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PART
III: TOWARDS A SHARED KNOWLEDGE OF EDUCATION IN EMERGENCY
AND POST- EMERGENCY SITUATIONS: ANALYSIS OF STRATEGIES AND
PRACTICES
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UNESCO
strategy and priorities :
In
co-operation with other bilateral and multilateral international
organizations running emergency operations, UNESCO is
strengthening its resources by introducing : · action
priorities and strategy in the field of emergency educational
assistance; · guidelines and an appropriate framework
for curricula (content, training, teacher training and
facilities; · organization and implementation, through
UNESCO field offices and networks of technical and teaching
teams in the field of emergency educational projects
and programmes designed primarily for displaced or refugee
communities; · the gathering and dissemination of information
to Member States and the general public in order to
promote the cause of refugee children and especially
their right to education, the satisfaction of their
most urgent needs, and their integration in society;
· implementation of the principles of education for
peace and dialogue in the education systems of warring
countries in order, among other things, to prepare for
the phase of national reconstruction.
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UNHCR
principles for refugee education :
UNHCR's
Executive Committee, in its Conclusions on Refugee Children
of 1987, stressed that 'all refugee children (should)
benefit from primary education of a satisfactory quality'
and 'recognised the need of refugee children to pursue
further levels of education'. It further 'recognised
the importance of meeting the special psychological,
religious, cultural and recreational needs of refugee
children in order to ensure their emotional stability
and development'. In its 1994 Conclusions on Refugee
Children, the Committee asked UNHCR 'to identify educational
requirements in the early stages of an emergency so
that prompt attention may be given to such needs'. It
requested the High Commissioner 'to give higher priority
to the education of all refugee children, ensuring the
equal access of girls, giving due regard to the curriculum
of the country of origin'. In 1995 it encouraged the
introduction into refugee education of 'elements of
education for peace and human rights', while in 1998
it noted 'the importance of education and other programmes
to promote ...tolerance and respect for all persons
and their human rights,... civil society and sustainable
development'.
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UNICEF
commitment to education in emergencies:
Basic
education must play a part in every education programme.
Educational activities will be consistent with UNICEF
overall policy on basic education and tailored to the
specifics of the particular emergency. UNICEF is committed
to basic education. In line with its own mandate, universal
primary education through both formal and non formal
means is a key goal. Early childhood care for growth
and development, and adult education, serve as complementary
elements to good primary education, and UNICEF places
special and high priority on the girl-child and the
education of women.
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The 1990s have seen multiple efforts to meet the educational
needs of populations affected by wars and disasters, as noted
above. Quantitatively, there are gaps in coverage and even in
our knowledge of needs and whether or not they are being met.
The mobilisation of additional resources is recommended to meet
the gaps and commissioning of studies to extend our awareness
of unmet needs. In this section, we look at qualitative aspects
of education in emergency. What is the state of the art? |
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Here again there is a very weak knowledge base on which to offer
comments. There have been many initiatives to develop innovative
and effective approaches to emergency education, but most of
them remain in the grey literature of unpublished agency reports
and in the memories of the educators concerned. These constraints,
together with the need for brevity, mean that we can offer more
of a 'taste' of the field than a systematic assessment or evaluation.
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At this point, therefore, we touch on some of the current
issues regarding the content and methodology of education
in emergencies, including:
Rapid
response to the needs of displaced or returnee children
Special
policies for refugee education
Gender
sensitivity and girls' education in emergencies
Standards
for the resourcing of humanitarian response
Use
of new technologies ·
Meeting
psychosocial needs, and raising awareness of dangers such
as landmines, AIDS and drug abuse, and promoting environmental
awareness and a Culture of Peace.
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| 1. RAPID
RESPONSE TO THE NEEDS OF DISPLACED OR RETURNEE CHILDREN |
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There is now widespread agreement that it is desirable for children
and young people to participate in appropriate structured activities
such as simple recreation and education programmes and volunteer
service, as soon as possible after a crisis situation, such
as conflict, internal displacement or taking refugee in another
country. The first objective is to gather children and young
people together and provide constructive social interaction,
since this will help overcome the psychosocial effects of trauma
and displacement - and will do so in a manner self-targeting
on the participants' own culture. |
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Early support to education and recreational activities for children
and adolescents brings the additional benefits of helping identify
those children and young people who are most severely traumatised,
or having other problems, such as being exploited or abused
by household members or employers. Another benefit is that mothers
and other family members feel some element of normality in their
lives (and have more time for household tasks etc.) when children
are regularly attending school or other organised activities.
Rapid response is likewise important when refugee families return
from exile. There has often been a gap between return and the
revitalisation of educational institutions. |
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Retarding factors: Various factors can retard education
response. In some situations, physical access has been difficult,
due to trucks getting bogged down in mud or inadequate air access.
Under such conditions, priority in the very short term has to
be given to food, health and shelter. |
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A serious factor retarding early provision of international
support to refugee education can be the concern that education,
no matter how informal, would crystallise the situation and
prevent early repatriation. This concern has been expressed
by receiving governments, donor governments and UN staff. While
understandable in terms of days and weeks, this state of mind
or policy can be perpetuated for months or even years. The trauma
of displacement is thereby enhanced for the refugees. Moreover
the opportunity to orient education towards humanitarian values
is lost. For example, in Eastern Zaire in 1994/5, many schools
were started on a self-help basis by supporters of the previous
Rwandan government. Due to lack of assistance from humanitarian
agencies, it was not possible to orient the content of schooling
to support a more peaceful future, as would have been possible,
to some extent, if the teachers had been receiving incentives
through humanitarian NGOs. |
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Another retarding factor for refugee education can be when the
government of the asylum country feels obliged to develop an
entire education policy for refugees before permitting educational
response. It should be recognised internationally that humanitarian
emergency response includes immediate support to simple educational
activities, and that formal discussions are for a later stage.
In some places, the concerned persons are aware of the issues
involved because they have assisted refugee populations in the
past, as has been the case in Tanzania in the 1990s. But it
would be better to formalise the policy, for the benefit of
others. |
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Establishing standards for the timing of response: A review
of services to refugee children, conducted jointly by UNHCR
and Save The Children, concluded that structured activities
including education should be initiated as soon as physically
practicable. The "education guidelines" suggest the following
minimum standards:
Simple
recreational and educational activities for children and
adolescents should be in place not later than 3 months after
the beginning of an emergency,
A unified
system of basic schooling should be in place after not more
than 6 months.
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Similar standards should be applied in the case of other crisis
or post-conflict situations, to the extent possible. |
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Preparedness: education standby arrangements. In large-scale
emergencies, there is always a need for education experts to
help design and co-ordinate rapid educational response. The
Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) has made an important contribution
here, with standby education deployments to UNICEF, UNHCR, UNESCO
and other agencies. |
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In some cases a new emergency arises in a location in which
there are already refugee education programmes. This happened
in 1988, for example, when a new wave of Sierra Leonean refugees
entered Guinea. The International Rescue Committee was already
conducting a major refugee education programme for Liberian
and Sierra Leonean refugees in Guinea, with UNHCR support, and
was able to make the necessary arrangements to provide rapid
educational response to the needs of new arrivals. |
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Preparedness: education materials. Sometimes newly arrived refugees
or internally displaced populations are busy setting up simple
schools, and field staff seek to assist them with educational
materials. If these materials are not to hand, what should be
done? |
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The inter-agency co-operation in the design, purchase and use
of 'Teacher Emergency Packages' (TEP) (writing materials and
limited educational materials) in response to the 1990s crises
in Somalia, Rwanda and elsewhere has led to extensive discussions
on possible pre-assembly and pre-positioning of education kits
or 'schools-in-a-box', for use in future emergencies and repatriation
programmes. Advantages include the real-world likelihood that
pre-assembled kits could be put on a plane or lorry quickly,
once the officer in charge at an emergency site expresses agreement
(and finds a budget from which to replenish the stock that is
used.) |
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Disadvantages include the physical and organisational costs
of storage and shipment, and sometimes low shelf life of materials;
especially as the procurement of constituent items in a central
location might be at a higher cost than their purchase at the
site of ultimate use. There is also be a risk that a regional
storage site will be in the 'wrong' location, cost-wise, for
the next emergencies. There is nevertheless considerable interest
in having some kits pre-packaged, at least to meet the immediate
needs of small emergencies and as exemplars for what is needed
in larger ones. |
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The TEP programme has been used in several countries in Africa.
The prototype was launched in Somalia in 1993. It was also used
in Ethiopia, Eritrea, Djibouti and Yemen. A Kinyarwanda version
was widely used in Rwanda, Tanzania and the Democratic Republic
of Congo. The Afar version was used in Region 2 of Ethiopia.
A Portuguese version was prepared jointly by UNESCO and the
Norwegian Refugee Council for use in Angola. English and French
versions are available for easy adaptation for any country context
within 4 to 6 weeks. (18) |
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Teacher
Emergency Package (TEP)
UNESCO
developed a Teacher Emergency Package (TEP) in Somalia,
in 1993, for use as a ready-to-use kit for functional
literacy and numeracy instruction for children, and
it has since been used elsewhere. It is designed to
accommodate about eighty children in a two-shift class
almost anywhere.
The
TEP or "school-in-a-box" consists of a kit of materials
and a teaching methodology for basic literacy and numeracy
in the learners' mother tongue. The teachers' bag contains:
a) blackboard paint, brush and tape measure (to enable
teachers to create their own blackboard on a wall
if necessary),
b)
white and colored chalk,
c)
pens, pencils, pencil sharpeners and felt markers,
d)
ten "scrabble sets" (for language and number games),
e)
three cloth charts (alphabet, numbers and multiplication),
f) an attendance book, a note book, and
g)
a Teachers' guide which outlines the pedagogical methods
by lesson. In an accompanying box are student supplies
for a total of eighty students (two shifts) consisting
of: slates, chalk, dusters, exercise books and pencils.
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UNICEF, UNHCR and other agencies have supported the use of TEPs
in some situations and have also developed other specifications
for emergency supplies.(19) In Albania in 1999, UNICEF and other
organisations further developed the concept of early response
to include the designation of integrated 'safe spaces' for children,
in which temporary shelter is provided for mother and child
health, play areas, and primary school classes, with supply
of needed materials in kit form as necessary. |
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Logistics may dictate which of the foregoing models makes more
sense in any given situation. Meanwhile there is a definite
need to have teachers' guides and educational materials for
all aspects of crisis situations available in the main international
languages, so that they can either be made available to the
field immediately -if the languages and content are appropriate;
or can be quickly adapted/ translated into local languages and
scripts. |
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| 2. SPECIAL
POLICIES FOR REFUGEE EDUCATION |
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The principles underlying refugee education include meeting
the psychosocial needs of the refugee children and adolescents,
and building knowledge, skills, attitudes and values contributing
towards a durable solution. Many issues, such as the importance
of rapid educational response, are common to refugee and other
crisis situations. Questions of curriculum, certification and
teacher training for refugee schools are discussed in this section,
since they present problems specific to the refugee situation. |
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Curriculum issues: Where possible, refugee children should
have the opportunity to study some version of the curriculum
of their place of origin: a policy often called 'education for
repatriation'. Where schools are established specifically to
meet the needs of refugees, 'education for repatriation' should
be recognised as a right, by all concerned agencies and governments.
It has psychosocial advantages - that of familiarity of content
and having familiar, -refugee, teachers. It is, moreover, the
hard-headed policy most supportive of repatriation -which is
often what donors and receiving governments are seeking. Use
of the curriculum of the place of origin means that it is possible
for returnee children to be reintegrated into the education
system of the country of origin as soon as schooling can be
re-instated there. |
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If a refugee programme seems likely to last for an extended
period, then it may be desirable to introduce a curriculum that
'faces both ways'. An example here is the use of an Afghan curriculum
by Afghan refugees in Pakistan, but with the addition of the
language of Urdu (the national language of Pakistan). This ensures
basic language skills for the country of asylum labour market
and also for admission to national education institutions at
post-primary or post-secondary level. |
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In some cases, there may be political reasons why refugees prefer
an earlier version of the curriculum than that currently in
force in their country of origin. Afghan Mujahidin preferred
a curriculum predating the Marxist era in Afghanistan. Many
refugees from Southern Sudan prefer to follow an anglophone
'East African' curriculum, as their educational tradition is
anglophone: refugees from Southern Sudan attending refugee schools
in Uganda and Kenya thus follow the Uganda or Kenyan curriculum.
Indeed, when there is no problem regarding language of instruction,
it is often simpler for refugees to follow the host country
curriculum, since this gives access to national examinations,
local textbooks can be used, etc. |
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Certification: Certification of studies is an especial
problem in refugee situations. It is highly desirable to develop
a regionalised approach to education whereby the Education Ministry
of the country of origin is willing to validate studies undertaken
by refugees. This was possible in the case of Mozambican refugees
in Malawi and Zimbabwe but is often not practicable. Another
approach is for the host country education authorities to validate
refugee education. This can be problematic for political reasons
or because the refugees study in a language different from that
of the host country.(20) |
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Certification
of refugee schooling in Nepal
In Nepal, high levels of refugee participation in schooling
have raised the literacy rate of the camp population
from 15% in 1993 to 65% in 1997. The high percentage
of passes in the government's Year 10 School Leaving
Examination (SLE) has inspired the junior students to
study seriously and vigorously. The drop out rate is
low. The SLE certificates are awarded as 'provisional'
certificates to non-citizens of Nepal but are recognised
for further studies by higher education institutions
in Nepal and India.
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Guinea:
Certification of education and training received by
refugees from Liberia and Sierra Leone
The International Rescue Committee (IRC) refugee education
programme in Guinea developed a curriculum that meets
the requirements of both Liberian and Sierra Leonean
Ministries of Education, since schools included refugees
of both nationalities. The students take secondary school
leaving examinations set by the West African Examinations
Council, and their results are universally recognised.
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Negotiations
for recognition in Liberia of the high quality IRC in-service
teacher training are continuing at the time of writing.
This experience has shown the importance of recording
all training received by individual teachers and of
recording the content of these trainings. Such recognition
can help trained refugee teachers obtain employment
as teachers in government schools after repatriation,
contributing to the quality of schooling in returnee
situations.
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Use of refugee teachers: Education is a first priority of
refugee communities and educated refugees come forward to help
start refugee schools. This has advantages in providing children
with a feeling of security in the classroom, -teachers from
their own community, as well as in providing educated refugees
with an opportunity to do something constructive to help build
a better future. When a system of refugee schools has been established,
it is normal to provide an 'incentive' to refugee teachers,
so that they can concentrate on their work and to minimise the
level of staff turnover. |
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Many refugee teachers are new to the profession and intensive
in-service training is needed as well as mobile teacher supervisors
and advisers. This is the more needed because teachers themselves
may have been traumatised, as well as their students, and it
is now considered vital to sensitise teachers to the psychosocial
aspects of their work. |
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The quality and extent of in-service training and school-based
guidance is one of the more variable aspects of refugee education.
Some projects have set up excellent systems of training while
others have lacked the expertise and/or the resources to provide
adequate support. |
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In Pakistan, several agencies have provided in-service training
of Afghan refugee teachers and head teachers. The major programme
is now undertaken by GTZ, which provides vacation training in
methodology and subject matter, including the use of supplementary
workbooks for language and mathematics developed by the project.
A cluster school approach has been used, in which a senior teacher
provides mentoring for teachers in adjacent schools; and regional
teachers' centres have been established. |
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Guinea: the IRC refugee education project includes a teacher
training section, which provides 'new teacher workshops', in-service
training during vacations, and in-school supervision by regional
training officers; and which organises in-school mentoring by
senior staff. |
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In Northern Uganda: Jesuit Refugee Service schools have provided
in-service training during vacations, special subject matter
tuition, and in-school guidance, through mobile advisers; and
JRS has sponsored the participation of refugee teachers in national
teacher training programmes. |
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In Djibouti, a subject coordinator for each of the core school
subjects visits the refugee teachers and provides in-school
teacher training. |
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It is important
to build a consensus that refugee children have the right
to be taught by refugee teachers, and that educated refugees
need the opportunity for constructive activity afforded by
a teaching role. (21)
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It should be stressed that in-service training of educated refugees
as teachers for refugee schools serves to create a cadre of
future teachers for returnee areas. It can happen that during
an emergency there is a permanent 'brain drain' of teachers
away from the region or away from the profession. |
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| 3. GENDER
ISSUES AND GIRLS' EDUCATION |
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'The most urgent priority is to ensure access to, and improve
the quality of, education for girls and women, and to remove
every obstacle that hampers their active participation…' (Jomtien
Declaration, Article 3, para 3.) |
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'Gender sensitivity is not merely a facet of the education revolution
but is woven into its very fabric. Measures aimed at girls'
participation advance the cause of universal education on every
front.' (UNICEF 1999b, p. 56). |
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Emergencies are times of catastrophe for women and girls. Some
70 to 80 per cent of displaced populations are typically women
and their children. Women play a key role in helping communities
survive conflict and in conflict transformation. Stressed or
traumatised by fear, insecurity and loss of loved ones, women
and girls may also suffer trauma from the humiliating experience
of gender-based violence. Many endure in silence because of
cultural taboos. Girls who have been raped in front of their
parents or forced into sexual slavery with militias, for example,
find reintegration into society particularly difficult. During
times of crisis, girls may be pressured into prostitution to
raise family income, and sometimes face higher levels of malnutrition
than boys, when food is scarce. (22) Sometimes food and other
relief supplies intended for women and children end up with
male fighters. |
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Why
gender equity is needed : an example
Mary,
an educated woman living in a refugee camp, had three
daughters. After her husband died, Mary was advised
to marry her brother-in-law. Her refusal was tolerated,
but her husband's relatives started receiving potential
suitors for two of her daughters. Mary delayed matters
temporarily by sending her daughters to a boarding school
outside the camp. But her opinions were not accepted,
despite her leadership position in the camp. In the
end, Mary had to apply for resettlement in a third country,
where she moved with her daughters. (Report of an international
workshop, Kampala, 1998)
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Many of the factors which limit girls' and women's participation
in education in emergency situations are similar to those which
affected them in their home location. These include home duties
such as care of younger children, cooking and washing clothes
and dishes ; collecting water, fuelwood and sometimes food rations
; poverty-related factors such as lack of adequate clothing
and cash for school fees or materials (available cash often
goes towards boys' education first). Parents are often concerned
that older girls may become pregnant and withdraw them from
school at puberty. Girls may withdraw due to early marriage
or pregnancy. And in some conservative societies there may be
a reluctance to allow girls to attend school at all. In addition,
there may be school-based factors leading to non-enrolment of
girls or their early drop out. These may include lack of female
teachers, lack of separate latrines for girls, male teachers
with low expectations of girls' achievements, and so on. |
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The Jomtien emphasis on education for girls and women has led
international organisations, governments and NGOs to move forward
on such gender issues, including revision of textbooks and educational
materials, training teachers to be sensitive to gender, sensitising
communities to the importance of educating their daughters and
so on. Many organisations working with emergency-affected communities
have likewise developed strong policies in support of the education
and training of girls and women. |
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Emergencies can have the effect of empowering women and girls,
if they become the heads of household, and perhaps responsible
for food production and management of livestock and property.
It is important to build on this empowerment to link women more
strongly into the management of schools and to ensure that empowerment
in terms of sending daughters to school and through women's
role in school management remains effective in the post-conflict
phase of reconstruction. |
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Gender strategies and staff sensitisation: These issues need
to be thoroughly understood by the staff of agencies supporting
education in emergencies, and taken note of at field level,
through development of appropriate strategies and staff training.
It is necessary to review the factors limiting refugee girls'
participation in schooling through consultations with educators,
parents and girls themselves, and to recommend a strategy for
increased participation. Training materials were then produced,
and sensitisation workshops held for education programme staff,
head-teachers and community representatives in various locations.
Posters stressing the benefits of education for girls were widely
displayed. |
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Physical access and timing: Physical access to school in the
vicinity of the home is especially important for girls. Distance
can be a problem for adolescent girls for reasons of harassment
or if they have to get to or from school quickly because of
home duties.
'Home
schools' and 'self-help schools' have been started for Afghan
refugee girls in Pakistan who do not have access to schooling
near their homes.
In
Djibouti refugee camps, girls are given preferential access
to the afternoon shift of schooling, since they are expected
to undertake household chores in the morning.
In
a returnee area of Mozambique, action was taken against
teachers who asked girls for sex as a condition for promotion
to the next year of schooling.
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Emphasising the importance of starting young. There should
be no age discrimination in admission to schooling, which is
a basic right. However, when it is possible for children to
start school young this can help solve several problems such
as cultural constraints on education of older girls (and possible
harassment of older girls); drop out of adolescents because
hours of work conflict with schooling; reluctance of adolescents
to attend school without good clothing; etc. Pre-schools can
be helpful in this respect, especially if a snack is provided,
since parents then send both girls and boys who are too young
to be helpful with chores, and the habit of school attendance
is formed. |
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Providing separate facilities for female students and teachers,
based on community norms. Where girls and boys study together,
care should be taken that school arrangements do not discourage
girls' participation in schooling or the participation of
women teachers. Some
communities prefer to have totally separate schools for girls
of all ages, while others prefer this for older girls. Separate
latrines should be provided for girls and women teachers.
In
Pakistan in the 1980s, separate schools were established
for girls in the larger Afghan refugee camps. Even so, attendance
was very limited, since the populations came from rural
areas where girls had not attended school. Refugees arriving
later from Kabul, where girls' education was common, quickly
established self-help schools with both male and female
students and teachers.
In
Kakuma refugee camp, Kenya, funding has been secured to
hold afternoon school classes for girls/ women who dropped
out of school to marry. Classes will start at years 1, 3
and 5 of the primary school curriculum. The community will
be asked to care for their children during class time. Newly
arrived adolescent Somali girls are receiving afternoon
classes in English and Swahili, so that they may enter the
school system (year 2) in the next academic year.
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Recruitment and training of female teachers. Female teachers
serve as role models for female education as well as giving
reassurance to families that it will be safe to send their daughters
to school. They can advise school-girls on personal matters
that the girls would not feel able to discuss with male teachers.
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The current policy of attempting to increase the proportion
of female refugee teachers to at least 50% can be helpful in
this respect. (23) Women are rather more likely than men to
repatriate to the areas of origin and to live there (men may
travel in search of more highly paid work in the cities), which
means that this policy also serves a developmental function
in the longer term. |
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Special measures to increase the numbers of girls and women
eligible for teaching posts are to be commended. In Kakuma refugee
camp in Kenya, for example, two women teachers have been appointed
in each refugee school, and, as needed, they receive extra training
in English (the language of instruction). An education consultant
has suggested a system of scholarships to national girls' schools
so that talented refugee girls could complete the 8 year primary
education course and become teachers in the camp. Jesuit Refugee
Service (JRS), churches and communities have awarded some scholarships
of this kind. In 1998, the first two refugee girls (among 100
boys) won JRS scholarships to Kenyan secondary schools. |
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Providing gender-sensitivity training and anti-harassment training.
Teachers and students should be made aware that gender sensitivity
is important both in the teaching process and outside the classroom.
Harassment is not an acceptable practice. Reproductive health
education is likewise important. |
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Reproductive
health education and peer support for refugee girls
in Guinea
In IRC's refugee schools in Guinea, Young Women's Social
Clubs aim to increase the knowledge of reproductive
health issues such as anatomy, menstruation, contraception,
AIDS/STDs, to increase knowledge and develop strategies
regarding sexual violence, gender awareness and women's
rights, and to provide peer support to young women.
This is intended also to help motivate girls to stay
in school. Both sexes can benefit from IRC Health Counsellors,
Health Clubs, and trained peer educators who can also
explain the health risks.
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Supply of hygienic materials. Lack of hygienic materials
is a major cause of drop out for girls reaching the age of puberty.
Following a survey on the causes of girls' drop out from schools
in Kakuma refugee camp in Kenya, refugee girls were provided
with materials and were taught by their teachers how to make
underwear and sanitary protection items. They are also provided
with soap as an incentive for school attendance. This matter
is often neglected, when women are not adequately represented
in programme management. |
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Use of incentives to promote participation of girls in schooling
and regular attendance. Poverty
often leads to preferential investment in boys' education
rather than education of girls. This situation may be exacerbated
in emergencies. Provision of incentives to enable girls to
attend school can help to overcome this problem. Incentives
can help overcome cultural constraints, but should be used
in a culturally sensitive manner.
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For example, in Pakistan, WFP supplies a tin of edible oil to
Afghan refugee girls (and female teachers) who attend school
for 22 days in a month, after completing the first year of schooling.
This measure has greatly increased the demand for school places
for girls and greatly reduced school drop outs. Likewise, in
Kenya, refugee girls who attend school regularly are given used
food sacks by WFP for their family to sell as a source of income. |
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| 1. NEED
TO ESTABLISH MINIMUM STANDARDS OF RESOURCING FOR EDUCATION IN
COMPLEX EMERGENCIES. |
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The problem of resourcing is perhaps most acute for internally
displaced and returnee groups in countries lacking well functioning
education administration systems - sometimes lacking even an
effective government, and with limited external support. There
is no doubt that hundreds of thousands of children and adolescents
are deprived of meaningful access to education through such
circumstances. Donors are unwilling to commit resources where
they believe that there is a likelihood of further conflict
or where absorptive capacity is limited. This can lead to a
vicious circle whereby NGOs, for example, cannot obtain funding
to help re-establish schooling and hence absorptive capacity
remains low. |
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Even with refugee populations, where international access and
assistance is the norm, there are wide variations in standards
of resourcing and effectiveness. UNHCR's internal evaluation
of refugee education, conducted in 1996-97, noted that refugee
education programmes, being scattered among many countries and
locations and implemented through many different agencies, varied
greatly in their level of adequacy. There has been under-funding
in some programmes, such that even teachers may not have a set
of textbooks in hand, while in other programmes school textbooks
are issued to every pupil. Some refugee schools are dusty or
damp, made from mud bricks, while others are housed in leaking
school tents. Some refugee schools, in contrast, have cement
floors and corrugated iron roofs and some are permanent constructions.
Some schools have vastly overcrowded classes and study hours
limited by a 'shift system', while others have good buildings,
full hours of study and class sizes in the range 40 to 50 pupils.
These and other differences have arisen in part through different
levels of donor interest in particular refugee programmes. |
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Pakistan:
Education for Afghan refugees
The government-implemented programme for Afghan refugees
in Pakistan attracted good financing in the 1980s. This
led to the construction of semi-permanent and permanent
schools in some locations, although some schools continue
to be accommodated in school tents. Textbooks were issued
to all students. Each student received one school uniform
per annum. In-service teacher training programmes were
begun by various agencies, and finally in the 1990s
GTZ introduced a major teacher training programme for
the teachers in refugee schools, in the province hosting
the majority of refugees, together with supplementary
pupil workbooks for language and numeracy. This was
an example of good resourcing. Funding problems in the
1990s have led to discontinuation of the issue of school
uniforms, and replacement of funding for middle and
secondary schools by funding for a 'bridging year',
intended to permit entry to non-refugee schools. Implementation
arrangements were also changed, with teachers' being
paid on the basis of 'incentives'. The growing interest
of Afghan families in girls' education, and the lack
of access to middle and secondary schools in many areas,
constitute resourcing problems for the future, however.
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Many international agencies have a decentralised country-based
programming and budgeting system which means that education
has to compete for priority with health, water, sanitation,
income generation and other services provided within a country
programme. It is for this reason that minimum standards of resourcing
for education are important, so that needs-based budget proposals
can be developed by implementing organisations. |
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Element
of standards for refugee schools in the 'care and maintenance'
phase, recommended in 1997 by UNHCR
Minimum
of 4 hours study/day (6 hours after class 4)
Class
size of 35 to 40 pupils on average day
Two
core books per student (e.g.. reading, mathematics)
At
least one 'set' (50 copies) of all other prescribed
textbooks, per school · Other reading materials in
resource centres/ libraries/classroom book-boxes ·
Writing materials, according to year of studies
·
Minimum 2 square metres of blackboard space per classroom,
repainted regularly
·Laminated
wall charts in each classroom (letters/ numbers/ subject
matter related to courses, small maps)
·Large
world and relevant country maps, and globe (at least
one per school) · Other educational materials, as
appropriate
Sports
equipment in each school
Chair
and table for each teacher
·In-service
training courses for all refugee teachers, at last
10 days per year
In-school teacher training by project education advisers;
and mentoring · Simple clean seating for pupils, based
on local practice
Playground sufficient for recreational activities
Latrines
(separate for male/female pupils and teachers)
Potable
water
Reading
room/resource centre · Lockable storage room
Staff
room · Reproduction equipment
Laminating
machines (one per project office)
Community
support in site clearing and construction
Gradual transition to more durable shelter, with good
frame, roof and floor (cement) if justified by likely
duration of stay
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| Standards
and participation in schooling |
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One way to increase participation in schooling is to increase
education standards, so that basic skills of literacy and numeracy
can be acquired effectively, enabling students to proceed successfully
through higher levels of schooling. Another method is to include
elements relevant to the special concerns and interests of children
and adolescents including sports, cultural activities, etc.
These are essentially 'in-school' methods. Other aspects of
pupil non-enrolment or drop out arise from home and community
factors, however, notably poverty and cultural traditions, as
noted above in the section on girls' education. Resourcing standards
must take note of these issues, if the right to education in
emergencies is to be meaningful, especially in the case of displaced
populations who have often fled with only the clothes they were
wearing and who in some cases are forbidden or unable to engage
in trade, agriculture or paid employment. |
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It is often the children (especially girls, but also boys) from
the poorest families that do not enrol in school, or attend
irregularly and drop out early. In such situations, Education
for All in emergency situations will depend on the resources
made available to help the poorer families. We may assume that
under emergency conditions, the concerned assistance programmes
will include basic items such as pencils, notebooks etc for
students and, hopefully, sets of textbooks for schools. It is
not so obvious that an education programme should look into
items such as clothing, nutrition etc. Yet where families have
no means to buy clothes for their children, school attendance
may have to await a donation of second-hand clothing or cloth
to make uniforms. (This happened in 1997/8 in the refugee camps
in Western Tanzania.) In some areas of Eastern Europe and the
countries of the Commonwealth and Independent States (CIS),
school attendance of displaced children is limited in winter
by lack of warm coats, shoes, and fuel to heat school classrooms.
Hunger can be another factor preventing school attendance, and
conversely, provision of school meals can be a factor promoting
attendance (although it is difficult to organise under emergency
conditions). |
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Over the longer term, the role of the community is critical
in maintaining standards and in addressing poverty issues. |
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The
community role in sustainable schooling
In Nugal, Somalia, UNESCO helps establish Community
Education Committees which collect fees and donor contributions,
pay the teachers and manage the school. A series of
training programmes have been held to equip communities
with the necessary leadership and management skills.
Income generation activities with donor and matching
community contributions enhance the capacity of the
community to meet the costs of education. The programme
operates on a time-bound sliding scale with gradually
decreasing donor contributions. From community contribution
the schools move towards community ownership.
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| 5. ROLE
OF TECHNOLOGY AND COMMUNICATIONS IN EMERGENCY EDUCATION |
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Many people across the globe face grave difficulties in gaining
access to information, which is essential in forming a wider
and more informed vision of the world and of their interests.
Numerous journalists have been killed or live under threat of
persecution. It must be recognised that education is a multi-channel
process and is linked to mass communications and to access to
information. The case of "La Radio des Mille Collines" in Rwanda,
during the genocide, has shown the importance of the role of
media: the discourse of hate and the call for violence encouraged,
fanned and sustained the conflict. |
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The importance of using the media to disseminate objective information
and peace-promoting messages has thus become clearer than ever.
UNESCO, Reporters sans Frontières, Amnesty International, JRS
and other organisations have provided training workshops for
journalists, exchange visits, and support to the press, in conflict-affected
countries, such as Rwanda, Bosnia Herzegovina, Afghanistan...
This work should be expanded. |
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UNESCO has initiated radio programmes in several conflict or
post conflict situations, including « magazine » and « soap
opera » approaches. In 1998, four complete production cycles
for Somalia were completed (46 soap opera episodes supplemented
by 46 radio magazine broadcasts of 15 minutes each), working
with the Kenya Broadcasting Corporation, Radio Hargeisa and
Radio Galkacyo. A printed magazine accompanies the radio shows.
This strategy built on lessons learned from the BBC/UNESCO 'New
Home, New Life' project developed for Afghanistan and Afghan
refugees in 1993. |
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Technology
for distance education: New Home, New Life
Afghanistan has been in a state of uninterrupted conflict
due to external and internal factors for over 20 years.
In conjunction with the BBC, international agencies
and NGO's, UNESCO launched a radio soap-opera entitled
New Home, New Life which is the story of returning refugees.
The theme touched home, and found a wide audience among
Dari and Pashto speaking Afghans both in Afghanistan
and in refugee camps outside.
The
audio transmission has been particularly beneficial
to women and girls who have no access to learning facilities
outside the home. The immediate success and popular
response to the soap-opera gave impetus to the publication
of a monthly comic-strip magazine of the same name to
facilitate the reading skills of neo-literates, and
inspire others to learn. A special illustrated issue
of New Home, New Life is also published for children,
to develop and enhance their audio and reading skills.
The magazine was originally distributed free of cost
but is now sold by subscription. It is expected to progressively
become a self-supporting enterprise.
It
is interesting to note that the day after the radio-drama
dealt with the subject of vaccinations, mothers queued
in large numbers to have their children vaccinated.
This was a tremendous boost to the vaccination programme,
which had until then received a very mild response.
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new technologies that permit production, transmission and reception
of social, political, scientific and educational information
'without frontiers' are thus of especial importance for populations
affected by emergency, chronic conflict and slow recovery. Efforts
to broaden access to education and improve effectiveness and
quality, and efforts to build the capacities and mobilise the
resources to do so, will require the participation and cooperation
of the various actors and partners in education, and new technologies
can help in this, whether by radio broadcasts reaching remote
villages or satellite technology linking programmes to donor
agencies far away. |
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Meetings in Benin and Zimbabwe 1998/99 have led to the development
of a strategy and programme of action at national and regional
levels that can have a major impact on education in crisis and
emergency. The Association for Development of Education in Africa
(ADEA) has joined with the World Bank to develop a strategy
1999/2000 for a joint 'Communication for Education in Africa'
programme. This will include close involvement of policy makers,
curriculum development, training, and the creation of networks.
It is important that agencies and educators concerned with emergency
and crisis situations work closely with this initiative. |
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El
Salvador: Peace Programme for women via radio diffusion
to reconcile rivaling factions
At the end of a bitter 12-year civil war, under the
1992 Chapultepec Peace Accords mediated by the United
Nations, a broad and extensive post-conflict peace-building
programme was envisaged for national reconciliation
in El Salvador. UNESCO's contribution to the latter
was through a culture of peace programme with women
as the focal population for human rights, social and
environmental awareness.
The
programme topics aimed at reaching and raising women's
awareness vis-à-vis their rights and creating a social
and educational environment conducive to the exercising
of those rights. A total of 40 local, regional and national
radio stations broadcast the programmes on a daily basis,
and each station was monitored and evaluated through
a questionnaire by community correspondents.
Although
the success of this project as a potential peace-builder
cannot be entirely measured through standard measurement
tools, indications on the ground weigh heavily in favor
of an attitudinal change among the people, and the power
of the radio programmes in bringing feuding factions
together. Initially the rival groups were hesitant and
reticent. In an environment rife with mistrust, project
objectives and outcomes were made clear to rival factions
so that questions such as "who will own the project
or the equipment?" were no longer a major preoccupation
of the participants. Suspicion soon gave way to collaborative
work once a common goal in the interest of all beneficiaries
was made clear.
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| 6.SPECIAL
ISSUES |
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| 6.1
Psycho-social needs and rehabilitation |
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| 'All
phases of emergency and reconstruction assistance programmes
should take psychosocial considerations into account. …Programmes
should aim to support healing processes and to establish a sense
of normalcy. This should include establishing daily routines
of family and community life, opportunity for expression and
structured activities such as school, play and sports…(and)
mobilise the community care network around children. Governments,
donors and relief organisations should prevent the institutionalisation
of children. When groups of children considered vulnerable,
such as child soldiers, are singled out for special attention,
it should be done with the full co-operation of the community
so as to ensure their long-term reintegration.'(Machel Report,
para. 183) |
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It is of course important to provide food and medicines to conflict-affected
populations, and to promote formal schooling, literacy and income
generation activities. But this is not sufficient. It is necessary
also to promote new ways of thinking and engender new skills
for coping, for populations that have been torn apart by conflict,
and that live with memories of tragedy and thoughts of guilt
and revenge. |
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UNICEF, Save the Children and many other organisations have
emphasised the importance of the psychosocial dimension, for
children and young people affected by trauma and conflict, and
especially for those whose trauma is the greatest, such as demobilised
child soldiers who have been forced to commit atrocities. Healing,
in this case, requires working at the level of the person -whether
the release of emotions through sport, song and dance, or sharing
experiences and feelings in groups or individually. Some programmes
of this type were noted above, in the section on child soldiers
and ex-combatants. |
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In schools, it must be realised that students are not the same
after the trauma of conflict or displacement. Chalk and talk
alone cannot meet the needs of the day. Teachers must use a
range of approaches, from pedagogical strategies and the content
of schooling, to group and even individual discussions, from
recreational activities to building self-esteem and respect
for one's language and culture. Teachers should be trained to
identify as soon as possible those children who show signs of
grave psychological disturbance and to direct them to specialist
assistance. |
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Guatemala:
Psychosocial rehabilitation of children and young people
displaced by violence
Guatemala
has been subject to civil discord since 1954. The increasing
severity of internal conflict in the eighties drove
a large part of the indigenous rural population to the
more remote mountainous areas of the country for safety.
The
high incidence of social violence and armed conflict
in the region has taken a toll on children. In addition
to a high morbidity rate, the number of malnourished
children is also high. The tensions, fears and anxiety
passed down from the parents find no outlet when the
children are immersed in the environment of an adult
world where their lives revolve around baby-sitting,
collecting water and firewood, grazing animals, cooking,
etc. Under these circumstances, school is neither an
option, nor play a pastime for children who haven't
had a childhood.
In the absence of health facilities, an educational
infrastructure, teaching staff or learning materials,
the NGO Enfants Réfugiés du Monde (ERM) set up recreational
centres for children between ages six and 14 with the
objective of helping children deal with the psychosocial
consequences of conflict.
A
multidisciplinary team of locally trained teachers crew
enables children with little or no schooling to participate
in the activities of the community centre where they
are helped collectively and as individuals to communicate
via tasks and creative expression and activity. Evaluation
of the programmes shows increased self-esteem and confidence
among the participating children who are able to distinguish
and appreciate the positive elements of their socio-cultural
environment. For many, the centres serve as a refuge
and source of identity. In addition to developing their
social skills, children are also taught to respect and
assume greater responsibility of self and work as they
grow up. Another success of the programme is observed
coming from the youngest children of the group who attend
kindergarten. These children had better success at the
primary school level in comparison to those that did
not attend kindergarten. They were also more motivated
to continue beyond primary school.
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The tragedies of 1999, in Albania, Macedonia, Sierra Leone and
elsewhere saw efforts to enhance the psychosocial component
of rapid educational response. |
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Sierra
Leone: Psychosocial support to internally displaced
children
In an emergency programme benefiting some 10,000 internally
displaced children in Sierra Leone in 1999, IRC established
a community-based initiative to help children recover
from trauma. IDP leaders, teachers, youth recreational
leaders and parents participated in a cross-cultural
workshop to identify methods of support to children
and adolescents at risk, through education, recreation
and healing. They received training in child development,
psychosocial development, communication skills, leadership,
peace and conflict resolution, and identifying children
at risk, for referral for special assistance. Youth
leaders coordinated recreational activities for children
concurrently with education in order to reach large
numbers of beneficiaries. Parents were sensitised to
encourage their children to participate, in view of
protection concerns when the children had been spending
their time in the streets.
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| 6.2
Awareness-raising: the dangers of landmines |
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'Today, children in at least 68 countries live amid the contamination
of more than 110 million landmines. Added to this number are
millions of items of unexploded ordnance, bombs, shells and
grenades that failed to detonate on impact. …Angola, with an
estimated 10 million landmines, has an amputee population of
70,000, of whom 8000 are children. …Landmines and unexploded
ordnance pose a particular danger for children, especially because
children are naturally curious and like to pick up strange objects
that they come across. …States Parties, where relevant, should
report on measures being taken …to promote children's awareness
of landmines and to rehabilitate those who have been injured.'
(Machel Report, paras. 112/3, 126) |
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Mine awareness is one of the first educational messages that
needs to be conveyed to children and adults returning to areas
affected by mines. Many agencies have developed expertise and
programmes in this area. A good overview is provided on the
University of Pittsburg's internet website on international
education. (24) UN agencies, governments and NGOs have developed
innovative mine awareness programmes, in countries such as Mozambique,
Somalia, Cambodia and Bosnia. It will be important to link an
awareness of the dangers of landmines and unexploded ordnance
to peace education programmes for populations who have recently
experienced conflict and have to live in or return to locations
where mines or ordnance present a hazard. |
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Mozambique:
Prevention of danger from land mines
After the signing of the General Peace Agreement in
1992, UNHCR requested Handicap International to develop
a programme on education regarding the danger of land
mines for the rural population of Tete Province. The
programme was later extended to other provinces as it
was indispensable for the security of returnee populations.
Technical
support was provided to all partner agencies on the
ground interested in developing activities on preventive
measures against the danger of land mines. The preventive
strategy included: a) using the radio and theatre as
a means to develop and publicize awareness at the mass
level, b) developing initiatives aimed at prohibiting
the production, sale and use of land-mines in Mozambique,
c) developing national capacity through coordinated
support of the National De-mining Commission.
The
above mine-awareness building campaign led to significant
reduction in the number of land mines related accidents.
Preparations were being made to conduct the campaign
in 18 languages through low-cost means. It was further
anticipated that the Portuguese version of the programmes
could be used in Angola.
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| 6.3
Awareness-raising: avoiding HIV/AIDS and drug abuse |
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AIDS and DRUG have become two social factors strongly linked
to the phenomenon of violence. The problem of AIDS has reached
crisis point. In Africa there are estimated to be some 8 million
children orphaned by AIDS, while in other continents the problem
is growing. This means that their education is put at risk,
-they often face hardship in terms of basic subsistence and
they or their relatives cannot meet the expenses of schooling.
Children have to drop out of school to care for dying relatives
and because of the incidental costs of schooling. Children with
HIV/AIDS themselves cannot access treatment and drop out of
school as their condition worsens. Teachers are sick with and
dying of AIDS and are hard to replace. In some countries it
is already impossible to do "business as usual". |
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Zambia:
the orphans of AIDS
A
UNICEF source reveals that 1.6 million Zambian children
have lost either a father or a mother to AIDS, and that
ten per cent of them have lost both parents. Those who
are left alone often join gangs in order to survive
in big cities such as Lusaka. Some 90,000 live in the
streets, three times as many as in 1991. The loss of
parents is mostly accompanied by drop out from school
and by the search for a job in order to survive.
The
association 'Fountain of Hope', created eight years
ago, manages about 150 community schools in the country.
Out of 700 pupils, nearly 400 are orphans. This is an
alarming situation that requires an urgent response.
(Le Monde, Paris, 30 September 1999)
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Emergency education must be at the front line of the AIDS/ education
interface, since AIDS is a crisis and since conflict and the
military are major vectors of the disease. Rape has been a commonplace
of conflict in the 1990s, prostitutes are infected and solutions
are not in sight, except for persons with regular access to
good medical facilities and the funds to pay for expensive drug
therapy. |
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Young people are often unaware of their own status. It is of
the utmost importance to educate them from an early age regarding
the nature of sexual diseases and how they are transmitted,
and of the particular characteristics of HIV/AIDS. It is important,
further, to teach the inter-personal skills for communication.
A set of materials for participatory AIDS awareness education
has been prepared jointly by the World Health Organisation and
UNESCO. Many other such materials have been produced by concerned
organisations and governments worldwide. The example of Uganda,
where education through formal, non-formal and informal means
has begun to slow the incidence of new cases of AIDS, is a confirmation
of the importance of this topic on the educational agenda for
the next decade. |
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Given the disruption of civil society during emergency and conflict
situations, with high incidence of rape by highly mobile soldiers
and militias, AIDS awareness and skills for AIDS avoidance must
feature in emergency education programmes. The example of the
International Rescue Committee refugee education programme in
Guinea, with its Health Education section and its 'nurse-counselors'
(one per ten schools), and its special programmes for adolescents,
must be seen as an example of best practice in this respect.
Programmes must, of course, be culturally sensitive, -but educators
from crisis-affected populations can work to make the necessary
adaptations, once the concept and the urgency of the situation
are clear to them. |
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The role of drugs in contemporary conflicts poses another serious
challenge. Again, the problem is enhanced by the breakdown of
governance. It can be aggravated where young people are drugged
before being forced to serve as child soldiers or commit atrocities.
There is no easy solution. A major public health and educational
effort is required, to counter the dangers and temptations to
which young people in emergencies are exposed. |
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In Pakistan, drugs awareness campaigns feature in the programmes
of refugee schools and in the community education activities
of the Social Welfare Cell of the Commissionerate for Afghan
Refugees. |
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Some studies are essential for understanding the connection
between drugs and violence. |
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| 6.4
Awareness-raising and skills development for a culture for Peace |
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Major initiatives in education for peace, democracy/ civil society
and human rights are being undertaken by agencies working in
complex humanitarian emergencies. These can contribute to the
international effort to develop a 'culture of peace'. The United
Nations has designated the pivotal year 2000 as the Year for
the Culture of Peace. A Decade will follow, emphasising the
theme 'Culture of Peace and Non-Violence for the Children of
the World'. Peace advocates fought hard for the UN to give such
recognition to the idea that education can be reoriented so
give more solid foundations for peace in the minds of the next
generation. Agencies working with conflict-affected populations
must be among the first to take up these ideas and work with
them, as a contribution to preventing the recurrence of conflict. |
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The Culture of Peace initiative is a global effort and process
to develop an understanding of the principles of and respect
for freedom, justice, democracy, human rights, tolerance, equality
and solidarity among the peoples of the world. It implies a
collective rejection of violence, and engendering of ideas and
ideals to cultivate and promote peace as a way of life. The
Culture of Peace concept is not restricted to post-conflict
situations. It is a preventive strategy to avert internal or
external conflict in and by countries. Its mission hence extends
beyond war zones to schools and workplaces around the world,
to parliaments and newsrooms, to households and playgrounds.
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UNESCO has developed this concept during the 1990s, and has
projects for peace-building in many countries including Angola,
Burundi, Côte d'Ivoire, El Salvador, Ethiopia, Haiti, Liberia,
Mali, Mozambique, the Philippines, Somalia, Russia and the
former Yugoslavia. The programme includes formal, non-formal
and informal dimensions of education:
activities
with parliamentarians and elected officials in the fundamentals
of good governance, democracy and social justice
empowering
women to participate in their society
training
and social insertion of demobilised soldiers
development
and support of media which contribute to the promotion of
a culture of peace
civic
education programmes, conflict management and leadership
training, and promotion of democratic ideals
the
Associated Schools Project, active world-wide, including
in post-conflict situations such as Bosnia and El Salvador
a set
of peace education materials for Somalia
the
Linguapax programme to promote respect for cultural diversity
through the world's linguistic heritage.
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UNESCO's
Education Peace Pack
An
Education Peace Pack was conceived and launched by the
Education for a Culture of Peace programme in support
of the United Nations General Assembly proclamation
of the year 2000 as the International Year for a Culture
of Peace. The 'Peace Pack' is the outcome of several
sub-regional 'Children's Culture of Peace Festivals'
organized around the world in celebration of the fiftieth
anniversary of the United Nations in 1995. The challenge
was to produce a multi-functional pack of resource materials
that could be used as a teaching tool by teachers around
the world. This was eventually achieved through the
collection of materials reflecting the festival activities.
The pack contains a variety of elements such as a teacher's
handbook, activity cards, peace posters, tolerance posters,
puppets and mask, worksheets, and a sample of children's
'appeals'. The objective of the peace education resource
materials is to provide teachers with a variety of ideas
for activities, which would engender a spirit of tolerance
and understanding among children from an early age through
knowledge.
The
project is in an experimental stage in 81 participating
countries at the pre-primary and primary school level.
The initial feedback from participants has been very
positive. Through translation and adaptation of the
material to culturally diverse regions and countries,
a distribution to all (5,600) Associated Schools of
UNESCO is envisaged over the period 2000-2001. In addition
to the Associated Schools a large number of elementary
schools worldwide will also receive a sample of the
Peace Pack. UNESCO offices in Doha, Harare, Apia and
Phnom Penh are currently producing versions relevant
to the regional cultures and languages.
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UNICEF has likewise played a major role in recent initiatives
to develop education for peace, and expressed its anti-war perspective
in its 1995 State of the World's Children (issued 50 years after
the Second World War). UNICEF has developed Peace education
programmes in Lebanon, Sri Lanka, Liberia, Rwanda, Burundi,
Croatia and elsewhere. It has developed a Training of Trainers
manual in Education for Conflict Resolution. It has explored
the relationship between the interpersonal 'life skills' or
'coping skills' needed for adolescent health and the similar
skills at the core of programmes of education for peace. Educational
methods developed during conflict are now integrated into national
education programmes in Lebanon and Sri Lanka: children practise
the skills of problem solving, and learn the techniques of negotiation
and communication as well as respect for themselves and for
others. They come thereby to see that peace is their right.
The objective is to help reconcile divided communities and prevent
future conflicts.(25). |
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In Lebanon, the UNICEF-supported Education for Peace project
grew out of the 16 years of civil war. Launched in 1989 in collaboration
with the Lebanese government and 240 NGOs, the project has trained
10,000 young people who have, in turn, organised educational
activities reaching approximately 200,000 children. The aim
is to promote peace and a culture of reconstruction and reconciliation
; emphasis is placed on child rights and child development,
conflict resolution and environmental education. |
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In Sri Lanka, the Education for Conflict Resolution project
is interweaving the values of tolerance, compassion, understanding
and peaceful living, appreciation of other cultures and non-violent
conflict resolution into school curricula. Since the project
began in 1992, it has reached more than a million primary school
children and trained more than 75,000 administrators and 30,000
student leaders. In 1999, it will be introduced into secondary
schools. |
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In conflict-affected locations in Croatia, children in primary
schools have received 20 weeks training that aims to address
psychosocial stress, increase bias awareness, promote conflict
resolution and teach ways of achieving peace. A collaboration
between CARE, McMaster's University, UNICEF and the Croatian
Ministry of Education, the project was begun with fourth graders
in 1996, to help children resolve everyday problems, build self-esteem,
and improve their communication skills. An evaluation showed
reduced psychosocial stress, improved classroom atmosphere,
and positive attitudes towards school, parents and life in general.
It is hoped to extend the coverage to all eight grades of primary
school and to adolescents in youth associations. |
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UNHCR has long worked to build understanding between refugees
from different communities and countries, residing together
in refugee camps or settlements, through its Community Services
staff and programmes. More recently it has received earmarked
funding for field-based development of materials, methodologies
and programmes of peace education suited to refugees and other
populations of concern to the organisation.(26) |
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Development
of Peace Education materials and methods in refugee
settings
In 1998, UNHCR initiated a pilot project for peace education
in the refugee camps in Kenya, following extensive consultations
with the refugees in Kakuma and Dadaab camps, where
there are refugees from about a dozen nationalities,
mostly from the Horn of Africa and the Great Lakes.
Community organisations were supportive of the idea
of peace education in the camp schools, but most groups
stated that they should be the first beneficiaries of
such education. A course of education for conflict resolution
was therefore developed, using participative methods
of adult education, that draw on the life experience
of participants and make extensive use of participant-generated
role plays. Over 5000 refugee youth and adults have
already completed the 10-session course, of which one
refugee stated that it was the best thing that UNHCR
had done for refugees in the camp -since it was building
skills for a peaceful future!
The
programme has likewise been introduced for the 40,000
pupils in the 40 primary schools in the camp, for classes
1 to 7. It has been timetabled for one period weekly.
Adults and school classes are led by refugee peace education
facilitators and peace education teachers respectively,
who have received training and continuous on-the-job
supervision from the project staff. The programme is
now being extended to other countries, beginning with
refugee community programmes in Uganda. A regional workshop
was help in March 1999 to share this programme with
regional offices of UNICEF, UNESCO and NGOs, and further
inter-agency cooperation is planned.
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Many organisations are now active in the field of human rights
and civics education, in crisis-affected countries. Since young
people and adults need to learn the basis on which a new society
should be constructed, this is especially useful in situations
of reconstruction, or for prevention. The new UNESCO manual
for schools on human rights education 'All human beings' represents
an excellent resource for introducing human rights and peace
education programmes. It is important that young people get
to know the fundamental concepts of human rights and responsibilities,
and of democracy, as well as the constitution and legal system
of their country. In some cases, young people (and adults) have
not been aware of the basis on which peace treaties have been
arrived at between conflicting factions within their society.
Educators must find new ways of demonstrating that building
civil society and democracy is everybody's business and of supporting
it. |
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Human
rights education in the Southern Caucasus
Since
1996, the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) has been involved
in a programme promoting human rights education in the
Southern Caucasus. The programme began in Armenia and
expanded into Georgia, including the breakaway republics
of South Ossetia and Abkasia, and Azerbaijan.
The
aim of the programme is to promote human rights education
within the school system. In this process, different
aspects had to be addressed: curriculum planning, teacher
training, methodology, and classroom atmosphere. By
introducing human rights education in the schools, it
was hoped that the programme could contribute to a movement
towards peace, reconciliation and tolerance between
different groups of people. All the areas included in
the programme suffer from the effects of war and conflict,
and there are large groups of refugees and internally
displaced persons. One of NRC's reasons for developing
the programme was that it would eventually improve the
situation of refugees and the internally displaced,
with its focus on tolerance and respect for other people's
rights.
The
activities included meetings and round table conferences
with national administrators and resource persons, and
seminars for teachers. Gradually there has been a shift
from training of teachers to training of trainers. Development
of educational materials and a methodology suitable
for the Caucasian context have been parts of the programme
from the beginning.
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Educators should not merely talk about human rights but should
ensure that schools develop a climate of mutual respect, tolerance,
democratic principles, justice, solidarity, and peace. Involvement
of the community in the management of schools through Community
Education Committees and Parent Teacher Associations, with representation
of students, represents a major opportunity to illustrate how
civil society functions, -the need for citizens to take responsibility
for matters great and small that affect their lives and those
of their families. Parents and students from even the poorest
families can make a contribution to the infrastructure, educational
and extra-curricular activities of the school; and it will become
evident that cooperation, tolerance and give-and-take can lead
to benefits for all. (27) |
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Education for peace, human rights and for civil society/ democracy
are areas where many organisations are developing innovative
programmes, often in isolation from one another. It is important
that these agencies are in touch with each others' work and
cooperate in the development of this field. |
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There is a close relationship between education for conflict
resolution skills and the life skills component of programmes
of health education, especially those emphasising coping skills
for adolescents. As noted in the previous section, communication
and negotiation skills are very important in avoiding unwanted
or unprotected sex, which can be fatal in cultures where the
level of infection with HIV/AIDS is high. Life skills training
currently being introduced in teacher training and in the national
school curriculum in Uganda includes many of the 'coping' skills
incorporated into education for peace programmes, for example.
There is a need to build organisational bridges between education
for peace and health education programmes for adolescents. |
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Another area where bridges can be useful is environmental education.
Many conflicts that face refugees, internally displaced and
other citizens of poor countries at this time are due to competition
over scarce resources. For example, there is often anger that
displaced people are cutting down trees that belong to or are
used by local people, or conflict over grazing rights. UNHCR
and UNESCO have developed environmental education booklets for
refugee schools, which aim to enrich school studies that bear
on the environment, and which emphasise co-operation in the
attempt to solve and avoid conflict over environmental matters. |
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Sports and other recreational and cultural activities have a
major role to play in building peace, allowing participants
to work off some of their feelings or stress. They can provide
a real alternative to youth who might otherwise have no social
anchor except a militia. Recreational activities entail close
interpersonal relationships and practising teamwork. The participants
and spectators likewise have to practise coping with feelings
of anger, disappointment and frustration when they lose a game.
Further, sporting or cultural activities which entail interaction
with groups to which one does not belong can help learn tolerance
and rebuild peace. |
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UNESCO has developed programmes to promote the development of
sports in Lebanon, Guinea, Gaza, Bosnia and Rwanda and other
countries emerging from conflict. The programmes include provision
of sports equipment and sponsoring of sporting events, including
those between children of different communities. |
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A famous British footballer travelled to Burundi in 1998 to
initiate a 'football cup', in support of cross-ethnic sport,
sponsored by Christian Aid. |
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There is need for further effort to ensure adequate resourcing
and arrangements for recreational activities including sports.
These take place in many refugee camps and settlements, but
are now receiving a higher profile with the post-Convention
on the Rights of the Child and post-Machel emphasis on the needs
of adolescents. They suffer from a lack of clear definition
as a priority activity, in times of budget constraints. |
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This brief 'taste' of the activities shows some of the activities
developed during the 1990s, bearing directly on the task of
reducing the incidence of conflict and its associated human
misery, by teaching the skills for peace. These programmes are
usually very warmly welcomed by the displaced or otherwise conflict-affected
populations, and should be developed on a systematic inter-agency
basis as part of all emergency-related education programmes. |
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