South Sudan Minimum Standards for Education in Emergencies

Contextualising the INEE Minimum Standards for South Sudan Because each country context is unique, the INEE Minimum Standards global tool should be contextualised, or customised, to be relevant to a country’s local reality. In South Sudan, the commitment to contextualising the INEE Minimum Standards is reflected in the government’s Education Sector Strategic Plan 2012–2016, and in the South Sudan Education Cluster Workplan for 2012. The Education Cluster co-leads, Save the Children and UNICEF, convened a 3-day workshop during March 2012 to contextualise the standards.

The three objectives of the workshop were to:

1. Refresh knowledge of the INEE minimum Standards
2. Contextualise the standards for South Sudan; and
3. Draft the contextualised document

Participation in the workshop was open to all Education Cluster partners including the Ministry of Education – at both state and national levels – non-governmental organisations (NGOs), and United Nations (UN) agencies. The document resulting from the workshop was then presented to the Ministry of Education for input as well as shared with Education Cluster partners and other key stakeholders for written feedback. For a complete list of people who contributed to the contextualised standards document, please see ‘Acknowledgements’ on page

As the newest nation in the world, South Sudan now faces the challenge of reconstructing, and in many areas establishing for the first time, an education system that can meet the needs of school-aged children, as well as older children and youth who have missed out on school due to involvement with armed groups, displacement, or limited access. In addition to the development activities of nation building, South Sudan is engaged in emergency response. All ten states are affected by some kind of emergency. Types of emergencies that affect South Sudan include: flood, drought, famine, inter-tribal armed conflict, insecurity and conflict caused by rebel and militia groups, and international conflict in the border areas. The South Sudan Ministry of Education and the South Sudan Education Cluster have committed to ensuring all children and youth affected by emergencies have access to education. This is reflected in the Ministry Education Sector Strategic Plan, which includes strategies for education in emergencies and coordination with the Education Cluster

This document follows the organisation of the INEE Minimum Standards global tool: the five domains and their correlating standards (see the map on page 7). The section for each standard includes the text of the original INEE Minimum Standards, and then contextualised guidance on how to interpret the global standard in the South Sudan context.

Users are encouraged to refer to the full INEE Minimum Standards global tool for further details and guidance. South Sudan practitioners and policy makers should also refer to the South Sudan Basic Standards for Schools, which is designed for school leaders and inspectors working in non-emergency contexts in South Sudan (Ministry of Education, forthcoming 2012). This document is not meant to be a comprehensive education in emergencies manual, but rather a reference guide to minimum standards of quality and access, specific to the context of South Sudan.

Comprehensive resources on training and implementation related to education in emergencies (including information on teacher compensation, safer school construction, inclusive education, etc) can be found on this site.