Book Review: Partnership Paradox: The Post-Conflict Reconstruction of Liberia's Education System edited by Christopher Talbot and Aleesha Taylor
Practitioners, scholars, and students in the education in emergencies and international development fields are well served by this recent volume, which offers descriptions and analyses of postconflict educational partnerships in Liberia between 2007 and 2012. With recent data indicating that more than half of the 121 million children who are out of school worldwide live in conflict-affected countries (UIS and UNICEF 2015), this book’s contextualization of postconflict aid partnerships offers helpful insights for those involved with similar systemic educational efforts. Many of the contributing authors offer public critique of themselves, their organizations, and others; their willingness to share insider information on the formation and navigation of such partnerships can best be described as brave. Christopher Talbot and Aleesha Taylor's focus on Liberia’s recent educational history in Partnership Paradox is interesting, given the government’s announcement in 2016 of a new plan to privatize the country’s public pre-primary and primary school school system.