Education in Emergencies in EU-funded Humanitarian Aid Operations

The purpose of this document is to set out the objectives, principles and the scope of the European Commission’s humanitarian assistance in the field of education in emergencies (EiE) based on the humanitarian mandate, and framed by the 2018 European Commission’s Communication on Education in Emergencies and Protracted Crises (henceforth the 2018 Communication).

The document is aimed at a number of audiences, including:

• Staff in DG ECHO and other EC services;
• Staff of its implementing partners, and
• Other stakeholders interested in understanding the focus and scope of the European Commission’s humanitarian assistance to EiE.

The document is divided into two main sections, with additional guidance and resources provided in the Annexes that are to be read in conjunction with specific sub-sections but can be used as “handouts” in a standalone fashion. The first section describes the scope, contexts, and principles of EiE humanitarian assistance in the context of the 2018 Communication. The second section provides programming considerations for the design, implementation and monitoring of EU-funded EiE actions in humanitarian projects by describing a variety of possible indicative responses that can be implemented depending on a given context.

While the document seeks to provide the target audiences in particular with programming guidance to help align responses with the policy framework, it does not intend to provide a binding, predetermined set of EiE responses or types of activities that may or may not be supported, as this is dependent on the specific context and would appear overly prescriptive. Context-specific EiE strategy and priorities are elaborated in the Technical Annex of each Humanitarian Implementation Plan.