2008-2011 Working Group on Education and Fragility

Objectives and Accomplishments:

Strengthen the Evidence Base on Education and Fragility

To strengthen the evidence-base on education and fragility, the Working Group’s research programme produced a synthesis report entitled Situational Analyses of Education and Fragility, which is accompanied by four country case studies.

They also supported the development of the European Commission’s Study of Governance Challenges for Education in Fragile Situations, as well as an issue paper on capacity development by GTZ and the European Training Foundation, entitled Capacity Development for Education Systems in Fragile Contexts (2009).

In 2008, the Working Group released an Annotated List of Research Questions on Education and Fragility as a tool for mapping research in the field of education and fragility and identifying research gaps where the evidence-base can be strengthened.

Engage with National and Regional Stakeholders

The Working Group held a series of Consultative Workshops on Education and Fragility with various ministries of education, civil society organizations, donor agencies, NGOS, and various education experts.

The first of which was held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia on October 2010, which analyzed the role of education in fragile contexts and generate strategies to enhance education’s positive role in mitigating fragility.

Thie second consultative workshop was held in Juba South Sudan on February 2011, which undertook a conflict analysis of the education sector and how it can be incorporated into the sector planning process.

The third and final consultative Workshop was held in Sarajevo, Bosnia-Herzegovina in March 2011, which analyzed education’s role in fragile contexts and generated strategies to enhance education’s positive role in mitigating fragility.

Determine Effective Modalities to Support the Financing of Education in Fragile Context

The Working Group developed a Framing Paper on Education Finance in States Affected by Fragility(written by CfBT Education Trust), which was utilized in the INEE Policy Roundtable on Education Finance in States Affected by Fragility held in Brussels on 27-28 October 2008, hosted by the European Commission.

They then developed an in-depth analysis paper on financing modalities entitled Appropriate and Effective Financing Modalities and Channels for Education in Fragile Situations as the basis for INEE Reference Guide on External Education Financing (released in 2010), as well as six country desk studies of Afghanistan, Ethiopia, Nepal, Pakistan, Sierra Leone and Somalia.

Advocate for Policy Change

The Working Group Continuously raised the profile of education and fragility issues with key audiences through advocacy and outreach. They undertook outreach both within the education community (e.g. the Education For All [EFA] Team) and developed cross-sectoral linkages (e.g. through the OECD—DAC International Network on Conflict and Fragility, the Health and Fragile States Network, etc.).

In 2010 and 2011, the Working Group also provided support to Education For All Global Monitoring Report (GMR) and for the World Bank Development Monitoring Report (DMR) teams, developed a bankground paper entitled The multiple faces of education in conflict-affected and fragile contexts, and organized a series of meetings and side-events related to the 2011 GMR and DMR reports.

For more information on the 2008 - 2011 Working Group activities, please refer to the following documents:

2008 - 2011 Working Group Members:

The INEE Working Group on Education and Fragility 2008-2011 was comprised of:

Academy for Educational Development (AED), represented by Mary Joy Pigozzi
Australian Agency for International Development (AusAid)
CARE USA, represented by Jonathan Miller
Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA)
The Center for International Education at the University of Massachusetts, represented by Jacqueline Mosselson
Center for Universal Education at the Brookings Institute, represented by Rebecca Winthrop
CfBT Education Trust, represented by Susy Ndaruhutse
Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs, represented by Corien Sips
Education Development Center (EDC), represented by Cornelia Janke (CO-CHAIR)
The European Commission (EC), represented by Emily Oldmeadow
Fast Track Initiative (FTI) Secretariat, represented by Alberto Begué
Deutsche Gesellschaft für Technische Zusammenarbeit (GTZ), represented by Rüdiger Blumör
Reach Out to Asia (ROTA), Qatar Foundation, represented by Essa al Mannai
Save the Children Alliance, represented by Emily Echessa
UK Department for International Development (DFID), represented by Sally Gear
UNESCO Center at the University of Ulster, represented by Alan Smith
UNESCO-IIEP, represented by Lyndsay Bird (chair)
UNICEF, represented by Jordan Naidoo
US Agency for International Development (USAID), represented by Yolande Miller-Grandvaux
The World Bank, represented by Joel Reyes