Young people reshape the future

Conflict has a devastating impact on education - it disrupts schooling and destroys educational infrastructure. Yet education systems are usually expected to contribute significantly to rebuilding shattered societies. They have to do this in a society suffering from the after effects of conflict and the psychological impact felt by pupils, teachers and communities. In post conflict situations, political authority and civil administration are often weak, compromised, or inexperienced; civil society is in disorder and financial resources limited.

Each restriction, however, also presents possibilities. New political authorities are more likely to seek reform and distance themselves from the previous regime particularly with the help of international aid. Weakened bureaucracies are more disposed to change and civil society often focuses on education as a key strategy around which it can join together to promote reform. The publicity arising from conflict often attracts an influx of resources that can help initiate reconstruction.

International agencies tend to focus resources on basic education to the detriment of secondary and tertiary levels. While there has been significant progress in provision of education for refugees and internally displaced people, little work has been done on how to integrate these achievements into the reconstruction of national education systems.

Young people are a potential threat to stability as they could be recruited into military or criminal activity; they are also an important potential resource for development and reconstruction. Few programmes, however, successfully address the needs and aspirations of youth in post-conflict societies or tap into their potential contributions to reconstruction.

Peter Buckland
World Bank
1818H Street, NW
Washington DC 20433
USA
Tel +1 202 458 4383
Fax +1 202 477 0036
Pbuckland@worldbank.org

See also

Reshaping the future: education and postconflict reconstruction, World Bank, by Peter Buckland 2005
www1.worldbank.org/education/pdf/Reshaping_the_Future.pdf

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