The Politics and (incoherence) of education in Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh

This policy brief draws from the findings of a longer Education Research in Conflict and Protracted Crisis (ERICC) working paper, Political economy and (in)coherence of the education system in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh, which explored the drivers and outcomes of dissonance between official intentions for cross-sectoral coordination, also referred to as the ‘humanitarian-development nexus’, and the default operations of the Education Sector. It is based on 38 key informant interviews conducted in 2022 and 2023 with stakeholders in Cox’s Bazar and a review of relevant literature. This brief summarizes the sources of education system (in)coherences in Cox’s Bazar, drawing out the links between sector operations and the key actors’ de facto incentives and capacities, and illustrates the value of understanding how these political economy drivers shape the contours of plausible reforms to improve education coherence in emergencies.