We recommend, based on the current analysis, that the initiatives described previously be continued and expanded, with a more adequate and secure resource base, including :

Early childhood care and development programmes

Prompt access to basic schooling

Access to secondary, higher, vocational and appropriate non-formal adult education

Enrichment of the emergency education programmes to provide the knowledge, skills and values needed to move out of the emergency situation (AIDS awareness, other health messages, mine awareness, environmental awareness, education for peace, tolerance, civil society and human rights) · Capacity-building at the national and local government level, for school staff and school management committees

Resources to ensure that children in emergency situations can attend school, even if their families are poor, and to ensure the equal participation of girls

Education programmes to meet the needs of children and adults with disability, of children rescued from serving in armies and militias and of ex-combatant adults, of those who are victims of AIDS or drug abuse.

Major initiatives in education for peace, life skills, democracy/ civil society and human rights are being established by agencies working in complex humanitarian emergencies. These activities are at an early stage, and there is a need for sharing of experience, as well as for independent research and evaluation of programme design and impact. We recommend that:

Humanitarian and developmental organisations should work together to develop ways of promoting peace and civil society through their formal and non-formal education programmes for refugee, crisis and transition situations, as part of the UN Year (2000) for the Culture of Peace and Decade (2001-2010) for the Culture of Peace and Non-Violence for the Children of the World. (31)

A World Conference on Education for the Culture of Peace in Humanitarian Emergencies, Post-Conflict and Transition Situations should be scheduled for the year 2001 or 2002 as a contribution to the Decade.

The general principles of the right to education in complex emergencies and the role of education in building towards sustainable and peaceful development need to be translated into specific norms and practices. This is essential if donors are to provide the catalytic inputs that enable governments, NGOs and, especially, affected populations to develop educational programmes of meaningful quality, and adapted to current and future needs. Mechanisms for validation and certification of studies need to be strengthened for the hundreds of thousands of students in refugee, chronic conflict and post-conflict situations for whom this is a problem. The recommendations in this matter could be:

Guidelines on minimum standards should be developed for programmes of education in prolonged emergency situations, including such matters as hours of study, educational materials and books, class size, in-service teacher training and guidance, teacher resource centers etc, having regard to the fact that these programmes often have to be established from scratch and serve the needs of emergency-affected populations.

The current policies and attitudes of donors and NGOs on the gender- and poverty-related aspects of Education for All in emergencies should be surveyed, in order to establish criteria for funding of measures to extend the right to education to all girls and to economically marginal groups.

Studies should be commissioned to estimate the present education coverage, to review modalities and establish criteria for inclusive education, for children with disability, ex-combattants, separated children, children orphaned by AIDS and other vulnerable groups, in complex emergency situations.

One or more studies of access to secondary, tertiary and vocational education in complex emergencies should be commissioned, including an estimation of met and unmet needs for post-primary education and relevant cost data. Access to secondary education, in particular, must be ensured as it is crucial to capacity-building for long term development, as well as to retention of students through the process of primary schooling.

Issues regarding certification of studies by refugees and other emergency-affected populations should be reviewed and certification structures should be put in place based on this review.(33 )

An organisation with specialist knowledge of book procurement and library development in developing countries, should be commissioned to develop guidelines for regionally-appropriate reading materials for use in schools and adult education programmes for refugees, internally displaced populations and in other crisis and post-crisis situations, including materials supportive of the Culture of Peace Decade.

We recommend that:

Leading academic and research institutions in the field of education should be encouraged to enter the field of education in complex emergencies, through research, evaluation, training and related activities, drawing on the experience of field practitioners. University departments or research institutes with specialist knowledge of particular crisis-affected areas of the world may be encouraged to include the education dimension among their concerns. (34)

Post-conflict units in major international funding institutions as well as academic bodies should study ways of reconstructing education systems that can permit education to contribute to durable solutions and peaceful and sustainable development.

Training modules in education planning and management for emergency and post-conflict situations should be developed for inclusion in staff training for management and field staff of agencies working in these situations.

Training modules on education in complex emergencies should be developed for inclusion in courses of education planning and management generally, since so many countries are now affected directly or indirectly by natural and man-made disasters and conflict.

UNESCO's International Institute of Education Planning may set an example for such training and research.

The range of topics is great, however, and some nodes or focal points focusing on particular topics may be needed. There should be a more structured architecture for inter-agency cooperation to serve the needs of the coming decade, with a strong field base. We recommend that:·

A Technical Working Group should be established to ensure inter-agency cooperation in the field of emergency education. This group should include concerned UN, multilateral and bilateral agencies, NGOs and specialists in the field. A Steering Committee limited to about 10 members should be established, including the relevant headquarters units of UNICEF, UNHCR and UNESCO, representatives of the NGO and academic community, of donors and of affected countries.

The Technical Working Group should develop pro-active methods of inter-agency consultation and networking, using electronic and other means. Appropriate mechanisms should be developed within member organizations to ensure that field staff with responsibilities for education in emergency and crisis situations are integrated in this network.

The Technical Working Group should support the development of more specialized networks which independently, using electronic communication as well as other means, develop an overview of particular themes within emergency education, or of the educational needs and responses in particular emergencies and regions.

A small group of donor staff with experience of education in complex emergencies should be invited to participate in planning the follow up to this report, especially as regards the development of standards and guidelines, and the development of research and training programmes.

At field level there should be inter-agency co-operation, linked to capacity-building for governments and civil society. This should include strengthening of national and local education management. Strategic planning workshops for emergency education, and subsequent co-ordination meetings, should be supported on an inter-agency basis, preferably under local leadership.

1- The participants at the Jomtien World Conference on Education for All in 1990 could not have anticipated the events of the 1990s:

Conflicts and natural disasters have multiplied in number.

Some regions have seen endemic conflict or recurrent natural disasters. · Persistent poverty has undermined social cohesion and led to ethnic tensions.

Epidemics such as AIDS have created new types of emergency.

Kacem BENSALAH

Kacem BENSALAH is graduate from Algiers University and has a Doctorate in Education Sciences from Paris-Sorbonne. He is specialist of Educational Planning (IIEP). He spent his career as Director of Research and Educational Planning in the Ministry of Education in Algeria and as Senior Technical Adviser of UNESCO/UNDP/World Bank in the field in Latin America, Africa and Middle East. He was recently Director of the UNESCO Regional Office for Education for the Arab States (Beirut). He works as Director of Emergency Educational Assistance in UNESCO, Paris, and coordinates this thematic study. Kacem BENSALAH published general articles and documents about education and social change in the developing countries.

Margaret SINCLAIR

Margaret SINCLAIR is currently a senior consultant on humanitarian assistance. She gained her BA and D.Phil. at Oxford University. She graduated at London University in Educational Planning and Environmental Management. She hold many important positions such as Research Officer at IDS of University of Sussex. With UNESCO, Margaret SINCLAIR worked as technical adviser on the establishment of an Academy of Educational Planning and Management in Islamabad (Pakistan). She worked, as Senior Education Adviser, with UNHCR in Geneva for Emergency Education. She published several articles and monographs.

Fatma Hadj NACER

Mrs Fatma Hadj Nacer received her PhD from the Catholic University of Leuven in Sociology. She spent the major part of her career in University teaching and in the field of research. Currently, she is involved in research on women and violence in the Arab World. From 1973 to 1993, she worked at the University of Algeria at the "Centre de recherche en économie appliquée au développement" (CREAD), in Paris at the "Institut européen des études Maghreb-Europe". She published several articles and monographs focusing on women's role and violence in developping countries. She a founder member of the African Women's Association for Research on Development as well as of the Arab Sociology Association

1-For a summary of 'international milestones' for education since 1948, including the international conferences of the 1990s, see State of the World's Children, 1999, p. 12 (UNICEF, 1999a). The OECD Development Assistance Committee, meeting with heads of aid agencies in 1996, synthesised the concerns expressed in these various conferences to create a set of goals and indicators for development assistance, including the achievement of universal primary education by 2015, and elimination of gender disparities in schooling by 2005. (Shaping the 21st Century : the contribution of development cooperation, OECD, Paris,1996).

2- The coverage of the 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees was extended by the 1967 Protocol. Article 22 of the Convention, on 'Public education', states that 'the Contracting States shall accord to refugees the same treatment as is accorded to nationals with respect to elementary education' and that for other types of education the States are requested to 'afford to refugees treatment as favourable as possible, and, in any event, not less favourable than that accorded to aliens generally in the same circumstances, as regards access to studies, the recognition of foreign school certificates, diplomas and degrees, the remission of fees and charges and the award of scholarships'. The 23rd principle of the recent UN Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement stipulates that 'the authorities concerned shall ensure that such persons, in particular displaced children, receive education which shall be free and compulsory at the primary level. Education should respect their cultural identity, language and religion. Special efforts should be made to ensure the full and equal participation of women and girls in educational programmes.' The Convention on the Rights of the Child requires States Parties to accord rights under the Convention 'to each child within their jurisdiction without discrimination of any kind, irrespective of the child's... national, ethnic or social origin... or other status'. States Parties are urged to 'promote and encourage international co-operation' in support of these rights.

3.-The 1949 Geneva Conventions and the 1977 Protocols relating to the victims of international and non-international armed conflict emphasise the needs of children, and that parties to a conflict should not destroy social infrastructure such as schools. Protocol 2 (non-international armed conflict) specifies that 'children shall receive an education … in keeping with the wishes of their parents or those responsible for their care'.

4-See Education in emergencies and for reconstruction: a developmental approach (UNICEF,1999b). War and internal conflicts in the 1990s led the UN to develop the concept of 'complex emergencies'. (UN General Assembly Resolution 45/1822).

5- UNICEF (1999a), p.43.

6-Refugees and others of concern to UNHCR: 1998 Statistical overview.

7-See Internally Displaced People, Global IDP Survey (Norwegian Refugee Council /Earthscan.

8-UNESCO helped Somali educators to collect and reconstruct textbooks and other educational materials.

9-UNICEF, 1999(b).

10-UNHCR's Education Guidelines (1995) emphasise that the trauma of exile should not be aggravated by trauma of loss of educational opportunity, and that refugees should have access to secondary education. UNHCR funds refugee secondary schools in several refugee camps and settlements, and often provides financial support to refugee students attending host country secondary schools. UNHCR's policy is that basic education is a first priority in time and coverage, but that in protracted situations, secondary education is an essential complement. It is crucial that displaced secondary school students are helped, early in an emergency, to maintain at least their basic study skills through non-formal education appropriate to the local setting and that in prolonged refugee or internal displacement situations, a scheme of support for secondary education is developed. Jomtien's emphasis on 'sound basic education' was not meant to exclude further studies but rather to provide a solid basis for those students proceeding to the higher levels of education.

11-UNHCR-supported refugee students were estimated in 1990 to comprise about 320,000 at primary level, 8000 at secondary level and 2000 at tertiary level. It should be noted, however, that the boundary between primary and secondary education differs between countries, with some countries treating education in some or all of years 6, 7 and 8 of schooling as upper primary and others treating some or all of these years as lower secondary. UNHCR funding to assist refugee education in Iran commenced in the early 1990's.

12-UNHCR policy is to permit refugee students to enrol in school, without discrimination according to age, -in view of possible disruption of their education in previous years, and the disruption of community and family life. The concept of comparing enrolments to a 'corresponding age group' becomes less meaningful under these conditions. Another complicating factor is that some young people may decide to resume their schooling after becoming refugees, especially if there limited opportunities for employment.

13-Snawfield, Refugee education in an international perspective: the education of Mozambican refugees in Malawi, 1987-1993 in Retamal,G. & Aedo-Richmond,R. (eds.), Education as a humanitarian response (1998).

14-Sample surveys in refugee camps and settlements in East Africa, conducted in 1997, showed that in some countries most eligible refugee children and adolescents were in school. There may be some element of over-reportage but nevertheless the results are encouraging. Reported participation rates were highest in Uganda, where a random sample of 50 refugee households reported that among the age group 6 to 12 years, 97% were in pre-school or primary school and 3% were out of school. Of the age group 13 to 17, as many as 80% were in primary school and 13% in secondary school. The high participation of adolescents in primary school may be noted. Adolescents in the age group 13-17 accounted for 42% of those reported as attending primary school in Uganda, 32% in Tanzania and 27% in Sudan. Regarding gender, the surveys indicated that for the age group 6 to 17, only 6% of refugee girls were out of school in Northern Uganda, 18% in Tanzania and 21% in Sudan. It should be noted also that access to secondary education varies between countries and locations. Survey data of this kind needs to be cross-checked with schools and community groups, preferably simultaneously with involving them in promoting school attendance. The picture given from these pilot surveys is encouraging. However, it is known that the quality of schooling left much to be desired. Surveys in other regions will give different results. A 1997 survey of Afghan refugee households in Pakistan showed many girls out of school, the reason given being the religious views of their fathers.

15-The distinction between conflict-affected and post-conflict situations is not always clear, especially when there is chronic instability or governance structures are not in place throughout the country.

16- UNHCR's 'Quick Impact Programmes' in returnee districts have provided short term employment for returnees, while helping reconstruct infrastructure including schools. More recently, this approach has been linked to inter-agency professional co-operation in ensuring that the needs for education materials, in-service teacher training, and revived district educational administration are also met. UNDP plays a major role in post-conflict reconstruction. Many of the examples given in this study have benefited from UNDP financial support, or have formed part of a national development plan coordinated by UNDP.

17: See ILO's Technical assistance projects in conflict-affected countries: a sample (ILO,1997).

18-For an account of the development of the TEP and other emergency education programmes, see UNESCO-PEER (Nairobi).

19-UNICEF has a range of 'edukits' available from its Copenhagen warehouse as well as local procurement. For a description of the "edukits" approach, and a summary of lessons learned regarding education supplies in emergency situations, see UNICEF's bulletin Education Update", June 1998. UNHCR has recently developed internal specifications for emergency education materials needed per 1000 total refugees (adults as well as children), which could be pre-assembled as kits. The aim is to facilitate speedy response, -since the information available is usually how many thousand refugees have arrived, and expected trends for new arrivals or speedy repatriation. A recreational-educational kit is envisaged, for early issue to responsible community members. This kit is intended to encourage early community-based activity for children and young people. Likewise writing materials kits are envisaged for issue to individual newly established or expanding informal schools. These writing materials kits are based on the assumption of a ratio of two lower primary classes that use slates to one class of older children and adolescents who work in exercise books. Contents can be adjusted for regions or situations where this is not appropriate.

20-Logistics and security problems can be a major barrier to validation of studies. UNHCR, UNICEF and the respective Ministries of Education in Tanzania, Democratic Republic of Congo and Burundi have nevertheless been co-operating with the objective of arranging a primary school leaving examination for refugees that would be recognised by their own governments. In 1997, six Congolese students sat their national examination while in Tanzania.

21.-One reason that host countries have sometimes insisted on their own curriculum is to create jobs for their own nationals as teachers. Present budget constraints mean, however, that only 'incentives' can be paid to teachers in refugee schools rather than full professional salaries. This can mean that nationals are not attracted to the work. In cases where national teachers are not paid regularly, even 'incentives' can seem attractive, however. 'Incentives' are meant to compensate refugees working as teachers for the 'opportunity cost' of their work. Refugees are assumed to benefit from subsidised or free services and living space, and often food rations; hence, the 'incentive' for refugee workers is meant to at least compensate for what could be earned in addition to these benefits by undertaking labouring work, petty trade etc. If there is no incentive, there will be high levels of staff turnover, meaning that efforts to raise standards through in-service teacher training will be unfruitful. Setting the level of incentives is difficult, however. There is a high level of turnover of refugee teachers in the schools in Kenya refugee camps, -which might be obviated if funds were available to pay more adequate incentives.

22-This is especially serious among minority and indigenous children in Africa, whose suffering is tolerated as an unfortunate but inevitable result of war. Such children face particularly high levels of malnutrition and starvation, due to the dispossession of their communities' land and assets, and the communities' geographic inaccessibility. The dispossession of widows and orphans from their family properties under some traditional legal systems has meant impoverishment and drop out from education for many families affected by conflict or by the epidemic of AIDS. Young girls may also be married off on behalf of dead relatives, or asked to care for babies and younger siblings because of pressure on their mothers to make up for those killed in conflict. Likewise boys may be encouraged to travel far from home to attend schooling while girls are discouraged from taking up even meagre local education possibilities.

23- See UNHCR's 1995 Guidelines for Educational Assistance to Refugees.

24-The website, at www.ginie.edu, is supported by USAID. See also guidelines and manuals on mine awareness from UNESCO, UNICEF, Radda Barnen and other organisations.

25- See 'Peace Education in UNICEF', 1999c.

26-See Progress Report on UNHCR Education for Peace Pilot Project, 1997-99.

27-JRS has developed a programme of civic education for refugees in Zambia, Sudan, Nepal, including education for peace, democracy and human rights.

28- Awareness is gradually being raised on the need for establishing norms in this area. A coalition has been formed, led by Amnesty International, the Quaker UN Office, Defence of Children International, Human Rights Watch, Radda Barnen, Jesuit Refugee Service and Terre des Hommes, to advocate for an "optional protocol" to raise the age of recruitment to 18 years. This proposal was submitted in October 1998 to the Human Rights Commission.

29-In some cases there are community pressures, or logistical constraints, that lead to re-establishment of the previous education system. In late 1999 in Kosovo, there has been a restoration of the education framework as of early 1999 on a temporary basis, as the most practicable way of getting children back into school. This policy has been informally described as 'one step back, two steps forward'.

30-An analysis may be commissioned of how much funding for education has been requested and allocated under the UN Consolidated Appeals Process for complex emergencies; and likewise of public expenditure and Official Development Assistance for education in countries experiencing crisis and/or chronic instability.

31-It is recommended that a study be commissioned as a matter of urgency to identify organisations and materials that can support the role of emergency and post-conflict education programmes in building a Culture of Peace, including issues relating to psychosocial education, education for ex-combatants, life skills programmes for adolescents, emergency environmental education and education for mine awareness. It will be useful further to collect or sponsor the preparation of materials on conflict resolution, lives of peace makers, human rights and civil society, oriented to the reading level of primary school students and graduates in emergency situations, as well as in developing countries generally.

32-In this connection, we recommend that agencies should record data from field monitoring, on their achievements in the early phase of an emergency; and should conduct evaluations that will facilitate a wider review.

33-In support of the above, UN agencies and NGOs should sensitise their staff on the need to get better information on education programmes for refugees and internally displaced populations, as well as for populations in crisis and post-crisis situations. Sample proformas for education statistics and surveys, suited to emergency situations, should be prepared and developed through a process of field trials, with inter-agency cooperation to avoid unnecessary differences in approach. Collection of sample household statistics on children and adolescents not participating in education as well as those enrolled in schooling should be included in the design of all emergency education projects funded by donors.

34-Funding for research and evaluation studies, independent of particular field projects, will assist in generating a more objective knowledge of the field situations.

35- UNESCO-PEER and the JRS Resource Base for Refugee Education in Nairobi provide a useful precedent.

36-It would be useful if the GINIE project could be better known to staff working in emergency education, perhaps by developing formal linkages between GINIE and key organisations active in this field, and preferably, representation on their internet sites.

AIDS Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome

ADRA Adventists Development and Relief Association

ARC Action for the Rights of the Child

CAW Children Against War

EMOPS Office of Emergency Programmes

ERM Enfants Réfugiés du Monde

GINIE Global Information Network for International Education

GTZ Deutsche Gesellschaft für Technische Zusammenarbeit

IBE International Bureau of Education

IIEP International Institute of Educational Planning

ILO International Labour Organisation

JRS Jesuit Refugee Service

MAP Mine-awareness programme

MOST Management of Social Transformation

NGO Non-governmental organization

NRC Norwegian Refugee Council

PEP Peace Education Package

PEER Programme for Education for Emergency and Reconstruction

QUIP Quick Impact Preparedness

SAB Salesiani Don Bosco SCF Save the Children Fund/Federation

TEP Teacher Emergency Package UN United Nations

UNDP United Nations Development

UNESCO United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization

UNICEF United Nations Children's Fund

UNHCR United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees

UNRWA United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East

WFP World Food Programme

A - General documentation:

Brett,R. & MacCallin,M. Children : the invisible soldiers (Radda Barnen, 1998). Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers The use of children as soldiers in Africa (Coalition to Stop The Use Of Child Soldiers, Switzerland, 1999). (www.child-soldiers.org) Fountain, S. Education for development : a teacher's resource for global learning (UNICEF/ Hodder & Stoughton, London 1995) . Macks,K.J. The A.B.C. of Cyclone Rehabilitation (Educational Buildings and Equipment 18, UNESCO, 1996). Norwegian Refugee Council Teacher's guide for human rights education (Norwegian Refugee Council, Oslo, 1997). Norwegian Refugee Council Internally Displaced People, Global IDP Survey (Earthscan/ Norwegian Refugee Council, Oslo, 1998). Observatoire Geopolitique des Drogues Les Drogues en Afrique Subsaharienne (Karthala/MOST -UNESCO, Paris1998). Reardon,B.A. Tolerance - the threshold of peace (UNESCO, 1997). Retamal,G. & Aedo-Richmond, R. (eds.) Education as a humanitarian response (UNESCO International Bureau of Education/Cassell, London, 1998.). Retamal,G. & Aguilar,P. Rapid educational response in complex emergencies: a discussion document (UNESCO International Bureau of Education,1998). SIDA Humanitarian Assistance in Armed Conflicts with a Children Rights Perspective (Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency/SIDA, Stockholm, 1999).

B - International organisations reports and documents:

International Labour Organisation : ILO's technical assistance projects in conflict-affected countries: a sample (1997). OECD : Shaping the 21st century : the contribution of development co-operation (OECD/ DAC, 1996). United Nations Conference on Human Rights: The Vienna declaration and programme of action (1993). United Nations : Report of the World Summit for Social Development (1995). United Nations : Report of the International Conference on Population and Development: (1995). United Nations: Fourth World Conference On Women - the Beijing Declaration and Framework of Action,1995. UNDP : Human Development Report, 1999 UNDP, UNESCO,UNICEF, World Bank : Final Report of the World Conference on Education for All : Meeting Basic Learning Needs. (Inter-Agency Commission, WCEFA, 1990). UNESCO : Education for human rights: an international perspective (UNESCO International Bureau of Education, Paris/Geneva 1994). UNESCO : UNESCO and a culture of peace: promoting a global movement (1995). UNESCO : Education and the culture of peace: a bibliography (1996). UNESCO : From a culture of violence to a culture of peace (1996). UNESCO: Statistical Year Book (1998). UNESCO : All human beings… Manual for human rights education (1998). UNESCO -PEER : Annual Report ( UNESCO-PEER, Nairobi,1999). UNESCO-UNICEF : Technology and learning portfolio- education for all and learning without frontiers (1997). UNHCR : Environmental education for refugees (1995) UNHCR Guidelines for educational assistance to refugees, (1995) UNHCR : Education for peace, conflict resolution and human rights: report of an internal design workshop (1997). UNHCR : Hand book for Emergencies (1999a) UNHCR : Refugee education in the 1990's and issues for the next decade (1999b) UNICEF : Global education (working papers, UNICEF Regional Office, Amman, 1997) UNICEF : State of the World's Children 1999 (1999a). UNICEF Education in emergencies and for reconstruction (1999b) UNICEF Peace education in UNICEF (1999c) World Food Programme : Policy issues : from crisis to recovery (WFP,1998). WHO & UNESCO: School health education to prevent AIDS and STD: a resource package (WHO/ UNESCO, Geneva/Paris 1994).

GREAT THANKS for their contribution to :

M. Peter BUCKLAND UNICEF

M. Mudiappasamy DEVADOSS UNESCO-PEER

Ms Gretchen BLOOM WFP

Ms Eldrid MIDTTUN NRC (Norway) M. Kavraj APPADU SIDA (Sweden)

Ms Talaat MOREAU USAID (USA)

Ms Anna GRAVERS FISCHER RADDA BARNEN

M. Luc TROUILLARD CARITAS INTERNATIONAL

Ms Nicole DAGNINO ENFANTS REFUGIES DU MONDE

Ms Lolin MENENDEZ JESUIT REFUGEE SERVICE

Ms Wendy SMITH INTERNATIONAL RESCUE COMMITTEE

M. Christian BIGAULT SALESIANI DI DON BOSCO

M. Michel DEYGLUN SECOURS CATHOLIQUE