Distance Education Working Group
As part of its wider COVID-19 response, INEE has established and operationalized a new inter-agency Working Group on Distance Education. In line with INEE’s vision, mission, and guiding principles, this reference group will focus on elevating the distance education needs of young people in humanitarian settings. To this end, notwithstanding the fluidity around the taxonomy of distance education (or distance learning), this working group will intentionally embrace a far-reaching definition of distance education as to encompass all relevant and viable high-, low-, and no-tech solutions to support out-of-school learning during challenging times.
The working group, composed of a diverse variety of education stakeholders, will serve as a platform for strategic exchange and dialogue on distance education in emergencies within the INEE community and other education stakeholders. The group will provide guidance in implementation of distance education promoting the highest standards of best practice. The reference group will be instrumental in strengthening INEE members' ability to minimize education disruption and ensure equitable and inclusive continuity of learning via distance education approaches in emergencies. The group will play a key role in supporting INEE and its members in reimagining education in emergencies in the wake of COVID-19.
Objectives
- Objective 1: Produce, curate, and share guidance and knowledge on distance education in emergencies to inform policy and practice
- Objective 2: Advocate for quality, safe, and relevant distance education solutions that leave no child behind, especially the most vulnerable and marginalized young people
Working Group Members
The DEWG is made up of technical experts in education, drawn from the following organizations:
- Bibliothèques Sans Frontières
- Carey Institute for Global Good
- Creative Associates International
- Education Cannot Wait
- Education Development Center
- FHI 360
- Global Partnership for Education
- International Rescue Committee
- Learning Equality
- LEGO Foundation
- Norad
- Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC)
- EdTech Hub
- Plan International Canada
- Save the Children
- UNHCR
- USAID
- War Child Canada
- World Bank
- Worldreader
- ProFuturo
- World Vision International
- European Commission, ECHO
- eKitabu
- Ubongo
- University of Nairobi
The group is envisaged to undertake following set of activities:
- Develop a Technical Note on distance education, building on the prior work of the Global Working Group on Distance Learning in Emergencies
- Support the development and/or update of existing taxonomy on distance education in emergencies.
- Produce and collect further evidence on the effective use of high-tech, low-tech, and no-tech distance education modalities in emergencies and crisis situations.
- Advocate to ensure that global, regional, and national networks/campaigns/initiatives on distance education do not overlook the connectivity challenges of vulnerable and marginalized communities and people such as refugees, IDP, conflict-affected children and youth, children on the move, etc. (Examples: Global Education Coalition, UNESCO Mobile Learning Week, mEducation Alliance, World Bank, OECD, donor-led initiatives, etc.)
- Liaise with existing initiatives to advocate for universal connectivity.
- Launch a blog / podcast series focused on distance education on the INEE website and social media outlets.
- Develop distance education case studies from around the world highlighting countries/agencies’ distance education solutions and how they are adapting to different student and teacher needs.
Resources/Outputs
Contact: [email protected]