ReliefWeb

Foreword

Natural disasters and conflict have devastating impacts on the economic and social development of countries. There are social, political and economic imperatives to adopt strategies that reduce risks and create a culture of peace and resilience.

Education has a vital role to play in this regard. As all children and youth have the right to quality education in times of disaster and conflict, the international community has been striving to protect schools in emergency situations and to provide continued access to education. Part of these efforts include ensuring that education systems (and the governments that run them) are better prepared to respond to emergencies.

To achieve Education for All, the Dakar Framework for Action (2000) mentions that it is critical to ‘meet the needs of education systems affected by conflict, natural calamities and instability and to conduct educational programmes in ways that promote mutual understanding, peace and tolerance, and that help to prevent violence and conflict’. In addition, the commitments made at the Second Session of the Global Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction (2009) urged countries to provide safer schools and to include disaster risk reduction in all school curricula. Finally, the United Nations General Assembly adopted the resolution on ‘The Right to Education in Emergency Situations’ (A/64/L.58) in 2010. It urges Member States to implement policies for the provision of education as an integral element of humanitarian assistance and to implement gender‑ and conflict-sensitive policies and programme interventions, in order to ensure that populations affected by emergency situations have equal access to quality education that is safe and relevant.

These Guidance Notes put forward strategies on how to mainstream conflict and disaster risk reduction measures in the education sector planning process. They are intended for Ministry of Education officials, especially in planning departments at central level, but are also useful for other education actors that support ministries in the planning process.

IIEP’s mission is to strengthen the capacity of countries to plan and manage their education systems through training, research and technical cooperation.
Additionally, IIEP has developed expertise in the field of education in emergencies and disaster preparedness. Its programme on education in emergencies and reconstruction has produced a Guidebook for Planning Education in Emergencies and Reconstruction, as well as a series of country specific analyses. They concern the restoration of education systems in countries as diverse as Afghanistan, Burundi, Kosovo, Palestine, Rwanda, Southern Sudan and Timor-Leste. In partnership with the Inter-Agency Network for Education in Emergencies (INEE) and as a member of the INEE Working Group on Education and Fragility, IIEP has co-published a series of studies on education and fragility in Afghanistan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Cambodia and Liberia including a synthesis study. In addition, IIEP in collaboration with the Centre for British Teachers (CfBT) and the Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs, produced six global thematic policy studies on issues including opportunities for change in the education sector during and after conflict, and the certification of learning attainments of displaced and refugee students, donors’ engagement in education in fragile and conflict-affected states, alternative education in emergencies, promoting participation and rapid response to education needs in emergencies.