Editorial Note: Journal on Education in Emergencies: Volume 1, Number 1

I am delighted to introduce this first issue of the Journal on Education in Emergencies (JEiE) and honored to serve as its first editor-in-chief. Some of us have been working on issues related to education in conflict and disaster settings for nearly two decades—before education in emergencies was called EiE!—and I am proud to see how far we have come as a field. We would not be where we are today without the concerted efforts of a small group of dedicated practitioners, many of whom witnessed firsthand the need to educate refugees and displaced people while working in refugee camps or active war zones in the early-to-mid 1990s, including in Kenya and Bosnia-Herzegovina. Their observations, coupled with a simultaneous surge in humanitarian initiatives, led to an unprecedented focus on ensuring that children and youth who are affected by conflict and crises everywhere have access to education. To begin to address this need, these practitioners launched the Inter-agency Network for Education in Emergencies (INEE) in 2000, which has created a vibrant community and ignited a dedicated global social movement in the process. As practitioners and academics, we have joined our voices and our agendas to commit attention and resources to improve children’s and youth’s access to safe, quality education programs. Since 2000, both the community and the movement have grown substantially.