INEE25: Reflections From Our Partners and Community - Practitioner Edition
In November 2025, the Inter-agency Network for Education in Emergencies (INEE), will celebrate its 25th anniversary, a significant milestone for a global network that unites over 25,000 members in the mission to ensure the right to a quality, safe, and relevant education for all those affected by emergencies and crises.
This anniversary is both a celebration and a turning point. It marks 25 years of collective achievement and shared purpose, and is also a moment to look ahead. INEE is evolving to remain responsive to the changing needs of the sector, stepping forward not only as a convener but also as a credible disruptor – one that can challenge power structures and catalyse meaningful change.
As we mark this milestone, we also pause to reflect, not just on how far the network has come but on what it has meant to those who have shaped it. In this blog, we invited some of INEE’s key partners and long-time members to share their personal reflections on: what INEE has meant to them and their organizations, how the network can continue to add value as the sector evolves, and what their hopes are for INEE’s next 25 years. Together their reflections capture the spirit of INEE, a network built on collaboration, shared learning and a collective drive to ensure the right to a quality, safe, and relevant education for all those affected by emergencies and crises.
Marian Hodgkin, Global Head of Education, Save the Children International
1. What does INEE mean to you personally?
Working with the INEE Secretariat, first as an intern while I was a graduate student, and then as my first role in the sector has been hugely influential in my life - both in terms of what I learnt from the membership in that role (I was Coordinator for Network Services), the life-long friends and mentors I made, and the passion it gave me as an advocate for not just education, but inter-agency collaboration to ensure all children, no matter what crises or barriers they face, can access their right to education.
2. How has your organization engaged with INEE over the years?
When I worked for the INEE Secretariat, Save the Children was a key member of the Steering Group, and over the years we’ve participated and lead lots of the different work streams and groups - from the TiCC, to Data, Centering Equity Reference Group, Gender Working Group, capacity development, Minimum Standards and advocacy working groups. I’m proud that we supported several NGOs to apply for roles on the Steering Group in years when we did not have a place.
3. What stands out to you as INEE’s most important contribution to the EiE sector?
When I asked a colleague about this, they noted that when they started work in the sector “INEE was the source of information, starting with the Minimum Standards. It was a time where you didn’t ask Google or AI for information, but you read the whole documents, and took what was relevant for you - and INEE had everything!” While the Minimum Standards are rightly noted by many as a critical contribution to the sector, I think I would single out the person-to-person collaboration, opportunity to learn from one another and build on experiences from so many different places and contexts to support our global understanding of how to do better for children, young people, teachers and communities. It’s this human network of humanitarians that is the contribution I most value and will continue to use to improve my own work and professional development.
4. How can INEE continue to add value as the sector evolves?
One of the things I have learnt from working with INEE over the years is that crises can create windows of opportunity for positive change. We are seeing big shifts in how our sector is able to work, how the humanitarian space is narrowing, and how education is having to be delivered with reduced resources. INEE helps us come together to address this disruption together - working collaboratively is needed now more than ever, even though the forces of competition and reduced capacity make that seem harder. I also hope that INEE will be a positive disruptor in our sector - calling into question where power lies, who holds expertise, and which entities get to decide.
5. Looking ahead, what is your hope or wish for INEE’s next 25 years?
I hope INEE continues to evolve and is able to find ways to support the next generation of EiE practitioners in the way I have felt supported over the years. Save the Children is committed to be a part of that.
Emilia Sorrentino, Head of Global Education in Humanitarian Action, Plan International
1. What does INEE mean to you personally?
My first encounter with INEE was in Palestine in 2012. I was invited by the Education Cluster in oPt to participate in the contextualization of the INEE Minimum Standards. I joined the Teaching and Learning task team, and I vividly remember the rich discussions we had on how to adapt the standards to the complexity of the Palestinian context. It was an incredibly enriching experience that shaped my approach to ensuring that education responses are grounded in local realities and informed by the voices of affected communities.
2. How has your organization engaged with INEE over the years?
Plan International is a member of the INEE Steering Committee, represented by our Country Director from Somalia. This decision was intentional—to bring a voice from the field into the Steering Committee and help localize the global discourse around education in emergencies. Plan International also actively engages in several technical working groups, including the PSS-SEL Working Group, the Gender Working Group, and the Accelerated Education Working Group. We contribute to INEE led initiatives to strengthen capacities for EiE actors on the ground and have played an active role in reviewing and disseminating the INEE Minimum Standards.
3. What stands out to you as INEE’s most important contribution to the EiE sector?
The INEE Minimum Standards remain one of the most significant contributions to the EiE sector. They provide a strong framework that guides our responses and helps us ensure quality and accountability in our work with frontline staff and partners. The standards have become a shared language across the sector, strengthening coordination and coherence among diverse actors working toward the same goal—ensuring every child’s right to safe, quality education, even in crisis.
4. How can INEE continue to add value as the sector evolves?
INEE continues to serve as an essential knowledge and practice hub for the EiE community. At a time when the sector faces shrinking funding and reduced partner capacity, INEE plays a critical role in mobilizing resources and ensuring continued access to high-quality technical support for countries in crisis. Together with the Global Education Cluster and the EiE Hub, INEE can also enhance global advocacy by amplifying the perspectives and priorities of national and local education stakeholders.
5. Looking ahead, what is your hope or wish for INEE’s next 25 years?
INEE’s strength lies in its ability to convene, advocate, and support the EiE community. Looking ahead, I hope to see INEE continue playing this vital role—while further amplifying the leadership of local actors. By centering local expertise and experience, INEE can help shape a more inclusive, resilient, and sustainable future for education in emergencies.
Jeffrey Dow, Senior Education Technical Advisor, International Rescue Committee
1. What does INEE mean to you personally?
I first encountered INEE through the wonderful Teachers in Crisis Contexts (TiCC) work that was being driven by so many impassioned practitioners around the period of 2013-2015. The resources that were made available to us made a tremendous difference and impact on our programs- in Lebanon, at the time. The fact that practitioners were all working together, dedicating their time and effort, for improving sector goods- not “owned” by any one agency, but freely open and available and accessible- was a tremendous positive professional experience. This introduction to the INEE- through the high quality tools and resources which have the possibility of making a meaningful difference in classroom practice- will always stand out to me. The shared commitment of practitioners to support each other, to support teachers in crisis, regardless of who is delivering the programming- is really a model worth celebrating. Over the years, I’ve dedicated my time to various common goods through the INEE- the Professional Development Competency Framework, the revised INEE Minimum Standards, and various iterations of the TiCC- time well spent and well served.
2. How has your organization engaged with INEE over the years?
The IRC is extremely fortunate to be the primary hosting agency for the INEE, and greatly values INEE’s central role as a convenor, curator of knowledge and provider of high quality technical tools and resources. I’ve been fortunate over the last two years to also be a member of the INEE Steering Group, supporting strategic direction for the network.
3. What stands out to you as INEE’s most important contribution to the EiE sector? How can INEE continue to add value as the sector evolves?
The INEE Minimum Standards- the cornerstone of our sector- are an essential public good that has recently been revised with huge levels of INEE member feedback and engagement- a testament to the member-driven nature of the network. So many practitioner’s professional careers have been influenced by these Standards- which need to be utilized, contextualized, and really celebrated as a tremendous resource for driving cohesion in our sector.
4. Looking ahead, what is your hope or wish for INEE’s next 25 years?
Over the next 25 years, I hope INEE continues to drive meaningful improvements in developing and improving open sourced and accessible technical resources for our sector. Through bringing together practitioners to share their incredible knowledge and experience, we can improve cohesion and reduce endemic fragmentation, so that we can continue our pursuit of improving the quality of services we provide for children in crisis globally.
Constantijn Wouters, Global Lead Education, Norwegian Refugee Council
1. What does INEE mean to you personally?
When I started as Junior Professional Officer at UNICEF Palestine in 2011, I was amongst others responsible for coordinating the education sub-cluster in Gaza. From the start I was extremely impressed and slightly intimidated by the incredible knowledge and technical expertise by sector partners and Palestinian colleagues. It was a steep learning curve, and in the beginning I was so grateful to have the INEE Minimum Standards to fall back on, while trying to wrap my head around the contextual complexities of Palestine. The INEE Minimum Standards really helped me grow in my role as coordinator, especially when I needed to find the right arguments at inter-agency level, to advocate for education to be included as part of a multi-sector response, when designing quality holistic education interventions or when advising on strategic direction for the sector. More than 14 years later and now in a global role, the INEE Minimum Standards are still my go to document when it comes to quality education programming, and something I expect all our education staff to be aware of and actively use in their daily work.
2. How has your organization engaged with INEE over the years?
As NRC, we have been a member of the Steering Committee and while we rotated out of that role several years back, we have been members of several working groups since, such as on Secondary Education, Social Emotional Learning, and as co-chair of the Accelerated Education Working Group. We actively use and integrate INEE technical guidance into our own programming approaches and tools. For example, we integrated the Teachers in Crisis Contexts (TiCC) approaches into our Teacher Professional Development work and worked with several Ministries of Education on harmonizing Accelerated Education Programmes, based on the 10 principles of the INEE Accelerated Education Working Group. Moreover, NRC’s Education Quality Assessment Tool, which we use to measure and inform quality education programming across our operations, is purely based on the INEE Minimum Standards.
3. What stands out to you as INEE’s most important contribution to the EiE sector?
The INEE Minimum Standards hold us accountable and prevent us from doing harm, they ensure that we as a sector design and implement holistic quality education programmes for the most vulnerable and crisis affected children and youth. Moreover, the standards are not static, as they are made relevant and user friendly through country level contextualisation processes. Finally, through the recent update of the standards, we now ensure we do so through meaningful participation, in a climate sensitive and response way and with a much stronger focus on localisation. The INEE Minimum Standards are as important to us education practitioners as the Sphere Standards are for the rest of the humanitarian sector.
4. How can INEE continue to add value as the sector evolves?
The sector is currently going through a rough time, with reduced funding and increased competition, where we once more have to convince others of the importance of Education in Emergencies as a life saving and life sustaining intervention. INEE can continue providing technical guidance to the sector and gathering evidence on what works, so we can show others what we bring to the humanitarian sector as a whole. Moreover, INEE together with its many members, can play a key role in advocating for Education in Emergencies, so that all decision makers are convinced that education should be a central part of all humanitarian responses.
5. Looking ahead, what is your hope or wish for INEE’s next 25 years?
In the coming 25 years we continue to navigate an ever changing humanitarian world, where we have to relate towards new developments we are probably not even aware of yet. I hope INEE will still be there to share and elevate learning from its many members across the globe, to provide sound technical advice on new developments and directions, and to ensure we as a sector do no harm and facilitate holistic quality education programming as per the INEE Minimum Standards.
The reflections above remind us that INEE’s strength has always come from its people, and the collective energy, commitment and expertise of our members. We’re grateful to everyone who has been part of this journey, and we invite all members of our community to keep shaping what’s next.