Community Participation Standard 2: Resources

Community resources include human, intellectual, linguistic, monetary and material resources existing in the community. When designing and planning education responses, locally available resources should be identified and analysed to determine how they may contribute to education.

Community resources do not replace the legal responsibilities of national authorities. Community resources can improve the safety, access and quality of the teaching and learning. Contributions to the physical environment include material and labour support for the construction, maintenance and repair of early childhood development centres, schools and other learning spaces. Contributions to promoting protection and emotional, physical and social well-being may include psychosocial support for learners and teachers, facilitators and caregivers. Teacher motivation may be improved through resources mobilised for salaries and other forms of compensation. Records of resource mobilisation should be kept for purposes of transparency and accountability. Monitoring must ensure that children are not exploited by carrying out physical labour beyond their capacities.

Education authorities, the local community and humanitarian stakeholders should encourage community members to identify and help vulnerable children and youth to attend school and access other learning activities regularly. Examples may include women’s and youth groups providing appropriate clothing for children from the poorest families or food to child-headed families. Community members should work with education authorities to ensure that schools, early childhood centres and other learning spaces are safe and secure places for children and youth. They can organise safe access and transportation and support outreach to isolated and remote areas. Physical barriers should be removed to promote accessibility for learners with disabilities. Women can serve as classroom assistants or provide security from harassment to encourage the attendance of girls and learners with disabilities. When youth cannot attend classes with younger children for cultural or protection reasons, the community can advocate for and design nonformal education programmes such as peer education, technical and vocational education and training, and small business development training. Community resources should be used to develop, adapt and share information on disaster risk reduction education and community response preparedness.

Education personnel and communities should participate in trainings on roles and responsibilities for the long term. These may include trainings on resource mobilisation and management, the maintenance of facilities, disability awareness and special measures to ensure the participation of children and youth.

All planning, programming and reporting should incorporate information on the contribution of communities. Community contributions to educational (re)construction can be physical, such as building materials. They may be qualitative, meaning they cannot be measured with numbers, such as local skills. A strong community contribution indicates ownership and helps to ensure long-term support. However, continued external support should not be dependent upon such community contributions. Legal responsibility for education lies with the national authorities.

The participation and contribution of youth in peer education, community mobilisation and community development initiatives should be encouraged and recognised. The participation of young people is particularly important in the design and needs assessment stages.

The development, adaptation and delivery of education for disaster risk reduction and conflict mitigation should draw upon and strengthen positive local coping strategies and capacities.

Unequal access to resources and participation by different groups within the community may affect education interventions and increase exclusion or division. Individual or group contributors should not be favoured in education plans or programmes to the detriment of those who cannot contribute. Those who choose not to contribute should not be discriminated against.