Listening to the Voices of Internally Displaced Communities to Achieve Inclusive and Equitable Quality Education

This paper outlines the real-life day-to-day challenges young IDPs experience when seeking access to quality education, which is fundamental to their healthy development and future life chances. It reflects the perspectives of teachers who have been displaced, and the challenges they have faced both personally and professionally in attempting to support the learning of children and young people in their communities. Young IDPs and internally displaced teachers shared these experiences in a series of five roundtable events hosted by the Inter-agency Network for Education in Emergencies (INEE) in March and April 2021. The paper also provides insights from other roundtable participants, including education in emergencies (EiE) practitioners, government representatives, United Nations (UN) staff, members of international non-governmental organizations (INGOs) and local civil society, and other stakeholders who are working to support access to education in displaced communities. They all are calling for taking urgent and concrete action to ensure access to quality education for internally displaced children and young people. The United Nations Secretary-General’s High-Level Panel has a unique opportunity to influence the changes needed to achieve this. The recommendations made in the panel’s final report to the Secretary-General and United Nations Member States will be critical to the future outcomes of millions of children and young people around the world.