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Background
Access to education is regarded as a basic human right. It is enshrined in numerous international instruments such as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, and the United Nations Millennium Declaration. World leaders endorsed this right to education through the 2000 Dakar Framework for Action to achieve Education for All (EFA) by 2015. Countries in the midst of crisis or reconstruction are challenged in new efforts to uphold this commitment.
The fifth objective set out at the World Education Forum, Dakar, pledged to: “meet the needs of education systems affected by conflict, natural calamities and instability and conduct educational programmes in ways that promote mutual understanding, peace and tolerance, and that help to prevent violence and conflict”.
Dakar Framework for Action, 2000: 9
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IIEP and education in emergencies and reconstruction
UNESCO is increasingly called upon to provide educational response in emergency and post-conflict or post-disaster reconstruction settings. Each context has different requirements. Emergencies require immediate action while reconstruction is a long-term process. The length of readjustment and reconstruction vary from one situation to another. Conflict and the results of conflict are prevalent in the world. In order to provide some constructive guidance and practical tools for educational policy-makers, officials and planners, IIEP established, in 2002, a programme on “Education in Emergencies and Reconstruction” designed to research, train and conduct operational activities in this field.
A number of ministries, agencies and donors have called upon the IIEP to undertake research and to organize training on planning and management of education in emergencies and reconstruction. The field of education in emergencies has, however, only recently emerged as a field of research and teaching. Work has to be done to make it a manageable discipline. Experiences have not been sufficiently shared amongst actors and many still only exist in practitioners’ heads. The accumulated institutional memory and knowledge are in danger of being lost, considering the high turnover of staff in NGOs, governments and agencies working on the subject. These experiences have to be documented.
Often countries at the risk of, in the midst of, or emerging from conflict are referred to as “fragile states”. The OECD's Development Assistance Committee denotes a fragile state to be a country with a lack of political commitment and/or weak capacity to develop and implement pro-poor policies that often experience violent conflict. |
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Overview of IIEP’s “Education in Emergencies and Reconstruction” programme
Through its programme for “Education in Emergencies and Reconstruction”, IIEP has sought to contribute to the systemization and advance of this crucial field. Since its inception, the programme has documented lessons learned from the planning and management of education in past and present emergencies and conflicts. It has published detailed case studies on Kosovo, Rwanda, Rwandan refugees, Timor-Leste, Southern Sudan and the Occupied Palestinian Territory as well as a thematic policy study on co-ordination of educational activities during emergencies and early reconstruction. Several more case studies and thematic policy studies are forthcoming and will contribute greatly to clarification of policy and practice. IIEP has also published a Guidebook for planning education in emergencies and reconstruction to help Ministries and agencies assisting them take quick and appropriate action in emergency situations. It has also produced training materials on education in emergencies and reconstruction that are constantly being updated.
Education in crises is a core tool in the protection from exploitation of refugees and displaced children, military recruitment, prostitution and other harmful activities. It helps with the developmental and psychosocial needs of conflict-affected and displaced children as well as prepares them for a productive life through the teaching of necessary life skills such as health, hygiene, and HIV-AIDS prevention. In emergency and reconstruction settings, education is a life-saving and life-sustaining activity. |
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Collaboration and networking
IIEP works closely with members of the INEE (Inter-agency Network for Education in Emergencies) and actively promotes the INEE Minimum Standards for Education in Emergencies, Chronic Crises and Early Reconstruction .
It has also two ongoing research partnerships on education in conflict, emergencies and reconstruction. One partnership involves the Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Amsterdam Institute for Metropolitan and International Development Studies of the University of Amsterdam and the International Rescue Committee; and the other involves CfBT Education Trust . The overall aim of these partnerships is to develop knowledge on specific interventions, strategies and methodologies that can be used to improve access to quality education for all in countries in the midst of crisis or reconstruction. Other partners include numerous national and local educational actors on activities in conflict-affected countries including UNESCO field offices, Ministries of Education, the World Bank, JICA, UNHCR, UNICEF and many NGOs. |
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Guidebook for planning education in emergencies and reconstruction
 For further information regarding orders, including special discounts, please
write to: info@iiep.unesco.org.
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