Accelerated education: Application of the accelerated education working group 10 principles to programming

Group Submission Type: Formal Panel Session (English)

Proposal

Globally, over 258 million children and adolescents of primary and secondary age are out of school .This includes those who never started school or who dropped out after enrolment. Those who are most marginalized—including displaced young people, ex-combatants, those living in rural areas, the poorest, girls, and children with disabilities—are more likely to be excluded from education.

Given the current rate of climate change, it is likely that exclusion from education will be exacerbated. Higher seas threatening coastal cities, extreme variability in rainfall causing drought, and more frequent and intense storms causing irreparable damage disrupt human societies causing displacement in ways that have never been felt before. At the end of 2018, there were over 70 million forcibly displaced people around the world . These changes impact the foundational resources that nations rely on for survival, security and prosperity, and changes in access to these resources are already contributing to increased fragility and insecurity in several key regions of the world. Conflict, environmental disasters and resulting displacement put young people at greater risk of missing out on their opportunity for education. With record levels of displacement and more and more children and youth missing out on substantial amounts of education, or never starting school at all, alternative and flexible options must be available.

Accelerated Education Programmes (AEP) offer an alternative education option for children and youth who have missed out on or had their education interrupted by conflict, crisis, poverty and marginalization. AEPs offer equivalent, certified competencies for basic education, enabling learners to transition into formal education, technical / vocational training, or livelihoods.

With the goal of strengthening the quality of AE programming through a more harmonized, standardized approach, the Accelerated Education Working Group (AEWG) , led by UNHCR with representation from nine member organizations, developed the 10 Principles for Effective Practice . The Principles aim to clarify the essential components of effective AEPs and provide guidance and concrete action steps to support AE designers, implementers, and evaluators to support the effective implementation of AEPs in a variety of contexts.

Since 2017 the AEWG has conducted several case studies and collaborated with implementing partners to understand how the AE principles are contextualized and applied in various contexts globally. This panel will highlight application of the AE principles in a range of conflict-affected and post-conflict settings: Northern Mali: where the assessment findings for the AE Principles; provide insights into the relevance and appropriateness of the Principles for AEPs operating in conflict settings; North East Nigeria: looking at the application of the 10 Principles in curriculum development, capacity building of education authorities, and strengthening of non-formal education policy; and lastly in Uganda and Ethiopia: presenting the critical importance of the ten principles in creating high-quality education programs that are adaptive, nuanced and effective with specific attention to curriculum, learning environment, community engagement and alignment with policy.

Sub Unit

• Education, Conflict, and Emergencies SIG

Chair

• Michael Childress, FHI 360

Individual Presentations

• Applying the Accelerated Education Principles in an Active Conflict Zone: the Case of the Mali Education Recovery and Support Activity - Aude Vescovo, Education Development Center (EDC)

• Incorporating the Accelerated Education Principles 10 Principles into EiE Programming in Northeast Nigeria - Kathleen Denny, FHI 360

• How Speed Schools in Ethiopia and Uganda align with the 10 Principles - Jessica Lowden, Geneva Global Inc

Discussant

• Ann Scowcroft, UNHCR