Over the past decade humanitarian actors have focused attention and resources on developing education as a specific intervention aimed at mitigating psychosocial distress affecting children during war. Of particular importance in this effort is support for teachers. The importance of…
A decade ago, ‘School in a box’ was a one-size fits all approach with little appreciation of the contextual factors that education provision must address. Since then, what lessons have been learned and implemented from the now significant knowledge bank…
All too often education in emergencies and the early stages of reconstruction has been just talk and chalk. Donors have been happy if children simply sit down in front of a teacher and blackboard, chant lessons by heart or take…
Catholic Relief Services (CRS) started an AL programme in Afghanistan’s north-eastern Kapisa and Parwan provinces in 2002. It aims to offer basic educational opportunities to rural youth and women who have missed out on schooling due to war, poverty or…
Why? Why conduct peace education programmes when there is so much else that needs to be accomplished? The reason is because a good peace education programme can enable people to think constructively about issues, both physical and social, that need…
At the age of two Mardi fled with his family from their ancestral village as Saddam Hussein depopulated rural Kurdistan. Before he could start education his family was again forced to move, this time to one of the collective towns…
When funding for education for displaced people is reduced, it is post-primary education (PPE) which suffers first. Some of the consequences are: In Kenya’s Dadaab camps budgetary restrictions have capped the number of students admitted to secondary school. The population…
Located on the banks of the River Nile in the northwest corner of Uganda, Rhino Camp hosts approximately 26,000 refugees, the majority of whom are from southern Sudan. Rhino Camp consists of widely-scattered residential areas over an area of 225…
In 1998 Sierra Leonean and Liberian refugees were transferred from volatile border areas to large, pre-planned camps further into Guinea. The refugees travelled in large trucks, each being allowed to take a few personal belongings with them – blanket, bucket,…
School meals encourage displaced children to attend class and help them concentrate on their studies. In 2003 the UN World Food Programme (WFP) fed more than 15 million children in schools in 69 countries, many of them recovering from conflict.…