Educating young people in emergencies

Time to end the neglect

Armed conflict and natural disasters tear communities apart. Lives are lost, families are displaced and separated, and support systems break down. Opportunities for education often diminish or disappear in environments where they may have already been scarce - over half of the more than 200 million children and young people who have not completed primary school, live in regions devastated by armed conflict. The impact on adolescents and youth is uniquely devastating.

Northern Uganda: this young boy and many other boys and girls abducted by the Lord’s Resistance Army, a rebel group from northern Uganda, have reintegrated more easily into their communities. Boys involved in this bicycle repair course build skills for self sufficiency while also healing psychosocial wounds. Photo by Jane Lowicki-Zucca

Young people (aged 10 to 24) are more likely than young children to:

• miss out on an education
• be recruited into fighting forces
• suffer sexual violence
• be forced into early marriage
• face reproductive health risks such as HIV/AIDS with little access to reproductive health care
• have to earn a living for themselves and others
• head households.

Young people are deliberate targets of armed violence and are forced to take on extreme responsibility because of their age and stage in life. They do so in societies that are often very young: 60 or more percent of the population of many developing countries (where most armed conflict takes place) are children and youth under 25. Without education, young people are more vulnerable to abuse and exploitation and less able to fulfill the many roles they are forced to play to ensure their own and others’ survival. Females are particularly at risk.

Although education during acute emergencies and post-emergency situations is increasingly being seen as critical to the protection, survival and recovery of communities, bridging gaps in young people’s education is not prioritised. Where resources are available, emphasis is often placed on basic primary education, ignoring the needs of adolescents and youth.

This approach by policy-makers, donors and practitioners is short-sighted given the reality of education gaps and needs. Age-related data on communities affected by war is limited, illustrated by Lynne Bethke in this issue of id21 insights education. On average, only 13 percent of the world’s young refugees complete grades 6 to 12; less than half of the 13 percent, most of them male, complete grades 9 to 12. Displacement often lasts for years and existing data show that most young people do not complete primary school; youth and adult employment is also often extremely high.

This issue of id21 insights asks: What is at stake when primary, post-primary and vocational opportunities for young people are neglected and what can and should urgently be done?

What is education in emergencies?

According to the Inter-Agency Network for Education in Emergencies (INEE), education in emergencies protects the well-being of people living in conflict or where a natural disaster has struck; it fosters learning opportunities for people - nurturing their social, emotional, cognitive and physical development; it offers stability and protection in chaotic and dangerous environments; it restores hope and is life-saving. In schools or through non-formal education activities, essential safety information can be provided concerning, for example, landmines, trafficking, exploitation and the prevention of HIV/AIDS. Education in emergencies builds skills for survival, recovery and development and supports conflict transformation and peace-building.

Diverse youth education needed

Education is a fundamental human right recognised by international agreements such as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Governments at the 1990 World Conference on Education for All in Thailand affirmed the importance of lifelong learning; they committed to ensuring a range of educational opportunities from primary and vocational education to adult literacy. Yet action to meet these and other targets for education for all has focused on the provision of primary education: the second Millennium Development Goal is ‘to achieve Universal Primary Education’ (UPE) by 2015. If education for young people is neglected, those who miss out on primary-level schooling will be far less equipped to help create stable, prosperous societies that support UPE and further education over the long term.

Education in emergencies can take many forms. In acute emergencies, non-formal education provides safe spaces for interaction and psychosocial healing; it creates a routine, helping participants cope with their circumstances and begin a healing process and it provides opportunities for protection. Quick action to re-establish formal schooling also meets these needs, write Lucia Castelli, Elena Locatelli and Dorothy Jobolingo, meaning that less work is needed to rebuild institutions and systems in the later stages of reconstruction and transition to peace. However, few of these activities effectively engage young people.

Education that is appropriate and relevant for young people in all phases of emergencies is essential. Ann Avery and Marina López Anselme focus on the need for flexible options for completing formal primary and secondary education. In addition, accelerated learning programmes, where formal curricula are condensed into shorter time periods, will assist those who have missed years of schooling and are considered too old for primary school. Barry Sesnan offers examples of youth-led vocational training. These and other types of livelihood support help young people to become self-sufficient, avoid abuse and exploitation (particularly females) and help them build skills needed for reconstruction. Life skills approaches are critical. Eldrid Midttun describes an approach to functional literacy and vocational education in Sierra Leone. Anna Obura and Margaret Sinclair show how HIV/AIDS and peace education build skills for survival, recovery and development.

Policymakers must increase investment in accelerated learning courses at primary level and in relevant vocational and other skills training for young people; they need to prioritise youth leadership in programme planning and implementation. They must also determine which groups are best equipped to provide these services, given the varying roles of Ministries of Education and Youth, non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and others. Peter Buckland discusses structural and programmatic challenges facing policymakers in post-conflict environments, highlighting gaps in humanitarian and development funding and how this affects youth.

Three young people from Kosovo, Uganda, and Sierra Leone - Amir Haxhikadrija, Akello Betty Openy and Mohammed Alie Kanu - describe how their peers prioritise education, after peace and security, to ensure protection and achieve development. Initiatives in partnership with young people are vital as part of a comprehensive approach to youth protection and development that addresses the effects of armed conflict, natural disasters and other emergencies

Ways forward

After two years of global consultations, the INEE launched the Minimum Standards for Education in Emergencies, Chronic Crises and Early Reconstruction (MSEE) in 2004 (see What are the minimum standards?). The standards emphasise that the right to education is not limited to those under 18 and call for a focus on children and youth (aged 0-24); they are an important tool for expanding global action for youth education. Carl Triplehorn discusses the use of these standards for the first time in Indonesia after the tsunami.

Neglecting youth education in emergencies is a gamble young people, their communities, national governments and the international community cannot afford to take. What else can be done?

• Ensure the MSEE are implemented using age- and gender-specific approaches; develop and test tools for youth education in emergencies; fund and evaluate youth-focused education pilot projects.
• Improve data collection to help respond to the educational needs of people of all ages.
• Strengthen links between humanitarian and development assistance for youth.
• Include young people affected by armed conflict and other emergencies in a renewed Global Programme of Action for Youth in 2005.
• The United Nations General Assembly should name a UN agency focal point for youth affected by armed conflict.
• Increase donor funding for youth protection and development with an emphasis on education and livelihood support, linking education and economic development initiatives in conflict and post-conflict situations.
• Involve young people in planning and implementing education programmes as part of multi-sectoral approaches to humanitarian and post-conflict reconstruction.

Jane Lowicki-Zucca
Formerly International Rescue Committee and Women's Commission for Refugee Women and Children
T +1 646-413-3469
janedlz@yahoo.com

Matthew Emry
Conflict and Post-Conflict Regions and Emergency Relief
American Jewish World Service
45 West 36th Street
10th Floor
New York, NY 10018
USA
T +1 212 356 2972
F +1 212 736 3463
memry@ajws.org

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