Global Consultation 2004

Cape Town, South Africa 2-4 December, 2004The Event

For this second global consultation on Education in Emergencies, leaders in the education and humanitarian field gathered to discuss lessons learned by the INEE Network and its members since its founding four years earlier. The forum provided an opportunity to share best practices in order to continue to move Education in Emergencies to the forefront of both fields.

Over 140 individuals from diverse backgrounds and locales, including Ministers of Education, project leaders, researchers, NGO and UN staff and others attended. The Consultation was a turning point in the sense that participants went beyond the question of education as a right in emergency situations to how to improve the quality of education and increase access for all those affected. Participants looked closely at the role of governments in the coordination of education programmes during emergencies and at approaches to rebuilding the education infrastructure and system, particularly in the wake of natural disasters.

Participants also placed importance on other issues in the field including:

Documenting and sharing research currently available on education in emergencies

• Increasing efforts to promote focused research on education in emergencies
• Improving quality of emergency response through better trained teachers and the use of the new Minimum Standards for Education in Emergencies
• Increasing and sustaining peace education and non-formal education programmes
• Increasing access to education in emergencies for the most vulnerable, whether women and girls, adolescents and youth, or those affected by HIV/AIDS

The following topics were covered in thematic working groups at the consultation. For recommendations and discussion points related to each theme please refer to the Global Consultation Report.

1. Achieving quality in education in emergency settings
2. Teacher training in crisis contexts: challenges and promising practices
3. Advocacy, policy and the right to education in emergencies
4. Emergency preparedness and examples from recent natural disasters
5. Curriculum issues
6. Special closed working session for Ministers and Government representatives
7. Education as a protection tool
8. Capacity building and new strategic partnerships at the field level
9. Literacy and non formal education programmes as essential educational response
10. Adolescents and youth
11. Education for conflict prevention and resolution, including peace education programming
12. Gender in education in emergencies; strategies, challenges and models
13. HIV/AIDS and education in emergencies
14. Report back from Minimum Standards groups