Today I have seen and am beginning to understand the sheer scale and complexity of the situation in Haiti. Having arrived a few days ago and until now having only driven through various parts of Port-au-Prince, I was amazed at how many buildings were still standing. But today as we really moved around the picture was totally different. School buildings are completely flattened and teachers are nowhere to be found.
Speaking to children and parents the picture becomes even more harrowing. Every single person has in some way been affected, losing direct family members or friends.
One 14-year-old girl stood in the midst of her school (well, the rubble that remains of it) telling me how ready she is to return to school, despite losing friends who were in school at the time. She tells me that this is the first time she has stepped near the school again, because she was caught up in aftershocks. She lives under a makeshift shelter in the sports ground of the school with nothing.
She hopes things will be back to normal and school will start. Another girl tells me she wants to start school to stop worrying about things — at the moment she has nothing to do all day and sits and thinks about the earthquake.
As we enter the site where the Ministry of Education building used to be, we are confronted with cranes, and people wearing neon-yellow high-visibility jackets. The clearance of the building has already begun. Ministry officials were scrambling on the rubble to salvage education records, and are sadly still pulling out dead colleagues who were in the building at the time of the earthquake.
Only now can I really begin to understand why we are finding it so difficult to get school data — the system has totally collapsed. Even the Director General of the Education ministry is sleeping out in the open and is himself trying to find a way to move forward and get schools up and running again.
As we drive through the streets, with overcrowded camps dotted along the roadside, I see a young woman squatting in the gutter and another girl showering on the roadside. The conditions in the camps are certainly no better with serious overcrowding and a lack of food and shelter, and nothing for children to do.
I’m amazed at the children’s reslience though when I see a group of girls perform a dance and song for me, with huge smiles on their faces.
Every single child asks me the same question — when will we go back to school? One older girl asks me whether she will be able to sit her exams this year.
I feel so useless because I don’t have an answer. But it only compels me even more to get temporary schools up and running, even if only in a desperate plea to help at least some of these children return to normality and get their education back on track.
As I head to my tent in the grounds of our office at 11.30 pm after another long day, I at least feel fortunate that I have a bucket and water to shower with. There are so many children out in Port-au-Prince who are sleeping out in the open or, if they’re lucky, with a sheet over their heads, worrying about when their schools will start again.
“L’éducation ne devrait jamais être déterminée par les circonstances » a déclaré Ban Ki-moon, Secrétaire général des Nations Unies, lorsqu’il a lancé le 19 janvier dernier à New York, aux côtés de Irina Bokova, Directrice générale de l’UNESCO, le Rapport Mondial 2010 de suivi sur l’Education Pour Tous. Intitulé “Atteindre les marginalisés”, le Rapport 2010 signale que la communauté internationale n’atteindra certainement pas l’objectif d’enseignement primaire universel d’ici 2015. Le Rapport reconnaît qu’on assiste à un échec collectif de l’aide en faveur de l’éducation et déclare que le monde ne parviendra pas à scolariser tous ses enfants tant que la marginalisation ne sera pas au centre des politiques d’éducation.
Nous vous engageons à lire ici le message listserv de l’INEE rédigé à l’occasion de la parution du Rapport.
The GMR Team invites INEE members to participate in the on-line consultation (on-going through February 28) to develop content and research priorities for the 2011 Education for All Global Monitoring Report on Education and Violent Conflict.
Today on the INEE listserv, we launched a brief survey requesting users of the INEE Minimum Standards Toolkit to let us know what you think. In 2010 we will updating the Toolkit, and we would like to make sure it is as relevant and user-friendly as possible, so please help us out:
Ruth Levine is an internationally recognized expert on global health and health policy. She is a health economist with more than 15 years of experience designing and assessing the effects of social sector programs in Latin America, Eastern Africa, the Middle East, and South Asia. In addition to serving as CGD’s vice president for programs and operations, she leads the Center’s work on global health policy, including chairing a series of working groups on key policy and finance constraints to the effective use of donor funding for health programs in low-income countries.
Even before the earthquake, it was hard to be young and female in Haiti. It’s estimated that more than 35,000 women and girls have been the victims of sexual violence in Haiti since 2004. Gender inequality, poverty and economic vulnerability, along with cultural factors have put girls and women at heightened risk of sexual assault in recent years in Haiti. Rape, particularly gang rape, is used as a means of social control.
About half of the rapes in the country are among girls below the age of 18 and first sexual experiences are often forced. In a sample of Haitian girls in a GHESKIO study, one-third reported that they had been persuaded, tricked or forced into having sex the first time. There is also systematic and widespread violence against “restavek” domestic workers—children, generally young girls, whose families are unable to support them and who have been sent to work for other families who provide them with food and shelter.
As more than half a million people made homeless by Haiti’s earthquake are resettled temporarily into tented villages, those coordinating the relief efforts should be keenly aware of these underlying risks, amplified by the difficult circumstances that now prevail. They can and must take protect girls and young women. If they fail to do so, we will be reading stories of avoidable tragedies, as we have in other refugee situations: the teenage girls who, left unattended by both their families and official agencies, experience unimaginable physical and psychological trauma in temporary settlements after natural disasters or during conflict.
What’s to be done? Start with this:
In each settlement, create a “safe space” to which adolescent girls can go at any hour of the day or night for protection, and publicize it widely. Get older women to keep things organized, but make sure it’s a girls- and women-only area.
Make sure that the Minimum Initial Service Package of reproductive health care is part of the health services provided through relief agencies, and make them available to adolescent girls, regardless of marital status. All women, including girls, continue to have a range of reproductive health needs during times of complex humanitarian emergencies, and ignoring those will only make a bad situation worse.
Plan footpaths for water, food and other necessities with the safety of girls in mind. Teenage girls are often the family members sent to collect coal or wood, get water and do other types of daily errands. Those trips, sometimes to dark or remote areas, expose girls to danger. The risks can be lessened with temporary streetlights and ensuring that the routes are not isolated. Organizing girls into groups can also reduce opportunities for victimization.
Involve girls and young women in helping to solve the community’s problems. Girls and young women represent tremendous community resources, and can be brought into activities such as planning, construction, food and water distribution and many other tasks that are needed to support life in the tented villages.
This is just the beginning of what can be done to ensure the safety and health of the teenage girls in Haiti’s new tented villages. To find the motivation to follow through with these tasks and to expand upon them, those leading and implementing the relief effort need to answer just one simple question: “What if it were your daughter?”
Prêter attention aux filles : comment protéger les adolescentes en Haïti ?
Ruth Levine est une experte réputée en matière de santé mondiale et de politique de la santé. Ruth est une économiste de la santé ayant plus de 15 années d’expérience dans le domaine de la conception de programmes dans le secteur social, ainsi que de l’évaluation de leur impact, en Amérique latine, Afrique orientale, Moyen-Orient et Asie du Sud. Elle est la vice-présidente des programmes et des opérations au Center for Global Development (CGD), et dirige également les travaux du Centre sur la politique de santé mondiale, présidant en cette capacité une série de groupes de travail sur les principales politiques de santé et les contraintes financières pour l’utilisation efficace du financement des bailleurs de fonds pour les programmes de santé dans les pays à faible revenu.
Bien avant le tremblement de terre, il était difficile d’être une femme et d’être jeune en Haïti. On estime que plus de 35 000 femmes et jeunes filles ont été victimes de violence sexuelle en Haïti depuis 2004. L’inégalité des sexes, la pauvreté et la vulnérabilité économique, conjuguées aux facteurs culturels, ont exposé les filles et les femmes à un risque accru d’agression sexuelle au cours des dernières années en Haïti. Le viol, en particulier le viol collectif, est utilisé comme un moyen de contrôle social.
La moitié des viols environ en Haïti sont perpétrés contre des filles âgées de moins de 18 ans et les premières expériences sexuelles sont souvent forcées. Une étude menée par GHESKIO rapporte qu’un tiers des jeunes filles haïtiennes interviewées ont indiqué qu’elles avaient été persuadées, trompées ou contraintes à avoir des rapports sexuels la première fois. Il y a aussi la violence systématique et généralisée contre les travailleurs domestiques «restavek» - ce sont des enfants, généralement des jeunes filles, dont la famille d’origine est incapable de subvenir à leurs besoins et qui ont été placés dans d’autres familles pour y travailler comme domestiques en échange de nourriture et du logement.
Le séisme a rendu plus d’un demi-million de personnes sans abri. Ces dernières ont été installées de manière temporaire dans des tentes et le personnel lié aux efforts humanitaires se doit de s’intéresser vivement à ces risques qui sont naturellement accrus par les circonstances difficiles qui prévalent actuellement en Haïti. Le personnel humanitaire peut et doit protéger les filles et les jeunes femmes. S’il ne le fait pas, nous lirons bientôt des histoires tragiques qui auraient pu être évitées, comme ce fut le cas dans les autres situations de réfugiés : les adolescentes qui, laissées sans surveillance à la fois par leur famille et les organismes officiels, ont été victimes de traumatismes physiques et psychologiques inimaginables dans des campements temporaires après les catastrophes naturelles ou pendant les conflits.
Que faut-il faire? Commencez par ceci:
Dans chaque campement temporaire, créez un “espace sûr” où les adolescentes peuvent aller à toute heure du jour ou de la nuit en quête de protection, et assurez-vous que cet espace est connu de tous. Demandez aux femmes âgées de maintenir les choses organisées, mais assurez-vous qu’il s’agit d’une zone pour les jeunes filles et les femmes uniquement.
Assurez-vous que le Dispositif Minimum d’Urgence (DMU) en matière de santé génésique fait partie des services de santé qui sont fournis par les organismes humanitaires, et que ces services sont accessibles aux adolescentes, quelle que soit leur situation matrimoniale. Toutes les femmes, y compris les filles, continuent à avoir de nombreux besoins au niveau de leur santé génésique dans le courant de situations d’urgence humanitaires complexes, et les ignorer ne ferait qu’aggraver une situation déjà très difficile.
Etablissez de routes spéciales pour les corvées d’eau, de nourriture et des autres nécessités en gardant la sécurité des filles à l’esprit. Les adolescentes sont souvent les membres de la famille qui sont envoyées pour recueillir du charbon ou du bois, chercher de l’eau et s’occuper d’autres courses quotidiennes. Ces sorties, parfois dans des zones sombres ou éloignées, exposent les filles au danger. Les risques peuvent être atténués en installant des éclairages de rue temporaires et en veillant à ce que les routes ne sont pas isolées. Les risques peuvent également être réduits si les filles se regroupent.
Encouragez les jeunes filles et les jeunes femmes à participer à la résolution des problèmes de la communauté. Les filles et les jeunes femmes sont de ressource au sein de la collectivité, et peuvent participer à de nombreuses activités telles que la planification, la construction, la distribution de l’eau et de la nourriture ainsi qu’à d’autres tâches qui sont nécessaires au bon fonctionnement de la vie au sein d’un campement.
Il ne s’agit bien sûr que de quelques idées préliminaires en vue d’assurer la sécurité et la santé des adolescentes dans les nouveaux campements temporaires en Haïti. Maintenant, pour trouver la motivation de continuer et d’approfondir ce travail, nous posons une simple question à tous ceux et celles qui sont déjà engagés dans l’effort humanitaire : «Et si c’était votre fille?”
We are pleased to announce the INEE French Resource Update sent to the French Language Community on 28 January 2010. In this update you will find a list of recent resources and upcoming events, including tips on blogging in French. To read the entire listserv message, click here.
To join the INEE listserv and receive news and resources directly to your inbox, click here.
Nous sommes heureux d’annoncer le bulletin francophone d’informations de l’INEE envoyé à la communauté francophone sur le 28 Janvier 2010. Dans ce bulletin vous trouverez une liste de ressources et les événements récents, notamment des conseils sur le blogging en français. Le message de listserv est disponible ici.
Pour rejoindre la listserv de l’INEE et recevoir des nouvelles et des ressources directement à votre boîte de réception, cliquez ici.
Ban Ki-moon, Secretary-General of the United Nations, and Irina Bokova, Director-General of UNESCO, launched Reaching the Marginalized, the 2010 Education for All Global Monitoring Report at UN headquarters in New York on 19 January 2010. This was followed on 20 January by a policy event in Washington, DC at the Brookings Institution.
Click here to read the INEE listserv message about the launch, including the Report’s findings on conflict, natural disasters and marginalisation.
Sweta Shah is currently a consultant with the INEE and has been an active member since 2005. Prior to joining INEE, she was in Nepal for over 3 years heading up International Rescue Committee’s children and youth programme and its community based disarmament, demobilisation, reintegration project for former child soldiers.
The views expressed are those of the interviewee and do not necessarily represent those of INEE.
On 7 January 2010, three and a half years after the Comprehensive Peace Agreement was signed between the Communist Party of Nepal - Maoists (now called Unified Communist Party of Nepal - UCPN-M or Maoists) and the Nepal government, the discharge or demobilisation process of child soldiers has begun in the first of seven cantonment sites across the country. Over 3,000 of the cadres in the cantonments sites are or were minors in 2006.
Now as they leave the cantonments and make their journey home, formal and vocational education packages, along with psychosocial support and cash are being offered by UNICEF and other education and child protection agencies to help them rebuild their lives. The formal education package includes assistance to return to schools, where a great deal of recruitment occurred. The assistance includes payment of their yearly school fees and provision of school materials such as uniforms, books and stationary. Vocational education packages include support to learn a trade such as carpentry, welding and electrical wiring. The vocational education package also helps young people start a business.
UNICEF and other education and child protection agencies such as the International Rescue Committee and Save the Children have already seen great success with the provision of formal educational support and mixed results for the vocational/livelihoods packages for young people’s reintegration. Since 2006, over 7,500 children and youth have been demobilised through an informal process. Most were younger than 16 years old, and chose to return to school. This intervention had great success because children could continue their studies, had the normalising structure of schools where they could re-build their social support networks with other children, teachers and community members. Many of those over the age of 16 years did not want to return to school because they had been out of school for so long and wanted to get a job and work. For those, a vocational education/livelihoods package was designed to provide not only training toward a certification of a trade, but functional literacy and numeracy, life skills and business skills. This intervention had more mixed results, especially from agency to agency as slightly different approaches were used.
The majority of the young people being demobilised now through the formal process are over 16 with most over 18 years. They went to the cantonments because they wanted to stay with the People’s Liberation Army (PLA), the armed wing of the UCPN-M, and perhaps even join the Nepal army. Many of them also believe in the Maoists’ cause and political aims and want to help their party and country rather than go back to their villages to become farmers or carpenters. Recent articles claim that young people have explicitly said they are not interested in the education packages being provided.
With the mixed results we have already seen since 2006 in re-integrating young people through vocational education/livelihoods and the strong connection many still have with the Maoists, it will be interesting to see what happens.
Will the new educational packages really help these young people being demobilised from the cantonments reintegrate back into society?
Steve Haley has emergency relief experience in several countries in the Middle East including Iraq and currently Lebanon (since the July 2006 War) where he is Mercy Corp’s Country Director. Steve has also worked in countries from Italy to Tunisia in the public sector for the US Government. He holds a Masters degree in Theoretical Mathematics from the University of Padova, Italy, and originally hails from Portland, Oregon, USA.
This interview was carried out by Suzan El-Loulou, a member of INEE’s Arabic Language Community, and UNESCO Beirut Education Unit Programme Assistant.
The views expressed are those of the interviewee and do not necessarily represent those of INEE.
What or who most inspires your work day-to-day?
The inspiration for my work emerges from several factors depending on the day. Sometimes, local partners and the excitement of the beneficiaries are inspiring and motivating enough to create an optimistic sense of devotion in the work that humanitarian relief practitioners perform. The dedication of people you work with is genuinely inspiring especially if they are from the local community. For example, I recently attended a Cultural Heritage Exhibition that displayed a film about Tripoli which was fascinating and marvelous enough to grab the attention of any enthusiastic emergency relief practitioner. The film was produced by youth of 14 to 17 years of age, and seeing their excitement and eagerness to share their work was in itself very inspiring.
What success or achievement are you most proud of recently?
Recently, Mercy Corps in Lebanon has been working on a proposal to improve civics and citizenship education in the country. This proposal is expected to be a genuinely practical solution to some educational problems with the help of specialized experts. Basically, it aims to help children engage more in community service and understand its value in such a way that helps them grow up as conscientious as well as responsible citizens in the their local community and in the world. Practically speaking, this proposal’s main objective is to improve the way civics is taught and change it from mere memorization of laws and procedures to a concrete comprehension of social responsibilities in a way that augments the students’ involvement in their community and renders their role in society active rather than dormant. The target group of this proposal is school students from age 7 to 17 including various academic levels. I am proud of this proposal because I think once it is approved and tactfully implemented; it will guarantee a successful achievement and an immense step in the field of education as a whole and especially in community service.
Did your humanitarian work change you perceptions in life? Is there a specific experience that was a turning point in your life?
My work with local communities and stakeholders from different backgrounds affected my perceptions in several ways. My collaboration with these communities and coordination with local representatives changed my perception of them; I do not regard them as beneficiaries solely but rather as people I work with collaboratively and helped. Most importantly, the sense of trust that I have established with local communities is motivating enough to for me to share with them their aspirations, needs and worries. For instance, while I was working in Iraq in a Kurdish-Arab town, despite escalated tensions in this town, a friendly soccer match was organized on the International Peace Day to bring different parties together. Surprisingly, many politicians and senior officials from different parties attended the game, and bringing them together was a very inspiring moment.
What are the biggest obstacles facing the provision of education during emergencies in the region you work in, specifically the Middle East in general and Lebanon in particular?
Several obstacles hinder the appropriate implementation of education responses during emergencies in Lebanon. Specifically, the lack of coordination between stakeholders is a major obstacle that many active organizations in the field are facing. I think coordination should be meticulous thorough in a way that actively involves all stakeholders. The Ministry of education plays a vital role in this process. The Ministry of Education has to label the preparations and responses during emergencies as a priority. Non-governmental organizations and donors, ideally, should follow the Ministry’s priorities and should continue to coordinate during emergency responses. This coordination and preparedness are pivotal and can significantly facilitate emergency operations. Other obstacles are more general than being context-related and specifically pertaining to Lebanon. For example, in any emergency situations, security becomes a crucial obstacle, and subsequently some emerging relevant political issues (e.g. internal conflicts) might also influence the provision of education in emergencies.
Where do you view education in the ladder of priorities in emergency responses? Is it less pivotal than psycho-social support and/or other life-saving responses?
Education is as important as other life-saving emergency responses such as security measures and psycho-social support activities. For children, creating safe havens that help them return back to their normal daily lives is a very crucial issue, and the easiest way to do this is via education and in schools. When the target group in an emergency response is children, education becomes a top priority. It is definitely an integral part of emergency responses, and it should be synchronized with psychosocial support since many of the latter’s activities can be integrated in education.
What advice would you like to give to young professionals who just joined the Humanitarian Relief field?
I think that it is incredibly important to spend time in the field in the area where you are providing assistance. Getting ground-level field experience is a very crucial stage of social work, and it is during this particular phase that the social worker becomes active and involved in community service. It is not sufficient to just spend time in the field, but it is rather crucial to accept this kind of practical hands-on experience and relish it. If you really want to help the local communities, then you have to understand people’s needs so that you satisfy them eventually. Evaluation, monitoring, research and office work are essential to professional development, but they are not as critical and intense as field work. This work might be arduous sometimes especially for fresh graduates and young professionals in the humanitarian relief field, but it can be a very rich and motivating experience, and it is the best preparation for a devoted career.
I wonder, what inspires your work today? Has this changed over time?
Professor Professor Timur Goksel is a Lebanon-based conflict mediation and peacekeeping expert. He is a former United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) spokesperson and senior advisor. He is currently a Political Science Professor at the American Universit of Beirut and a senior risk and threat analysis consultant for several governments and NGOs.
This interview was carried out by Suzan El-Loulou, a member of INEE’s Arabic Language Community, and UNESCO Beirut Education Unit Programme Assistant.
The views expressed are those of the interviewee and do not necessarily represent those of INEE.
I see peacebuilding as a “multi-dimensional complex operation” that involves “preparing the basis for a good solution to end a certain conflict”. Sometimes, it is not enough to just end the conflict and stop the devastating bloodshed; there has to be organized follow-up that ensures the sustainability of peace. In this framework, peacebuilding emerges as a follow-up phase that comes after peacekeeping; basically, both missions are context-related, but the former involves more techniques while the latter is more operational in its nature and involves intervention as an enforcement phase. Peacebuilding helps in identifying “what happens after the conflict” in a certain country, and this variable definition renders it context-related, depending on various factors. Further, peacebuilding is becoming even more complicated than before because most of the conflicts now are internal (intra-conflicts: e.g. ethnic and/or religious groups in the same state) which are more arduous to control than external conflicts between different states. Subsequently, peacebuilding in these contexts becomes more onerous and “extremely complicated but much more needed”. For instance, the situation in Congo is gruesome, and the fight for natural resources is even aggravating due to external interference from outside countries in internal conflict. So mainly, peacebuilding, as a mission, entails similar goals in general, but the surrounding environment in its context can either facilitate the implementation of these goals or complicate it.
I am a pragmatic man and prefer to use practical facts and concrete on-the-ground examples in education. I think that if we lower down the level of peacebuilding to elementary level, it might not serve its intended purpose accurately. This does not imply that it should not be integrated into education from early stages, but it rather that it should be taught when it best serves its purpose. It is pivotal to include peacebuilding in educational curricula, but this step has to take several context-related factors into account. For example, if you take the Lebanese context: it will be too arduous and complicated to integrate peacebuilding into education if there is no unified curriculum with standard agreed-upon and unanimous syllabi for the relevant subjects that peacebuilding can be introduced in (e.g. civics, citizenship education and community service). In many schools, community service does not even exist as a subject which renders the integration of peacebuilding too complicated because there is no unified basis for such a context-related subject. Practically speaking, the presence of a “unified curriculum” facilitates the integration of peacebuilding whereas its absence makes it too difficult. In addition, teachers play a vital role in facilitating this integration if they are interested in the topic, and this can be directly reflected in classrooms. Their role as classroom facilitators who majorly influence students at any level might be even more critical than textbooks.
I believe it is better to introduce peacebuilding to students in higher education when they have the cognitive abilities to understand concrete examples and practical situations that are happening in different contexts around the World. In this case, a “top-down” approach that starts at higher education level is preferable and even more efficient. This methodology might be even more interesting for students than starting with theoretical concepts earlier, and then moving gradually to concrete examples that are happening on the field. For instance, if masters students discuss peacebuilding from a practical angle by considering a concrete situation that is happening somewhere, then this “top-down” practical approach might be more attention-grabbing for them than reading theoretical concepts about peacebuilding in a textbook.
Personal awareness and community service might be helpful in one way or another, but they are not sufficient to engender a major change in the students’ ideology. Basically, they might not completely fill in the gaps, but at least they help the students in becoming more aware and conscientious citizens. Nonetheless, they are “small and minor” activities to tackle such a wide and crucial topic.
The full report of this interview, including a biography, the interview questions is available for download here.
Do you have any reactions to Professor Goksel’s views? Is peacebuilding within education possible below tertiary levels? Are there any examples you can give?
Today we sent a message to INEE members with the latest information about the crisis in Haiti, and updates on the coordination of education response.
As the response to the acute emergency in Haiti continues, and educational services are reestablished, INEE morns the losses to our community, and emphasizes the role our sector, and INEE as a network can play as Haitians work to rebuild. Sharing tools and information and connecting education practitioners working directly on the relief effort with those that have experience from other emergencies is a service we encourage all INEE members to engage with and contribute to. Please comment below, link to tools or ask for more information.
Shogufa Alpar is an Administrative Assistant at the Polytechnic Institute of New York University and formerly worked for the Women’s Refugee Commission as a Program Coordinator. She lived in Pakistan as a refugee for over fifteen years while fleeing the war in Afghanistan. She is an active INEE member.
I have just read the BBC’s piece Casualties of War about the challenges faced by Pakistanis internally displaced in Karachi due to the fighting between the government and the Taliban in South Waziristan. It is disheartening to learn that a country in turmoil because of the insecurities brought on by terrorists refuses to accept displaced students into their public schools:
…discrimination is even taking on an institutional form. Public schools and colleges in Karachi are now refusing to admit students living in the city, unless their fathers were also residents. “I want to continue my education as soon as the new session begins,” says Yawar, Wilayat Khan’s son.
The challenges refugees face are insurmountable – leaving their home, belongings and community. Every day they are forced to make difficult choices, and as citizens of the world we need to make sure that their basic rights (water, food, shelter, education) shouldn’t be one of them.
It is the short-sightedness of the government to respond to terrorism just militarily. A country’s security and prosperity is in the hands of its government and citizens. In order to have a secure and prosperous country, there needs to be a civil society that can hold the government accountable for its actions or lack of it. For an engaged civil society there needs to be an engaged and active citizenry and for an engaged and active citizenry, there needs to be quality education for all.
It may sound unattainable to have quality education for all but we have to aspire and work towards it. There are so many resources that can help us take the steps toward quality education for all here on the INEE website. We need to hold the donor community responsible for taking a long-term approach towards fragile states: pushing them to implement innovative programming. Governments, UN and International and local non-governmental organizations need well-trained and qualified staff to effectively and successfully execute the existing international polices in the field. And above all, accountability by all parties towards the communities they are serving.
Are there any INEE members working in Pakistan that are aware of this problem? What advocacy has been undertaken to ensure the displaced learners have access to education, either in Pakistan, or other in other contexts?
Click here to view today’s jobs listserv message that includes two new opportunities: a Senior Program Manager/State Advisor in Sudan with the Academy for Educational Development and a Research Consultancy with the Center for Universal Education at the Brookings Institution.
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The fifteenth United Nations climate change conference is taking place from December 7 to 18 in Copenhagen, Denmark. Government leaders and scientists from nearly 200 nations will gather to discuss carbon emissions curbs, clean energy and other issues related to the global environment.
With natural disasters increasing in frequency and intensity, Save the Children estimates that over the next decade 175 million children per year will be affected by these disasters. As disaster risk reduction is a first step in helping communities to adapt to increasingly intense and frequent natural disasters, child-centered risk reduction should be a cornerstone of climate change adaptation.
Today, Thursday 10th December is World Human Rights Day, with a theme of non-discrimination. As practitioners, policymakers and researchers we must use World Human Rights Day as an opportunity to consider how we can ensure that our work is non-discriminatory and actively inclusive of all those affected by crisis. Click here to read INEE’s Listserv message marking this day, and see a selection of relevant tools, resources and websites to support us in our work towards fully inclusive education in emergencies.
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Peter Hyll-Larsen is coordinator of the Right to Education Project, housed with ActionAid International and in partnership with Amnesty International and the Global Campaign for Education. Peter is also focal point for human rights in the current INEE Minimum Standards Update process.
Human rights in emergencies are the same as human rights at all times and in all situations; they do not disappear, cannot be diluted, or put on hold. This is especially so for non-discrimination. It is true to argue that education is primarily a social and economic right, and it is therefore subject to progressive realization. This argument is in line with international treaties, and is perhaps especially relevant in emergencies, when the State and other duty-bearers have so much else on their hands – or when they may have disappeared altogether from scene.
No problem: apart from schools themselves acting as community centers, offering protection and shelter, it must be accepted that the provision of education is one or two steps after securing food and shelter …. but never more than that: two steps, and it is back to school and the attempt to re-create stability, continuity and mitigate the prospect of lost childhoods!
Once in school (in IDP camps, in temporary buildings, whatever), the most fundamental human right of any learner is the right to non-discrimination. This is especially so in emergencies, when many more groups will find themselves vulnerable and marginalised, when there is a fight for scarce resources and access, when groups already discriminated against will be pushed even further to the margins of society, and when discrimination itself may have been the cause or the fuel of the conflict.
Securing the right to education for such groups at particular risk of discrimination and exclusion is one of the fundamental challenges in emergencies. It is so for States, because it is in the treatment of these groups of society that we see the real test of a government’s duty to protect, respect and fulfill the right to education of its citizens and those under its jurisdiction.
The challenge is equally great for activists, civil society and the humanitarian agencies acting on behalf of the International Community, since it is in the active involvement, and in the consideration and respect for these groups throughout the planning, designing and implementation of education that we enhance opportunities for participation and accountability, recognizing everyone’s equal rights but different abilities.
Non-discrimination is the theme of Human Rights Day 2009, celebrated this week on the 10th December. We at the Right to Education Project join in the celebration by conducting an online Forum all week on the topic of discrimination in education. We hope very much that you have the time to surf past and contribute to the conversation: as INEE members you’ll bring the crucial perspective of discrimination in emergencies and the challenges emergencies pose to human rights. Visit the Forum here.
Attacks on learners, educators and education institutions are tragically common in many parts of the world today. From girls being attacked on their way home from school in Pakistan, to the disappearance and assassination of teachers and trade union workers in Colombia, to the occupation and destruction of educational buildings in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, these acts are abhorrent, violating fundamental rights and undermining the provision of education and the life-saving and life-sustaining supports that learning can provide, particularly in the midst of crises.
Reducing the incidence of attacks on education and bringing perpetrators to justice is critical to the safety and development of individuals and communities affected by conflict and insecurity. An international seminar convened by UNESCO from 28 September to 1 October this year brought together a range of actors, including education, protection and legal experts, to take critical stock of existing research and practice, identify opportunities to strengthen monitoring and reporting, increase accountability and encourage rigourous research to address these issues.
The recommendations from this event and a collation of new resources on this topic were shared on the INEE Listserv. To access the entire message click here.
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Zeynep Turkmen Sanduvac holds a BA in Social Work and a MA in Public Administration. She is an active member of Bogazici University’s Disaster Management Center in Istanbul and teaches a Safety and Security Course there. Zeynep has worked on disaster risk reduction projects as a consultant since 1999. She is a certified trainer for the Sphere Minimum Standards and Humanitarian Charter in Disaster Response and the INEE Minimum Standards.
Background
It was a nice coincidence that I came across the name of INEE as the network was preparing for the Global Consultation 2009, Bridging the Gaps: Risk Reduction, Relief and Recovery. I just sent an email to the INEE Secretariat to see if they needed any help with organizing the global consultation in Istanbul, I would be happy to give the needed support to the organizing committee… I promptly and kindly heard back from the INEE secretariat… so, my relationship with the INEE was started in this manner.
At the same period, I was working as a training consultant for the Sphere Turkey Adaptation and Dissemination Project for the MaviKalem Social Assistance and Charity Association (MaviKalem SA CA). The announcement about the companionship agreement between Sphere and INEE was sent by the INEE secretariat [LINK]. Timing was great when we, as MaviKalem project team, had just finished the translation of the Sphere Handbook in Turkish. We decided to add the “education” as fifth sector into the Sphere Training in order to give a taste to the audience.
When we shared this idea with both the INEE Secretariat and OXFAM UK, which had sponsored the Turkey Sphere Project, they were glad and supported us.
From the very beginning of the Sphere Turkey Project, we looked at the link between Sphere and INEE. However, since the INEE MS Handbook has been neither translated nor adapted to the Turkish context yet,it is difficult to give the full picture of INEE Minimum Standards to the audiences properly.
INEE Minimum Standards and DRR Consultative Workshop
Marla Petal, Focal Point Distaster Risk Reduction for the Minimum Standards update process [LINK], suggested that I organize a consultative workshop, which I accepted with pleasure. The following is a summary of the workshop which I hope would interest you.
The workshop was held at the Istanbul Medical Association (Istanbul Tabip Odası), from 9.30am to 13.30pm on September 10, 2009. The organization of the consultation was sponsored by Risk RED (http://www.riskred.org). MaviKalem Social Assistance and Charity Association (MaviKalem SACA http://www.mavikalem.org) hosted the meeting, arranging for the meeting place, coffee breaks, and copying of INEE Minimum Standards Handbook.
Ten participants joined the meeting: MAG Vakfı (Neighborhood Disaster Volunteers Foundation)/Tuzla Disaster Neighborhood Volunteers (6), FAYDER (Association of Fault) (1), and Sphere Instructors (3). Except three Sphere Instructors, no one was familiar with either the Sphere Standards or the INEE Minimum Standards.
Participants’ profile:
membership to a disaster related NGO (all of them)
experience on disaster response and recovery (all of them)
experience on working at tent cities (most of them)
experience on informal education (trainings to kids and adults) in past disasters (four of them)
Aim of the Consultative Workshop:
To get feedback on INEE Reference Tool [LINK], in terms of general feedback and integration of INEE Minimum Standards into the Sphere Handbook.
To get feedback on inclusion of DRR concept into the INEE Minimum Standards
The INEE Reference Tool was translated in Turkish with the support of RiskRED and designed and copied with the support of MaviKalem SACA.
Participants’ general feedbacks on the Reference Tool:
It needs a background brief note
The Reference Tool as it stands does not give the full scope of the INEE Minimum Standards. The PPT Introduction of INEE Minimum Standards and the Handbook portray more broadly the concept of the INEE Minimum Standards.
The adaptation of INEE Reference Tool is needed in order to contextualize it for the context of Turkey; adaptation is very context-specific (local, regional, national priority setting needed).
The group is willing to work on adaptation of the INEE MS Reference Tool. ( ½ day more in their place in Tuzla)
Further issues discussed at the consultative workshop:
Participants mostly focused on preparedness for disasters
Participants defined “community” as disaster-affected people and NGO members who represent survivors/affected people.
Participants highlighted that formal education in emergencies is mainly a duty of the National Ministry of Education (Province National Education Directorate)
Implementation of all formal education activities need MoE’s (provincial based) supervision, monitoring and evaluation
However, preparedness of NGO’s on education in emergencies is very important. Therefore, INEE Minimum Standards Handbook and training program would be very useful for preparedness of related NGO’s; from aspects of both NGO’s own activities in disaster field and cooperation with national education authorities and also lead them in terms of INEE MS for education continuity.
Have any other INEE Members used the INEE Minimum Standards for disaster preparedness? Can you share your experiences with us?
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Today is the 20th anniversary of the Convention of the Rights of the Child (CRC), which is a legally binding international instrument spelling out the principles that Member States of the United Nations agree to be universal - for all children, in all countries and cultures, at all times and without exception, simply through the fact of their being born into the human family. The four core principles of the Convention are non-discrimination; the best interests of the child; the right to life, survival and development; and respect for the views of the child.
The CRC is of particular importance to education in emergencies, because it forcefully brings together provisions relevant to emergencies and armed conflict in ways that few other international treaties do, offering added protection for the consistently most vulnerable group: the child.
To read INEE’s Listserv message marking this anniversary, and see a selection of relevant tools, resources and website, you can view the INEE listserv messsage here.
To join INEE and receive news and resources directly to your inbox click here.
Read about progress made in the last year in today’s listserv message, and learn about new opportunities around Sphere-INEE trainings and revision processes.
Click here to download and share the 1-year Anniversary flyer within your organizations and partners, to help raise awareness about the need for holistic humanitarian action that recognizes the critical linkages between education and the other sectors.
To receive updates on the field of education in emergencies in your inbox, please click here to join INEE.
Learn about the following new job opportunities here.
• Field Research consultancy with the INEE Working Group on Education and Fragility;
• Inclusion Manager for Indonesia with ASB;
• Internship with MASK in Kenya;
• Consultancy with the Education Resource Facility (ERF) for AusAid;
• Technical Advisory to the USAID Afghanistan/Pakistan Task Force;
• Technical Advisor for Youth and Livelihoods with IRC;
• Multiple Opportunities with American Institutes for Research in Timor Leste;
• Multiple Opportunities with UNICEF in Timor Leste.
Click here to join INEE and receive new job opportunities in your inbox.
INEE is developing a user-friendly tool on financing modalities for country-level actors working on financing of education. Click here to learn more in this recent listserv message.
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Shirley Long taught for several years ending up as a Head teacher for seven years in Oxfordshire, in the UK. She then worked as a volunteer with VSO for three years in Nepal 2003-2006 before taking up a post with Save the Children UK three years ago. Since then, Shirley has worked as an emergency response advisor in eight different countries and is also serving as a Technical Expert on INEE’s Teaching and Learning Initiative. These thoughts are Shirley’s personal reflections and do not necessarily reflect Save the Children policy.
Great progress has been made in defining and sharing thoughts and ideas around what the educationalists working on humanitarian responses are aiming to provide through ‘quality education,’ for example:
education that is appropriate to children’s developmental level, abilities, language, culture and potential,
use of effective teaching styles,
promotes respect for the environment
ensures the child’s access to information is from a diversity of sources
enables children, families and the wider community to play a role in the process of learning and the organization of education
regular, reliable and timely assessment, both summative and formative
provides an environment conducive to learning ie safe, child friendly environment where pastoral care as well as academic achievement is monitored and supported
offers support for teaching ie staff development plan and mentoring system in place, provision of appropriate teaching materials
encourages community participation ie parents and the wider community know their role in improving the local provision of education
Humanitarian responses occur only when education systems are failing or have failed and therefore inevitably the level of existing education provision will be low or non existent. The provision of any form of education in these circumstances is hampered by the lack of the most basic requirements:
The number of children able to access education
Trained teachers
Suitable buildings or space
Clean water supply and sanitation
Basic furniture and equipment
Teaching and learning materials
Under such conditions the only means to measure the provision of education will inevitably be in terms of the above, with the addition perhaps of the most obvious learning achievements such as attainment levels of reading writing and mathematics. The aim is to raise peoples’ awareness and understanding of ‘quality education’ in difficult circumstances.
As most Local Education Authorities in Britain struggle to identify what it is exactly they can measure to demonstrate quality we, working in crisis contexts, are faced with the same dilemmas.
How during a humanitarian response is it possible to put the ‘quality’ into ‘quality education’ and how do we know when and to what extent efforts have succeeded?
Definitions of the word ‘Quality’ offer slightly different meanings. eg it can be a degree of excellence or it can be a particular property or inherent distinguishing feature of something.
Without diminishing the importance of or denying a commitment to all children’s right to ‘quality education’ I simply wonder if to make progress towards ‘quality education’ we should concentrate on particular properties or ‘qualities’ of a ‘good education’ rather than trying to address ‘quality education’ as one thing.
Should we then be breaking it down and tackling the provision of ‘quality education’ in a more staged and context-driven way?
If we gradually work to develop and improve distinguishing features or ‘qualities’ of good education every time and be more rigorous in measuring what progress we make in a) providing specific feature(s) and b) in a specific context, might it result in a clearer and more focused approach and provide clearer ‘lessons learned’. Producing more appropriate evidence of good or bad practice will better inform future programming and contribute to more rapid progress towards the delivery of quality education.
So instead of trying to cover all aspects of education equally such as the learning environment, teachers’ professional development, community participation, maybe we should be more focused, agreeing as a humanitarian community the focus either for a period of time or particular context and agreeing and sharing specific forms of information we want to gather and all contributing to a central data collection or research program.
There is so much information and data currently collected but it is not organized or standardized sufficiently to be widely accessible, commonly understood or, indeed, very often useful.
To make progress towards understanding what quality education looks like and how it can be delivered, monitored and evaluated will take a great deal of continued combined effort to agree, share and work in a more clearly focused and rigorous fashion.
INEE’s Teaching and Learning Initiative is working to provide guidance on quality teaching and learning. If you are interested in finding out more, click here. You can also email .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) for more details.
Do you agree with Shirley’s thoughts? Should we prioritise some elements of quality above others? If so, which do you think would be most important in your context? Share your thoughts…
En française
Comment mettre la “qualité” en “éducation de qualité”?
Shirley Long a enseigné pendant plusieurs années, elle est devenue principale pendant 7 ans dans l’Oxfordshire en Angleterre. Elle a ensuite travaillé comme volontaire avec VSO durant trois années au Népal en 2003-2006. C’est après qu’elle a commencé à travailler avec Save the Children UK il y a trois ans de cela. Depuis, Shirley a travaillé comme conseillère en procédure d’urgence dans huit pays et elle fait également partie de l’équipe des Experts Technique de l’initiative INEE d’enseigner et apprendre. Les opinions suivantes sont celles de Shirley et ne reflètent pas nécessairement celles de Save the Children.
De grands progrès ont été accomplis dans la définition et le partage des idées autour de ce que les pédagogues travaillant sur les actions humanitaires visent à apporter grâce à «une éducation de qualité » par exemple :
Education qui est appropriée au niveau du développement des enfants, de leurs capacités, de leur langue, de leur culture et de leur potentiel,
Utilisation de méthode d’enseignement efficace,
Promouvoir un respect pour l’environnement.
S’assurer que l’accès de l’information de l’enfant provienne de sources différentes.
Faciliter la participation des enfants, familles et communauté dans le processus d’apprentissage et l’organisation de l’éducation.
Des évaluations régulières, fiables, opportunes, formatives et sommatives .
S’assurer que l’environnement d’apprentissage soit sûr, adapté aux enfants où le travail d’écoute et soutien ainsi que les réussites académiques soient contrôlées et évaluées .
Offrir un support à l’enseignement c.à.d. personnel de projet de développement et parrainer les systèmes en place, approvisionnement des fournitures scolaires nécessaires.
Encourager la participation communautaire c.à.d. que les parents et la communauté au large connaissent leurs rôles pour l’amélioration de la prestation de l’éducation locale .
Les actions humanitaires se présentent uniquement lorsque les systèmes éducatifs ont échoué ou sont sur le point d’échouer, ainsi donc inévitablement le niveau de prestation d’éducation sera faible ou non existant. La prestation de n’importe quelles formes d’éducation est entravée par le manque des critères de base:
Le nombre d’enfants ayant un accès possible à l’éducation
Enseignants formés
Lieux ou espaces convenable
Approvisionnement d’eau potable et systèmes d’assainissement
Meuble et fourniture de base
Fourniture d’enseignement et d’apprentissage
Sous de telles conditions les seuls moyens de mesurer les prestations d’éducation seront inévitablement à travers les critères de ci-dessus, ainsi que peut être avec les réussites les plus évidentes, comme par exemple les résultats de lecture, écriture et mathématique. Le but est de sensibiliser la population et leur compréhension d’une “éducation de qualité” dans des circonstances difficiles.
Comme la plupart des Autorités Locales d’Education en Grande Bretagne ont de la peine à identifier qu’est qu’ils peuvent mesurer pour démontrer la qualité, nous, les personnes travaillant dans les situations d’urgences, sommes confrontés aux mêmes problèmes.
Comment, lors d’une action humanitaire est-il possible de mettre la “qualité” dans une “éducation de qualité” et comment savoir quand et jusqu’à quel point les efforts ont réussis?
Les définitions du mot “qualité” offrent des sens légèrement différents. Par exemple il peut s’agir d’un degré d’excellence ou il peut s’agir d’une propriété particulière ou une caractéristique distinctive inhérente de quelque chose.
Sans diminuer l’importance ou de nier un engagement à tous les droits de l’enfant pour une “éducation de qualité” je me demande simplement si pour progresser vers une “éducation de qualité” nous ne devrions pas nous concentrer sur certaines propriétés ou “qualité” d’une “bonne éducation” plutôt que d’essayer d’aborder la question “d’éducation de qualité” dans son ensemble. Ne devrions nous pas décortiquer la prestation « d’éducation de qualité » et l’attaquer par étapes et d’une manière dictée par le contexte?
Si nous travaillons progressivement pour développer et améliorer des caractéristiques distinctives ou des “qualités” de bonne éducation, et être plus rigoureux dans nos mesures de progrès obtenu en a) fournissant des caractéristiques spécifiques et b) dans un contexte spécifique, il est possible que le résultat apporte une approche plus claire et plus centrée. De cette manière les “leçons retenues” pourront également être plus claires. En apportant des preuves plus appropriées de bonnes et mauvaises pratiques nous pourrons mieux informer les programmes futurs et contribuer à un progrès plus rapide vers l’apport d’une éducation de qualité.
Alors au lieu d’essayer de couvrir tous les aspects de l’éducation de manière égalitaire (comme par exemple l’environnement d’apprentissage, le développement professionnel des enseignants, la participation communautaire), nous devrions peut être être plus centré, se mettre d’accord en tant que communauté humanitaire sur l’accent à se concentrer pour une certaine durée ou sur un contexte particulier. Nous devrions nous mettre d’accord et partager les formes spécifiques d’information que nous voulons recueillir. Nous devrions également contribuer à une collection de donnée centrale ou à un programme de recherche.
Il y a tellement d’informations et de données qui sont collectées mais elles ne sont pas assez organisées ou standardisées pour être facilement accessible, comprise par tous, ou même très souvent pour être utile.
Afin de progresser pour une meilleure compréhension de ce qu’est une éducation de qualité et comment elle peut être livrée, contrôlée, et évaluée, il faudra faire de grands efforts pour se mettre d’accord, partager et travailler de manière plus clairement centré et plus rigoureuse.
L’initiative INEE d’enseigner et apprendre travaille pour apporter un guide sur la qualité d’enseignement et d’apprentissage. Si vous êtes intéressés d’en savoir plus cliquez ici (en anglais). Vous pouvez également écrire à .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) pour plus de détails
Êtes-vous d’accord avec les idées de Shirley? Devrions-nous donner priorité à certains éléments de qualité avant d’autre? Si oui, lesquels pensez vous serez les plus important pour votre contexte? Partagez vos idées…
Morten Sigsgaard is a consultant with UNESCO’s International Institute for Educational Planning in Paris, where he works on an IIEP publication about capacity development in the education sector in post-2001 Afghanistan. He recently authored a Situational Analysis of Education and Fragility in Afghanistan commissioned by the INEE Working Group on Education and Fragility. He sits on the INEE Minimum Standards Update Reference Group on Conflict Mitigation. In the following, he discusses the recent attacks on schools used as polling stations in Afghanistan.
As predicted, and despite strong opposition from UNICEF, NGOs and human rights organizations to using Afghan schools for elections, election day in Afghanistan saw 26 armed attacks on the 2,700 polling stations that were located in schools across the country. No casualties were reported because students were off that day, according to the Ministry of Education (MoE).
The discussion about using schools for elections is interesting. Rebuilding Afghanistan’s education system is not only about creating an educated population and skilled work force. It’s also the Afghan state’s tool to forge a uniform Afghan identity – across numerous social divides – and a citizenship bond between citizen and state. In villages, schools are sometimes the state’s only physical manifestation, and MoE policy is negotiated locally, not just with communities, but also with the Taliban and other insurgents that exercise de facto control over large parts of the country. In Kabul, the MoE probably is under pressure from within the state to help deliver a positive election result which could indicate to donors that democracy is developing and that the billions spent on war and development since 2001 have not been in vain.
Confronted with the news of the attacks, Asif Nang, spokesman of the MoE, told IRIN News: “We stand ready to make more and bigger sacrifices for the elections and similar important processes”, adding that the schools were only partially damaged, and that the attacks had not disrupted classes. In fact, Ajmal Samadi, Director of Afghanistan Rights Monitor (ARM), had already warned the Independent Election Commission and the MoE about this threat. In a commentary on 31 August, he writes that the MoE statement is indicative of a larger problem in Afghanistan, namely that the education sector over the past three decades has been abused by the rulers for their own ends, causing anti-education sentiments, especially in rural communities.
Prior to the elections, Samadi suggested a number of conflict mitigation measures; e.g. using mosques or other public buildings as polling stations instead of schools; and reducing military presence near schools. Government and international officials should treat schools as apolitical, civilian structures made to serve the communities exclusively. Girls’ education and curriculum reform should continue, but compromises are needed, e.g. gender-segregated learning spaces. Students shouldn’t greet official visits with flag-waving and singing; the Afghan flag, president portraits, and donor logos can provoke attacks and should be removed; and government and international security forces shouldn’t distribute school supplies and stationary items. Schools must be – and be seen to be – neutral places of learning, rather than showplaces of government policy successes.
The MoE partners with UNICEF, NGOs and communities to deliver education to the majority of Afghans who live in remote villages. Personally, I’m curious how this conflict potential between the communities and the state plays out – and how INEE members will act. Hopefully, this can spark a realistic debate about what governments and communities each can do to make schools zones of peace. This would increase the chances that the schoolchildren in Afghanistan keep on singing. Without waving the white flag.
Wildenes Etienne est un conseiller technique en éducation pour Catholic Relief Services (CRS) en Haïti. Il a participé à la formation de formateurs de l’INEE pour les Caraïbes en Guyane en Juin 2009. Ce post blog discute des questions du processus de phasing out (ou sorties progressives), et donne des exemples des expériences faites à travers le travail de Wildeness en Haïti.
Le cas des Gonaïves
En 2004 et en 2008, la ville des Gonaïves a été victime de catastrophes naturelles. Beaucoup de morts, de disparus, beaucoup de traumatismes et pertes matérielles. Cependant, la communauté des Gonaïves a reçu beaucoup d’aides : matérielles, économiques et psychologiques. Plusieurs institutions humanitaires nationales et internationales, plusieurs gouvernements amis d’Haïti ont dépêché des ressources pour aider Haïti en particulier Gonaïves. Cependant, les écoles transformées en abris provisoires étaient devenues des maisons de familles empêchant aux enfants de retourner dans les classes et de jouir de leurs apprentissages. Les droits à l’éducation étaient perturbés. Personne ne pouvait prédire quand les occupants des écoles allaient sortir pour laisser les salles de classe aux 30000 enfants pour leurs apprentissages. Cela provient du fait que les refugiés sinistrés n’étaient pas sensibilisés au fait qu’un jour ils devront quitter les lieux où ils se trouvent de manière provisoire. Etant donné que la nourriture, l’eau, et les médicaments leur ont été fournis, ils ne voyaient pas la nécessité de s’organiser pour disposer de manière durable de ressources pour se nourrir, se vêtir après le départ des institutions ou organisations humanitaires. Sis mois plus tard, lorsque certaines institutions ou organisations commencent à se retirer des Gonaïves, les gens devenaient mécontents et montraient des signes de détresse. Il a fallu intervenir pour calmer la fureur des gens en leur assurant que d’autres organisations continueront à leurs apporter de l’aide. Dans le plan d’intervention des institutions ou organisations, il n’existait pas de stratégies de désengagement. Delà résulte le fait que les gens des Gonaïves deviennent de plus en plus des assistés qui attendent que leurs problèmes soient résolus par des personnes venues de l’extérieur. Aucun effort n’est fait par eux mêmes pour changer leur situation, ils vivent une fatalité. Ils croient qu’ils ne peuvent s’en sortir. Ils sont dans une dépendance totale.
Le cas de Petit Goave
Au cours du passage des cyclones : Anna, Gustave, Ike dans la zone de Petit Goave en aout septembre 2008. Le programme EDUCATION de CRS Haïti avait dépêché une équipe sur le terrain pour évaluer la situation et encadrer les écoles victimes. Sur les 44 écoles bénéficiaires de l’aide de CRS 28 étaient endommagées et nécessitaient des réparations. Plus de 13000 enfants se trouvaient en situation difficile. Plus 1/3 des écoles servaient d’abris provisoires. Le Programme EDUCATION de CRS a donc organisé des rencontres communautaires avec les membres de la communauté de Petit Goave en vue de l’élaboration d’un plan de prise en charge. Il en résulte un projet de réhabilitation des écoles endommagées et de support aux enfants victimes des catastrophes. Il était clairement indiqué aux parents, aux enseignants et aux directeurs que le projet ne va durer que six mois et que après les membres de la communauté de concert avec les autorités du Ministère de l’éducation Nationale doivent se préparer à prendre en charge la gestion et le développement des écoles. Deux mois après soient en novembre 2008, toutes les écoles étaient libérées et les enfants pouvaient retrouver leur salles de classe. Avec un financement de l’UNICEF, les 28 écoles endommagées ont été réparées et les membres de la communauté ont été les ouvriers qui ont travaillé dans la réhabilitation des écoles. Au moment de faire le suivi du projet, on a noté une estime de soi, une dignité et fierté des membres de la communauté en expliquant qu’ils ont contribué à garantir les droits de leurs enfants à disposer de bonnes salles de classe. Le projet de Petit Goave est durable et le relèvement de la communauté est garanti par le fait que les membres de cette communauté a de la confiance en eux-mêmes.
Strategies de phasing out
informer la communauté au début de la durée du projet
créer un comité de prise en charge des activités
former les membres de ce comité en gestion de projet
impliquer les membres de la communauté dans l’exécution du projet
fixer et divulguer une date de désengagement
engager la responsabilité des autorités locales dans le processus de prise en charge
disposer d’un petit fond pour le comité au moment du désengagement
Il est important de faire une motivation pour redonner aux victimes le sentiment qu’il est possible de recommencer. Il faut déployer beaucoup d’efforts pour réduire le risque de créer chez les victimes la dépendance.
Quelles ont été les expériences et leçons retenues des autres membres de l’INEE lors d’une stratégie de phasing out (ou sorties progressives)? Comment peut-on améliorer ce procédé ? Connaissez-vous d’autres stratégies que nous pouvons ajouter à notre liste ?
In English:
Phasing out strategies: Experiences and lessons learnt in Haiti
Wildenes Etienne is an Education Technical Advisor for Catholic Relief Services in Haiti, and participated in the INEE Training of Trainers Workshop for the Caribean in Guyana in June 2009. This blog post discusses the issue of phasing out, and gives some examples from Wildenes’ work in Haiti.
The Gonaïves case
In 2004 and again in 2008, the Haitian town of Gonaïves suffered from natural disasters. Many people died, many disappeared, many were traumatised and there was a huge material loss. However, the Gonaïves community received a lot of aid: material, economic and psychological. Various national and international humanitarian institutions and governments gathered resources to help Haiti and more specifically Gonaives. However, the schools which were transformed into temporary shelters ended up becoming family houses, prohibiting children from going back to their classes. Their right to education was disrupted. It was not known when the occupants of the school would leave and enable the 30 000 children to return and continue their education. The problem stemmed from the fact that the refugees were not made aware that they would one day have to leave the place they temporarily inhabited. Seeing as they were given food, water and medicine, they saw no need to organise sustainable sources of food or clothing for themselves so they would be ready for the departure of the humanitarian institutions. So, six months later, when some of the humanitarian institutions and organisations began to withdraw, people became angry and showed signs of distress. To calm their anger, it became necessary to intervene and ensure that other organisations would continue to help them. However, the intervention plan put in place by the institutions and organisations had no exit strategy. Therefore over time, the people of Gonaives have come to expect that the answers to their problems will come from outside help. They make no effort to change their situation, thereby sealing their fate. They don’t believe their situation can improve. They exist in total dependence.
The Petit Goave case
When cyclones Anna, Gustave and Ike devastated the area of Petit Goave in August and September 2008, the CRS EDUCATION program sent a team to the field to evaluate the situation and supervise the affected schools. Out of the 44 CRS beneficiary schools, 28 were damaged and needed repairing. More than 13 000 children found themselves in difficult circumstances. More than 1/3 of the schools were used as temporary shelters. The CRS EDUCATION program organised meetings with members of the Petit Goave community to develop a plan for support. This resulted in a project to rebuild the damaged schools and provide assistance to the children who had fallen victim to the catastrophe. It was made clear to the parents, teachers and school administrators that the project would last six months and that the community members, together with the national education ministry, should prepare to take care of the schools’ management and development after this time. Two months later, in November 2008, all the schools were vacated and the children were able return to their classrooms. With funding from UNICEF, the 28 damaged schools were repaired with members of the community performing the repair work. During the project debriefing, a strong sense of self esteem was noted among community members. They expressed pride that they had contributed to safeguarding their children’s rights to decent classrooms. The Petit Goave project is sustainable and the recovery of the community is guaranteed thanks to the community members having confidence in themselves.
Phasing out strategies
Inform the community at the beginning of the duration/length of the project
Create a committee that will deal with distributing tasks for the support plan
Train the members of the committee on project management
Involve the community members in project implementation
Establish a date for withdrawal And make it known
Ensure the local authorities have a responsibility in the process
Reserve a small pot of money for the committee at the time withdrawal
Motivation is important to restore the victims feeling that it is possible to start again. Efforts must be made to reduce the risk of creating dependence among the victims.
What have been other INEE member’s experiences and lessons learned when phasing out? How can we do it better? Do you have any other strategies to add to my list?
The concurrent update of the Inter-Agency Network for Education in Emergencies’ Handbook of Minimum Standards for Education in Emergencies, Chronic Crises and Early Reconstruction (2004 edition) and the revision of the Sphere Project’s Handbook - Humanitarian Charter and Minimum Standards in Disaster Response (2004 edition) are now underway. In line with the Sphere/INEE Companionship Agreement, we are seeking to ensure as many linkages as possible between the update and revision processes. Specific activities include mutual representation in the respective revision structures and processes, with the objective of mainstreaming education and references to the INEE Minimum Standards throughout the Sphere Handbook and strengthening inter-sectoral linkages and references to the Sphere Handbook in the INEE Minimum Standards Handbook. In addition, reference will also be made in both publications to the companion relationship and complementarity between the Sphere and INEE standards.
If you would like to provide specific suggestions on how to best mainstream education in the next edition of the Sphere Handbook and strengthen the linkages between the two sets of standards, you may:
Conduct a local/regional or community level consultation meeting. Guidance on running consultations is available here. Feedback should be provided at the latest by 30 November 2009.
Provide feedback to Allison Anderson (INEE), email: .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) and Avishan Chanani (Sphere), email: .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
Today on the INEE Listserv, the INEE Working Group on Education and Fragility shared an Update on the Situational Analyses of Education and Fragility - Afghanistan Desk Study, Liberia Field Study.
Today on the INEE Listserv, the INEE Working Group on Education and Fragility announced the release of an issue paper entitled Capacity Development for Education Systems in Fragile Contexts. To read the entire listserv message, click here.
To join the INEE listserv and receive news and resources directly to your inbox click here.
In the past ten years, Afghanistan has made enormous progress. Schools have reopened and young people stream into classrooms. Afghanistan continues to work hard to remove barriers to learning, resolved to improve opportunities for its children to fulfill their potential.
Marking the first anniversary of Dr. Kirk’s tragic death, INEE is launching a Commemorative Competition, seeking to identify academic papers and practitioner-authored case studies that document innovative gender-responsive research, policy or practice in the field of education in emergencies. Download the Call for Papers and Case Studies here.
Joyce Wanican, the International Rescue Committee’s education program manager in northern Uganda, shares her story: She was working with the IRC, training teachers at a refugee camp when rebel troops came through. She lost her home and all her posessions. All her students fled with their families—and almost had to miss the all-important national exams. But Joyce wouldn’t let that happen. She successfully appealed to the government of Uganda to reschedule the test. She found all her students at another refugee camp, 65 miles away, and asked them to go back to school the next morning and start studying. “Every big tree in the camp became a classroom,” she said. “We had no time to waste.” Despite everything, Joyce’s students’ exams came back with the “best results ever.”
In July 2009, INEE Issued a listserv message titled “Moving Forward the Sphere and INEE Companionship: Call for Case Studies on Intersectoral Approaches to Education.” As part of the operationalization of the Sphere-INEE Companionship agreement, this initiative aims to build an evidence base which all members can use to inform policy, advocacy, tools, training and best practices.
This call, made in July 2009, aims at creating a central location for interested professors, instructors, students, and others who are developing curriculum and course outlines in the field of Education in Emergencies.
Michael Gibbons, INEE Member and Consultant, describes how the INEE network buttresses the efforts of practitioners working towards Education For All:
I continue to be inspired by our actions, our progress, our energy and commitment as a world community as expressed through the INEE network, a remarkable commons for collective exchange and action on behalf of our 70+ million children out of school.
I made a choice several years ago to work independently as opposed to being an officer of a large international organization in order to provide myself the flexibility to work on child rights and the right to education in ways I felt were best – I traded freedom and flexibility for a drastic reduction of institutional clout. I rely on social networks developed over a 30-year career in basic education and development to remain engaged and find opportunities to contribute. INEE membership is perhaps the most powerful of these networks I rely on because it is self-aware/self-critical, inclusive, catalytic, strategic, powerfully positioned, intelligently focused and it offers a myriad of ways for determined individuals and organizations to make meaningful contributions in concert with others to important Education for All (EFA) policy, knowledge-building, capacity-strengthening and programmatic lines of action.
I believe deeply that the world will benefit from new forms of leadership that are less hierarchical, less centered on wielding power, less “male”, and more inclusive, distributed, focused on shared-cooperative capacity. INEE embodies this type of leadership and seeks to be ever more like this vision of leadership-by-all. This is another reason I treasure my association with INEE.
The INEE consultation which concluded April 2 in Istanbul indicates that much urgent work on several key dimensions of the “underserved” aspects of the EFA agenda is moving ahead, has champions solidly behind it, and requires more effort and more support. These dimensions include:
Keeping EFA advocacy attention on the most underserved populations and weakest-capacity national systems
Focusing attention on “the teacher” as the lynch-pin of expanded access and improved quality
Articulating and reinforcing evidence of the fundamental role of education and human capacity development in promoting human rights, mitigating disasters, enhancing stability and fostering development
Integrating/harmonizing approaches to EFA across humanitarian, fragility/ stability and development areas of policy and action
Fostering dialogue and cooperation among education Ministries, donor agencies, INGOs, local activists, researchers and other types of actors committed to EFA
Encouraging thoughtful efforts to document emerging knowledge about ways education can work in extremely difficult circumstances
Two final thoughts – First: In keeping with INEE’s vision and core values and hearing all the strands of discussion this past week in Istanbul, I see a compelling argument to re-orient the focus (and perhaps change the name) of the INEE Education and Fragility Working Group around the notion of “Education, Resilience and Stability” – in other words, defining the purpose of the WG not as ‘problem-solving for education re the current problem of fragility’, but rather promoting education as a transformative vehicle of personal and community resilience contributing to national stability. We know this WG focuses on what the donor community currently calls the geo-political problem of “state fragility”, but we can define our stance viz a viz this phenomenon in keeping with our own values and vision that education can and should be transformative.
Second: As I listened to the powerful reflection messages of our final plenary panelists and align those messages with the framing structure in Peter’s ‘donor architecture map’ from the first day, I begin to see an interesting circle of convergence taking shape in my mind. In the EFA world, the drive is on to push through expanded access among the poor to address large-scale quality and system stability to fuel development. In the humanitarian/security world, we are moving from a focus on access during crises to education preparedness and mitigation of crises, peace education, mainstreaming innovations and building back better to foster social and state stability. As we engage with Ministries of Education and systems of teacher formation and support around the education-in-emergencies issues, can this new impulse fruitfully integrate into other mainstream EFA efforts in the final six-year push toward the MDG/EFA goals? I harbor hopes that, as the vibrant INEE network within the wider EFA family, we can.
Eric Eversmann, Senior Technical Advisor, Education for Catholic Relief Services USA, reflects on INEE’s evolution:
As I write this, the INEE world that descended on Istanbul this past week is winding down. The Global Consultation is over, the task teams have met, the language communities have convened, and the working groups have worked over all the information that came out of the consultation. Only the members of the Steering Group and Secretariat are still going: locked up in a hotel on Istiklal Caddesi, considering all our feedback and priorities.
The meeting’s size and diversity made it hard to identify over-arching themes. Actually, in the end, maybe ‘size’ and ‘diversity’ are the big themes. I was struck by the changes in the network and its members over the past four years. It has grown exponentially and with that growth has come a greater confidence in what it can do, as well as an increasing sense of ownership among the membership – the sense that INEE is first and foremost our network.
There were also more people from different places involved. Governments, youth, researchers and specialists from related fields, such as early childhood development and disaster risk reduction, were all much more in evidence. Their presence served to constantly remind us of the dynamic world of practitioners, partners, colleagues and rights holders alongside whom we work.
In all of these positive developments, there are two things that I think it is important for us to remember. First, that this is our network and therefore the burden of energy and effort to move forward those things that we are passionate about rests primarily with us. Putting forward our ideas at the Global Consultation is one thing, but following up on them is another. The second is that we are strongest when we work together. This requires us to focus and find consensus around our priorities in order to continue to be effective.
For the Minimum Standards, the INEE initiative that I have worked most closely with, the lessons from the global consultation will be a key part of the work going forward. The update of the standards will be strengthened by including the wide range of actors who attended the global consultation. At the same time, it will require focus and the continued engagement of us all.
In the coming months, look for an online questionnaire to contribute your recommendations for the update of the Minimum Standards. And if you are interested in staying engaged, think about joining one of the reference groups, which will lead the update in key areas such as gender. I will be there and also thinking of what amazing part of the INEE world I want to be part of next.
Edited to add: The INEE Minimum Standards Update Online Consultation has now been launched. Click here to add your voice.
Mike Feigelson is a Programme Officer and an Acting Programme Manager at the Bernard van Leer Foundation in the Netherlands and member of the INEE Early Childhood Task Team.
On the last night of the consultation, I went out to dinner with some of the organizers (fantastic job by the way!) and a few participants. At the end of the night I went to shake hands with one of the other guests. She stopped me, pushed my hand a way and gave me a hug… “now you’re part of the INEE family,” she said.
This sense of an intensely committed and intimately knit family is what most struck and impressed me at the consultation (that and the way everyone sat up straight the moment Mary Mendenhall stood at the podium ☺).
That said, I was left wishing that the ECD community were a more fundamental piece of the INEE family. I could see great strides were made in this sense and the appointment of Mary Moran from CCF to the INEE Steering Group is heartening in and of itself. But, I am still left wanting to see a more compelling articulation of the experiences of young children within the INEE agenda.
So, some thoughts on what that might look like before I return to the stack of documents, which have piled up in my inbox over the week in Turkey:
Maybe it means that when we track resource allocation for conflict-affected countries we see a number for the ECD subsector (thankfully numbers, unlike people, can be easily seen even when they are small)
Maybe it means that researchers consider the way the ECD programmes (which support a strong social and emotional foundation) are not only good for young children, but can simultaneously optimize the impact of other common educational programmes by mobilizing women and girls…
Maybe it means wondering what it means that the youngest children are forming their worldviews based on a world of violence…
And for the ECDers out there…I think David Skinner (Director for Save the Children’s Rewrite the Future) pointed out the critical question to consider. What is the compelling, MDG-like outcome that can help explain to people what this is all about?
Photo: Louise Zimanyi, Director of the Consultative Group on Early Childhood Care and Development speaking during the Closing Plenary session
Prof. Qasem Alnewashi, Education Technical Advisor at the International Rescue Committee (IRC) in the Middle East shares his thoughts and experiences about the 3rd day of the 2009 Global Consultation in Istanbul:
On this Thursday, while the INEE Global Consultation aims at bridging the gaps currently affecting education in emergency, leaders of the G20 countries agreed to kick-start the world economy by pulling together billion-dollar plans to save banking systems in crisis. Is there a link between the two emergencies? At least our Consultation conclusions should highlight the extent of global inequality in educational opportunity which will give the G20 leaders pause for thought when they recognize that approx. 75 million children are out of school worldwide, most of them in conflict-affected countries.
While I am a newcomer to the INEE growing family, I have an interest in most of the concurrent sessions, but I cannot attend all… so I found myself somewhat lost! But during the lunch and coffee breaks I tried to catch up through my colleagues who attended sessions of my interest and discussed with them the questions that I would like to have answered. It was exciting to hear a lot of invaluable thought and suggestions on what needs to be updated in the INEE Minimum Standards. In the session “INEE MS: What Are the Next Steps?”, the presenters explained how every single aspect is taken into consideration in order to make the MS fit to all purposes and contexts. For example, Jennifer Sklar indicated in her presentation that even the format of the INEE MS handbook is taken into deep consideration to support their use by varying contexts and stakeholders.
The closing plenary was very informative and chaired by an exiting facilitator, Mr. Peter Buckland, Lead Education Specialist from the World Bank. The speakers reflected upon their practices and the key findings that emerged during the two and half days of the INEE Global Consultation, and they also focused their comments on the priorities for collective action and the gaps that remain to be bridged. Among all the representations in the closing panel, I would like to focus on the interesting case study of INEE as a network conducted by the Overseas Development Institute (ODI), in which a young intellectual, Simon Hearn highlighted the INEE’s forms and functions, strengths and challenges, and made some recommendations for the network’s continued development as a collaborative community and how to promote a dynamic membership to advocate the field of education in emergency.
Away from the regular agenda of the Consultation, this event shortened, at least to me, distances and times! I conducted meetings with people who are in my agenda and I might need several months and thousands of dollars to organize such meetings. In these meetings with colleagues from different agencies whom I had never met in person, I put names to faces. We put together our plans and strategies for next steps. For example, an interesting meeting, during a coffee break, with Prof. Christopher Talbot on the Certification of Iraqi Refugees in the Middle East. The discussion led us to plan for a joint IRC-UNESCO-UNHCR-UNICEF workshop to complete, as an obligation, the task that our colleague Jackie Kirk (who passed away tragically in Afghanistan) had planned to carry out in the region.
Among countless positive remarks regarding the Consultation, I would like to suggest that if it is possible for future events to ensure that a representative participation, presentations, and speakers to cover the different regions around the world, as I noticed that most of the activities are selected from Africa and east Asia, but for example very little from the Middle East. Also, I do support the idea of considering more participation of the governmental entities in the Network, focusing mainly on the countries where tensions are there.
At the end of the exciting day, I joined the Arabic Language Community meeting, in which the members got to know each other for the first time, at least for me. We discussed intensively the community achievements during the last year, including the re-translation of theINEE MS into Arabic including the re-translation. The facilitator, Mr. Mustafa Osman from Islamic Relief led the discussion related to the communication issues and the brainstorming for the way forward and the coming action points.
Finally, given the critical importance of education in emergencies and the urgent gaps and challenges highlighted in the Consultation, several actions are crucial to consider: higher education institutions should include education in emergency as a profession within their academic and research programs. And governments, NGOs and UN agencies should include education in emergencies as a relief measure and more sustained attention to and it within basic relief assistance through to recovery.
As the Consultation draws to a close Carl Triplehorn, Independent Consultant, blogs of meeting new and old colleagues
I just shoved my conference badge into my computer bag and am rushing out to see the Blue Mosque before my plane tomorrow. The badge is shoved next to my uneaten sandwich, business cards from new colleagues, the crumpled conference brochure and my scruffy notebook. I don’t think I have eaten a full lunch during the whole conference as I have been busy catching up with old friends and meeting new people between sessions in the hallways. The conference badges have been invaluable to seek out people whose work I had read or whose programs I had heard of and tell them how I had benefited from their work. In the last session, I struck by how freely people felt to give and receive criticism. Some of the most critical were the youth representatives who constantly reminded us that despite all of the work of INEE and its members that the vast educational needs remain unmet. My conference badge and uneaten lunch will eventually end up the garbage at hotel. The business cards will be input on my computer on the plane. My scruffy note book will be on my desk for follow up people to contact and ideas to write, further expanding the INEE family. Now that I think about it I hope my notebook doesn’t smell from having squashed my uneaten sandwich. (What about my computer!)
Yahoko Asai, Education Programme Officer (Basic Education and Gender Equality) for UNICEF Eritrea and member of the INEE Task Team on Inclusive Education and Disability reflects on some of her favorite sessions and speeches:
I am really excited to be here, for the first time participating in the Global Consultation. Why? First, the Global Consultation brought 270 colleagues from around the world. While it is a small number considering the total number of INEE members of more than 3,400, it is still a big number, providing me with a wonderful opportunity to meet various people – old friends, classmates and teachers at the Masters Degree, colleagues from the same organization I am now working with, practitioners from the countries where I have worked, and of course many more new people with different and interesting backgrounds and solid expertise. I can finally put some familiar names I have known only from the papers, books or emails to faces. Especially, being a member of the Inclusive Education and Disability Task Team, it was really a pleasure to meet the team members who are truly experienced and committed to advance inclusion in education in emergencies. INEE is indeed a network of people.
Second, it is exciting to hear a lot of inspiring insights as well as new issues/agenda from our colleagues in every plenary and working session. Let me highlight the comment from Ginny Kintz in the morning plenary session which I found simple but very concrete and important, and thus I want to always keep in mind. She argued that sometimes our attentions are paid more to technical aspects of education in areas affected by disasters, such as how to construct schools and how to conduct teacher trainings. However, she suggested that we should not forget to think about why – why education is important in disaster- or conflict- affected contexts, because this question allows us to have a holistic approach in interventions.
Another exciting topic discussed in one of today’s working sessions would be, I believe, also of interest of all INEE members: Updating the INEE Minimum Standards. Briefly, the update is to reflect developments in the field of education in emergencies (such as the IASC Education Cluster), to make the Minimum Standards more user-friendly and to incorporate the experiences of users of the Minimum Standards. The process has just started here in Istanbul and will continue into early 2010, in parallel with the revision of the Sphere Standard. INEE members, get ready to share your insights and get involved!
Members of the Women’s Refugee Commission Youth Advisory Group (YAG) have been active particpants at the INEE Global Consultation in Istanbul. They have shared their experiences of growing up in conflict, and what they—and other young people—are doing to rebuild their communities and make recommendations to decision-makers to better support young people.
Two of the YAG members were selected by INEE to speak at the opening and closing plenary sessions along with senior UN and government officials. All YAG members participated in a learning session on strategies to address the educational and skills building needs of displaced youth organized by the Women’s Refugee Commission, Norwegian Refugee Council and INEE’s Adolescent and Youth Task Team.
The Youth Advisory Group (YAG) comprises 15 young women and men (age 18-27) from various conflict-affected countries around the world. The members provide ongoing feedback and guidance to the Displaced Youth Initiative. The members, who come from Afghanistan to Burma to Uganda to Sri Lanka, were nominated and selected to participate based on their experience addressing youth-related issues in their communities.
This is the first opportunity for all YAG members to come together in person and participate in a strategic planning meeting. Advocacy training for all YAG members formed a core part of the three-day retreat as requested by the members.
Gary Ovington, Senior Emergency Specialist, Education at the Asia-Pacific Shared Services Centre (APSSC), UNICEF, Thailand speaks of his experiences today in Istanbul
The long-awaited 3rd INEE Global Consultation kicked off this morning in Istanbul with a fascinating mix of in vivo and video presentations. At risk of losing friends, though not face, I would like to single out two presentations from the welcome and opening plenary that particularly touched my heart. They touched my heart, I suspect, partly because they were spoken from the heart (as indeed were a number of presentations), but also because they were born of personal suffering.
The first, from the seemingly ageless and peerless Desmond Tutu, whose measured and eloquent speech drew particular attention to conflict in the contemporary world and how it was preventing 40 million children from attending school. Two messages that struck a deep chord for me were: invest in people, invest in children; and we need to teach children to love and not to hate. Such simple messages, too oft forgotten.
The second was from Khin Htway who delivered an impassioned and heartfelt plea from the perspective of a young woman denied her dreams and her basic rights to tertiary education. Truly, a remarkable effort from a young woman who learnt English only five years ago and a wonderful example to us all.
I felt that almost all the speakers gave a personal touch and for me this set a tone which I hope we can follow throughout the next three days. Too often we attend professional gatherings that leave a slightly clinical taste in my mouth. It’s good to be reminded that within those gruesome statistics are faces, feelings, live flesh and blood beings whose lives have often been an endless saga of suffering and despair. Let’s not forget: education in emergencies is much more than a matter of academic interest.
The second plenary brought together the vastly different yet equally pleasing styles of Peter Buckland, Marla Petal and Allison Anderson. Peter brought us humour (and a bit of literary flair with his architectural metaphors), Marla brought us passion from the critical field of disaster prevention (Marla tells us that risk reduction is out; let’s raise the bar) and finally Allison, our INEE leader, helped us remember why we are now 3,400 members, how much we have grown.
I must confess that after the plenaries I was a little disappointed with the two learning sessions I attended. Not because there was a shortage of good information and good speakers, but because I felt the smaller numbers in these sessions allowed for interaction on a scale not possible in the larger plenaries, they allowed for a little innovation in methodology. Yet I was treated to a series of traditional speeches, mostly with powerpoints (a very overrated technology!) followed by questions and answers, comments and observations. My heart craved for a little genuine adult learning methodology. Come on team, let’s dance together!
Ragnhild Dybdahl, Director of Education and Research Department at the Norwedian Agency for Development Cooperation (NORAD) shares her experiences of the first day of presentations and workshops in Istanbul:
I found all the sessions I attended today interesting and inspiring. Those who know me will know that this is not obvious. This is the first time I attend a consultative meeting and I find the meeting of practitioners, academics, policy makers, donors refreshing. Peter Buckland’s areal overview of the aid architecture with its many acronyms and boxes explains why this is a map that is hard to grasp – and that the difference between the areal overview and the real world is often vast. His comments that the map of the aid architecture was not planned by an architect, but perhaps by a town planner, and what it shows is not really a town, but rather an informal settlement, were much appreciated. However, the relationship between the many parts of the global architecture on global and country levels were clarifying, and the increased significance of NGOs and the more proactive role of donors in the shaping of the architecture during the last ten years were interesting.
The presentation on school safety by Marla Petal was powerful, showing not only that disasters impact on education, but that prevention is possible.” It’s a technical field, but it’s not rocket science”. What we often call natural hazards such as floods, wind, earthquakes, drought, and tsunami lead to about 400 national disasters, an average of 74,000 deaths and more than 230 million people affected every single year. Thousands of children and teachers have died in school buildings, schools are destroyed and education disrupted. Disasters have physical, educational, economic and psychosocial impacts. Our task is to make every school a safe school. As a recovering psychologist (almost quoting Peter Buckland who claims to be a recovering bureaucrat), I particularly appreciated that she stressed that making schools safe is fundamental to psychosocial recovery. This linked well into the welcome address and opening statement by Prof Arslan, from the Turkish Ministry of Education. A civil ingeneer with a sound practical approach that fits the conference and speaking of Turkey’s experience (with one major earthquake every eight months), he illustrated well the importance of planning, preparedness and quake resistance of buildings before crisis, as well as the impact on schooling during and after earthquakes – and the importance of resuming schooling as soon as possible, not only for learning purposes but to give structure and meaning in difficult times.
Also being a recovering academic, I suppose my favourite topics for discussion in the coffee breaks were about research needs. I thought the role of solid rigorous needs assessment, evaluation and monitoring was spoken of with more urgency and sincerity than I have heard in most other contexts. I found the expressed need for good research and the possibility to carry out research, even in difficult circumstances, encouraging. The session on researching education an protection in humanitarian emergencies (1/7) chaired by Lesley Bartlett sharing findings, methods and challenges from Afghanistan, Darfur and several African countries was particularly impressive and inspiring. The presenters showed that it is possible to carry out research in these settings and gather observational data, not only self-report, and even carry out a large randomized controlled study in Afghanistan as presented by Dana Burde. Although there is no doubt that the ethical, logistical and methodological challenges are enormous, the need for solid research where we have a chance to look at effects, causality and working factors becomes clearer and clearer to me – partly to investigate the possible harm that we do. There is a lot to learn about how we can manage to create partnerships to enable us to do this type of research from the presenters in this session, as well as from the participants at the conference.
The INEE Global Consultation 2009 kicked off yesterday with video presentations to the 270 delegates from Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu and the President of Liberia Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, and comments from Dr Arslan, Deputy Undersecretary from the Ministry of Education in Turkey, and the Deputy Secretary General of the Commonwealth Secretariat Ms Masire-Mwamba.
President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf spoke of her countries work since the end of conflict, the challenges of meeting the Millennium Development Goals and the importance of flexible and sufficient funding for education:
Archbishop Tutu’s address emphasized the importance of education in emergencies, particularly the crucial role that education can play in contributing to peace and justice.
The INEE Global Consultation is featured today on the Commonwealth Secretariat News webpages. Lead by Deputy Secretary-General Mmasekgoa Masire-Mwamba, a team of Commonwealth Education ministers and senior officials from Kenya, Sierra Leone, Uganda, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ivory Coast, Liberia and Rwanda will attend the INEE event, and participate in Plenary Panels and Workhsop Sessions.
Partnering with the Association for the Development of Education in Africa (ADEA), the Commonwealth Secretariat is also organising a Ministerial Roundtable, as a side event during the Global Consultation, on the theme of Education and Gender in Conflict, Forced Migration and Post-Conflict Reconstruction: Implications for Development.
Speaking ahead of the meeting Roli Degazon-Johnson, Education Adviser at the Commonwealth Secretariat, said: “In emergencies and post-conflict circumstances, the delivery of education must take a holistic approach, with a particular emphasis on gender, drawing on ... the needs of the children affected.”
As INEE members from all over the world begin their journeys to Istanbul, we are happy to launch the INEE Global Consultation Blog, where you will find coverage of the activities in Istanbul as they unfold. We will be posting summaries of the day’s events, interviews, photos, videos, and guest blogs written by delegates.
You can join the discussion - comment on posts, or if you are interested in writing a piece for inclusion on the blog, please email .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).
INEE’s Task Team on Inclusive Education and Disability is pleased to announce the publication of Education in Emergencies: Including Everyone - INEE Pocket Guide to Inclusive Education in Emergencies. Click here to learn more, and order your copy!
As you can see, INEE has redesigned its website. We hope that this new website will serve the INEE membership better, and will enable us to work more efficiently as a community. We are excited about many of the new features you will find, and we encourage you to explore the site. Please bear with us as we work to implement the remaining upgrades and update content and pages. If you have any comments of questions, please email .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).
INEE and the Sphere Project are pleased to announce a companionship agreement whereby Sphere acknowledges the quality of the INEE Minimum Standards for Education in Emergencies, Chronic Crises and Early Reconstruction and of the broad consultative process that led to their development. Read More Here.
You can now dowload the full event programme, including details of plenary and workshop sessions and participant list. Click here for more information.
Two new UNESCO publications that draw together current research and document promising practice on the issue of responding to and preventing political and military attacks on education staff, students, teachers, union government officials and education facilities were released this month. 
I am a pragmatic man and prefer to use practical facts and concrete on-the-ground examples in education. I think that if we lower down the level of peacebuilding to elementary level, it might not serve its intended purpose accurately. This does not imply that it should not be integrated into education from early stages, but it rather that it should be taught when it best serves its purpose. It is pivotal to include peacebuilding in educational curricula, but this step has to take several context-related factors into account. For example, if you take the Lebanese context: it will be too arduous and complicated to integrate peacebuilding into education if there is no unified curriculum with standard agreed-upon and unanimous syllabi for the relevant subjects that peacebuilding can be introduced in (e.g. civics, citizenship education and community service). In many schools, community service does not even exist as a subject which renders the integration of peacebuilding too complicated because there is no unified basis for such a context-related subject. Practically speaking, the presence of a “unified curriculum” facilitates the integration of peacebuilding whereas its absence makes it too difficult. In addition, teachers play a vital role in facilitating this integration if they are interested in the topic, and this can be directly reflected in classrooms. Their role as classroom facilitators who majorly influence students at any level might be even more critical than textbooks.
Prof. Qasem Alnewashi, Education Technical Advisor at the International Rescue Committee (IRC) in the Middle East shares his thoughts and experiences about the 3rd day of the 2009 Global Consultation in Istanbul: 
As the Consultation draws to a close Carl Triplehorn, Independent Consultant, blogs of meeting new and old colleagues
I am really excited to be here, for the first time participating in the Global Consultation. Why? First, the Global Consultation brought 270 colleagues from around the world. While it is a small number considering the total number of INEE members of more than 3,400, it is still a big number, providing me with a wonderful opportunity to meet various people – old friends, classmates and teachers at the Masters Degree, colleagues from the same organization I am now working with, practitioners from the countries where I have worked, and of course many more new people with different and interesting backgrounds and solid expertise. I can finally put some familiar names I have known only from the papers, books or emails to faces. Especially, being a member of the 
Gary Ovington, Senior Emergency Specialist, Education at the Asia-Pacific Shared Services Centre (APSSC), UNICEF, Thailand speaks of his experiences today in Istanbul
Ragnhild Dybdahl, Director of Education and Research Department at the Norwedian Agency for Development Cooperation (NORAD) shares her experiences of the first day of presentations and workshops in Istanbul: 
The INEE Global Consultation is featured today on the Commonwealth Secretariat News 
As INEE members from all over the world begin their journeys to Istanbul, we are happy to launch the 
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