Learning in Emergencies – Evidence and Approaches

Group Submission Type: Formal Panel Session

Proposal

Abstract: Education is one of the most powerful forces for creating a more peaceful and prosperous future. Yet the many children in need of a good education are also at great risk of having their learning disrupted, whether by conflict, violence, pandemics, climate, or other crises. For children living in unstable conditions affected by conflict, and violence, learning poverty, as defined by the World Bank, almost always exceeds 90 percent; it ranges as high as 99 percent, for example, in Niger. Half of the world’s poor, and two-thirds of its extreme poor, will live in conflict-affected and fragile situations by 2030.
This session will present and discuss newly synthesized evidence, including qualitative case studies, costing, and policy approaches for delivering education services in situations of fragility, conflict, and violence, with a focus on forced displacement. Recent trends in the numbers of refugees and internally displaced people (IDPs) are likely to accelerate due to intensifiers like climate change and pandemics. Consequently, delivering education programs that safeguard children living through emergencies and their opportunities for learning will continue to grow in importance, along with the relative share of global financing that is put toward these priorities. To inform the enhanced global response, the panel will present a systematic review of the recent evidence for what works to serve children living through emergencies, a costing of what it will take to adequately finance the response at the needed scale, and a recent Approach Paper for the world’s largest financier of education in emergencies.

Sub Unit

• Education, Conflict, and Emergencies SIG

Chair

• Rebecca Telford, UNHCR

Individual Presentations

• Forced Displacement and Education: A review of qualitative case study data showcasing educational inclusion efforts. - Dana Burde, New York University; Yasmina Eugenia Haddad, American Institutes for Research; Heddy Lahmann, New York University

• Safe and Learning in the Midst of Fragility, Conflict, and Violence. - Peter Holland, World Bank

Discussant

• Josephine Bourne, World Bank/GPE