the international symposium on education, conflict and fragility
Bringing Together Academic Research & Practice through Praxis
8 to 9 April, 2013
Paris, France
the international symposium on education, fragility and conflict
Introduction
Bienvenue à Paris!
Welcome to Paris!
It is our great pleasure to share with you the programme for The International Symposium on Education, Fragility and Conflict . This is a joint initiative of the University of Newcastle Australia, the Paris School of International Affairs (PSIA) at Sciences Po, and the Inter- Agency Network for Education in Emergencies (INEE) Working Group on Education and Fragility, and is supported by a grant from the University of Newcastle Australia.
The symposium brings together academic research and practice in the area of education, fragility, and conflict, and will provide a platform for reciprocal learning, the exchange of ideas and knowledge-building in this crucial subfield of educational development. It aims to create and sustain strong bonds between the academic community and the practitioner community within international aid, through Paulo Freire’s notion of praxis, which involves reflecting critically and acting meaningfully on the world in order to change it.
Monday, April 8, 2013 symposium events are being held at Sciences Po University and Tuesday, April 9, 2013 symposium events at UNESCO. In addition, symposium presenters have been invited to participate in a High Level Event on Conflict-Sensitive Education – Why & How? at UNESCO on the afternoon of Monday, April 8, 2013 at UNESCO.
We look forward to a productive two days in beautiful Paris!
Dr Stephanie Bengtsson lecturer in education, university of newcastle australia
Dr Sarah Dryden-Peterson co-chair, inee working group on education and fragility
Ms Michelle Reddy assistant dean, psia, sciences po
April 8 to 9, 2013 *
PARIS , FRANCE
Page | 1
the international symposium on education, fragility and conflict
Support for the Symposium
This event is sponsored by a grant from The University of Newcastle Australia
This event is co-hosted and supported by the Paris School of International Affairs (PSIA) at Sciences Po and the Inter-Agency Network for Education in Emergencies (INEE)
Thank you to Maria Lucia Uribe Torres, Noemi Gerber, Fernanda Pineda, the Comparative & International Education Group at the University of Newcastle (CIEGUN), Jenny Gore, Hayley McGregor and Florence Botello for their support.
A special thanks to Dr Ghassan Salamé, the Dean of PSIA, Sciences Po for participating in the closing remarks for Day One of the Symposium.
Page | 2
the international symposium on education, fragility and conflict
Contents Introduction ...... 1
Support for the Symposium ...... 2
Symposium Organisers ...... 5
Research/Programme Assistants ...... 6
University of Newcastle Australia ...... 6
Alex Jones ...... 6
Bronwyn Gallagher ...... 6
Paris School of International Affairs, Sciences Po ...... 6
Agenda Overview ...... 7
Symposium Programme Day One (Sciences Po) ...... 7
High Level Event: Conflict-Sensitive Education (UNESCO) ...... 8
Symposium Programme Day Two (UNESCO) ...... 8
Using this Workbook ...... 10
Monday, April 8 Notes ...... 11
Session One: Education, Conflict, & Fragility: The Global Picture ...... 11
Presentation One: Mario Novelli ...... 11
Presentation Two: Julia Paulson & Robin Shields ...... 12
Presentation Three: Sarah Dryden-Peterson ...... 14
Session Two: Collaborative Learning Sessions ...... 16
Collaborative Learning Session One: Barry Sesnan & Anne Hewling ...... 16
Collaborative Learning Session Two: Silvia Guetta & Alice Binazzi Daniel ...... 16
Collaborative Learning Session Three: Abdinur Mohamud ...... 17
Collaborative Learning Session Notes ...... 18
Tuesday, April 9 Notes ...... 20
Session One: Results of Workshops, Reflections on Day One ...... 20
Facilitators: Stephanie Bengtsson, Sarah Dryden-Peterson, Michelle Reddy ...... 20
Session Two: Lessons from the Field: Country Case Studies on Education, Conflict and Fragility ...... 21
Presentation One: Mieke Lopes Cardoso ...... 21
Presentation Two: Lisa Deters ...... 22
Presentation Three: Júlio Gonçalves dos Santos & Rui da Silva ...... 24
Presentation Four: Anna Gromada, Kaori Okabe, Grace Zhu Manyun & Sarah Smail ...... 25
Presentation Five: Dana Burde ...... 27
Session Three: Assessing Conflict, Building Peace: International Agency Interventions ...... 28
Presentation One: Alan Smith ...... 28
Presentation Two: Jennifer Hofmann ...... 30
Presentation Three: Marc Chernick ...... 31
Closing: Reflections & The Way Forward ...... 32
Page | 3
the international symposium on education, fragility and conflict
Presentation: Natalie Welfens & Celine Cheng ...... 32
Facilitators: Stephanie Bengtsson, Sarah Dryden-Peterson & Michelle Reddy ...... 34
General Notes Pages ...... 35
Participant Information ...... 39
Presenter Bios ...... 39
Stephanie Bengtsson ...... 39
Alice Binazzi Daniel ...... 39
Dana Burde ...... 39
Céline Cheng ...... 40
Marc Chernick ...... 40
Rui da Silva ...... 40
Lisa Deters ...... 41
Júlio Gonçalves dos Santos ...... 41
Sarah Dryden-Peterson ...... 41
Anna Gromada ...... 42
Silvia Guetta ...... 42
Anne Hewling ...... 42
Jennifer Hofmann ...... 42
Mieke Lopes Cardozo ...... 43
Abdinur Mohamud ...... 43
Mario Novelli ...... 43
Kaori Okabe ...... 44
Julia Paulson ...... 44
Michelle Reddy ...... 44
Ghassan Salamé ...... 44
Barry Sesnan ...... 45
Robin Shields ...... 45
Sarah Smail ...... 45
Alan Smith ...... 45
Natalie Welfens ...... 46
Grace Manyun Zhu...... 46
Conference Participants Contact Information ...... 46
Institutions to Reach Out To ...... 49
Logistical Information ...... 50
Map of Sciences Po ...... 50
Route from Sciences Po to UNESCO by public transport ...... 50
Route from Sciences Po to UNESCO on foot ...... 51
Taxis ...... 51
Map of UNESCO ...... 51
Page | 4
the international symposium on education, fragility and conflict
Symposium Organisers
Dr Stephanie Bengtsson
Lecturer in Education Chief Investigator, Comparative & International Education Group (CIEGUN) School of Education, University of Newcastle Australia
Contact: [email protected]
Dr Sarah Dryden-Peterson
Co-Chair, INEE Working Group on Education & Fragility Assistant Professor in Education Harvard Graduate School of Education
Contact: [email protected]
Ms Michelle Reddy
Assistant Dean Paris School of International Affairs Sciences Po
Contact: [email protected]
Page | 5
the international symposium on education, fragility and conflict
Research/Programme Assistants
This symposium would not have been possible without the support of some very talented postgraduate students at the University of Newcastle Australia and at Sciences Po.
University of Newcastle Australia
Alex Jones
Alex is a PhD student and a casual academic at the University of Newcastle, currently doing research on cosmopolitanism and education. Her research interests include comparative and international education and sociology. She has provided research assistance and logistical support for the symposium, and helped coordinate the activities of the other research assistants.
Bronwyn Gallagher
Bronwyn is currently undertaking a PhD looking at teacher pedagogy and exploring frameworks which could address the problem of current educational paradigms that neglect the important question of what it is to be human and of educating ‘holistically’. Her background is in teaching – both primary and secondary students – in public, private and alternative educational institutions and she tutors and lectures at the University of Newcastle in education. Bronwyn has provided research assistance support for the symposium.
Paris School of International Affairs, Sciences Po
Céline Cheng Anna Gromada Kaori Okabe Sarah Smail Natalie Welfens Grace Manyun Zhu Sadia Afolabi
Page | 6
the international symposium on education, fragility and conflict
Agenda Overview
Symposium Programme Day One (Sciences Po)
8.45am: Registration at Sciences Po 9.00am: Welcome & Framing Paper 9.30am: Breakfast Reception 10 .15am: Panel on Education, Conflict and Fragility: The Global Picture 11.15a m: Collaborative Learning Workshops (Concurrent Sessions) 12.15pm: Day One Closing
Details of Day One Sessions session presenters title
Mario Novelli The Merging Of Security and Development in the Education Sector in Conflict Affected States: Discourses, Programmes and Effects
education,
conflict and Julia Paulson Conflict, State Fragility and Educational Outcomes fragility: Robin Shields the global
picture
Sarah Dryden-Peterson The Tyranny of Policy: Refugee Education at the Crossroads of Globalization
Barry Sesnan Supporting Volunteer, Untrained Teachers Working in the Most Anne Hewling Difficult Circumstances by Use of Robust, Uncomplicated IT collaborative learning Silvia Guetta Child Refugees and Asylum-Seekers in Israel workshops Alice Binazzi Daniel
Abdinur Mohamed Reconstructing Education in a Fragile State
Ghassan Salamé Closing Remarks debrief and Stephanie Bengtsson closing Sarah Dryden-Peterson remarks Michelle Reddy
Page | 7
the international symposium on education, fragility and conflict
High Level Event: Conflict-Sensitive Education (UNESCO)
2.00pm: Welcome and Introduction 2.15pm: Panel on Building Peaceful Societies in a Post 2015 World 3.15pm: Launch of INEE Common Framework & Tools to Support Conflict -Sensitive Education 3.45pm: Panel on National Initiatives & Plans to Develop Conflict -Sensitive Education 5.30pm: Cocktail & Concert for Child Victims of Violence
Symposium Programme Day Two (UNESCO)
8.45am: Meet at UNESCO 9.00am: Results of Workshops and Reflections on Day One 9.45 am: Panel on Lessons from the Field: Case S tudies on Education, Conflict & Fragility 11.00 am: Panel on Assessing Conflict, Building Peace: International Agency Interventions 11.50am: Closing, Reflections & The Way Forward
Details of Day Two Sessions session presenters title
results of Facilitators: workshops, Stephanie Bengtsson Lessons Learned reflections on Sarah Dryden-Peterson day one Michelle Reddy
Mieke Lopes Cardozo Losing Ground: A Critical Analysis of Teachers’ Agency for Peace Education in Sri Lanka
Lisa Deters Understanding the Role ECD Plays in Contexts of Fragility
lessons from the Júlio Gonçalves dos Santos Theory and Praxis: Reflections and Lessons from a Bilateral field: country Rui da Silva Educational Aid Program in Guinea-Bissau case studies on
education, conflict and fragility Anna Gromada Kaori Okabe Coping Mechanisms for the Education System in Afghanistan Grace Zhu Manyun Sarah Smail
Dana Burde Education and Stabilization: The Unintended Effects of Targeting Aid to Restive Populations in Afghanistan
Page | 8
the international symposium on education, fragility and conflict
Alan Smith Peacebuilding Logic: What Does it Mean in Practice?
assessing conflict, Jennifer Hofmann Analysing Education Systems from a Conflict Perspective: Examples building peace: from West and Central Africa international agency interventions Marc Chernick A Methodology for Assessing the Impact of Violent Conflict on Education: Preliminary Work and Case Studies from Colombia and Central America
Natalie Welfens Education in Emergencies: Bridging the Gap between Academia, Celine Cheng Researchers & Practitioners through Students’ Research closing
Stephanie Bengtsson Reflections & The Way Forward Sarah Dryden-Peterson Michelle Reddy
Page | 9
the international symposium on education, fragility and conflict
Using this Workbook
In the pages that follow, you will find abstracts and worksheets for each of the presentations and for the collaborative learning session you choose to attend. Each worksheet has certain prompts (e.g. “Main argument(s)/research question(s)?”) which are there to help focus thinking and facilitate critical engagement.
As you listen to your colleagues present, it might be a good idea to keep the following in mind:
• Research is undertaken for many different purposes, and these purposes should be apparent in the presentation of the research. These purposes include, but are not limited to: o Advancing scholarship o Advocacy o Informing policy o Programming o Monitoring & evaluation • Good research is generally guided by good research questions, or questions that are: o Critical and open-ended o Significant (by answering the question, society will be impacted positively) o Relevant (the question is on a subject that is interesting to the readership) o Feasible (answering the question is possible with the time and resources at hand) • In a solid presentation/paper, key concepts/ideas are operationalized and clearly defined • Many different kinds of learning can take place when engaging with a piece of research, including, but not limited to: o Taking in facts/information o Lessons about methodology/process (i.e. can I follow this research process when designing research of my own) o Learning from successes, strengths, etc. o Learning from problems, weaknesses o Learning from well-argued points you don’t agree with (as this forces us to engage more deeply in order to determine why we don’t agree)
Page | 10
the international symposium on education, fragility and conflict
Monday, April 8 Notes
Session One: Education, Conflict, & Fragility: The Global Picture
Presentation One: Mario Novelli
title The Merging Of Security and Development in the Education Sector in Conflict Affected States: Discourses, Programmes and Effects
abstract The paper explores the merging of security and development policies by western development agencies operating in conflict affected states, and its broad effects on the education sector. The article explores the way education has become increasingly intertwined with post 9/11 security discourses and traces the history, rationales and outcomes of this shift. The paper also explores the multiple and competing discourses of a range of actors engaging with education in conflict affected states, demonstrating the way a ‘common sense’ discourse linking development to security masks deep divisions amongst key actors. This is then followed by a reflection on the contradictory nature of development assistance and presents some examples of the way aid to education has been used historically for military rather than development purposes. Finally the paper ends with a call for more research and critique on this important issue.
Main argument(s)/research question(s)?
Purpose of research/presentation?
General notes/comments
Page | 11
the international symposium on education, fragility and conflict
Lessons learned? (think: strengths AND weaknesses)
Follow-up questions/actions?
Presentation Two: Julia Paulson & Robin Shields
title Conflict, State Fragility and Educational Outcomes
abstract This presentation will explore further relationships between educational outcomes, conflict and fragility by using existing data on Education For All (EFA) indicators (primary enrolment, completion, and gender parity) and state fragility and conflict (the Polity IV dataset).
Recently some debate has emerged over the impact of conflict on educational outcomes. While much literature has highlighted the negative effect of conflict, the 2012 Human Security Report shows that educational outcomes do not decline in times of conflict. Indeed, a key finding is that between 1990 and 2008, while school attainment outcomes were on average lower in countries affected by conflict than they were in non-conflict countries, attainment in conflict countries increased steadily across the period, as it did in non- conflict countries. The Human Security Report’s authors use this evidence to question the assumption that conflict is necessarily damaging and detrimental to educational outcomes, arguing that the factors that existed prior to the conflict (i.e. state fragility) may offer a better explanation of changes to education.
This research uses this debate as a starting point and aims at contributing further quantitative evidence to our growing body of the knowledge about the interactions between education, conflict and fragility. It will also help us to understand more about the impacts of conflict and the impacts of fragility on educational outcomes, including whether these impacts differ. In addition, the research will also offer another lens through which to evaluate the Human Security Report’s findings that conflict may not be as harmful to education as existing research suggests.
Page | 12
the international symposium on education, fragility and conflict
Main argument(s)/research question(s)?
Purpose of research/presentation?
General notes/comments
Lessons learned? (think: strengths AND weaknesses)
Follow-up questions/actions?
Page | 13
the international symposium on education, fragility and conflict
Presentation Three: Sarah Dryden-Peterson
title The Tyranny of Policy: Refugee Education at the Crossroads of Globalization
abstract This presentation will trace the history of refugee education, documenting its transformation from a field of practice to a field of policy. Mirroring trends in education globally, refugee education has become a global good, with decisions about structures and content often distant from the young people, families, and teachers who are impacted. Therefore, the research presents historical analysis of refugee education, which reveals the systematic replacement of field-level education advisors with policy documents and guidelines.
Drawing on interviews and participant observation with refugee and returnee children and youth in Afghanistan, Malaysia, Mauritania, and Uganda, this research also explores what contextual meanings of education are lost as education moves from an individual good to a global good, especially for young people displaced from national education contexts. Caught at the crossroads of local, national, and international actors, what do refugee children and young people want from educational policy, and what do they get? The research investigates possible shifts in power dynamics between policy and practice in attempts to align the aspirations of refugee children and youth with their educational realities.
Main argument(s)/research question(s)?
Purpose of research/presentation?
General notes/comments
Page | 14
the international symposium on education, fragility and conflict
Lessons learned? (think: strengths AND weaknesses)
Follow-up questions/actions?
Page | 15
the international symposium on education, fragility and conflict
Session Two: Collaborative Learning Sessions
Collaborative Learning Session One: Barry Sesnan & Anne Hewling
title Supporting Volunteer, Untrained Teachers Working in the Most Difficult Circumstances by Use of Robust, Uncomplicated IT
abstract The authors are professional teachers and trainers committed to enrichment of education within the context of nationally recognised syllabuses and assessment systems. Anxious to exploit new technology for supporting teachers, they have observed that frequently pre-packaged “solutions” are unresponsive to local needs. Whereas books evolved over years, new IT content is in its infancy. Eclectic international off-the-shelf content neither starts from where teachers or students are, nor takes them where they need to go. It does not match with a country’s general syllabus and languages, especially for those in limited, remote or deprived areas. While education technology in much of the wealthy world is developing rapidly, provision for children in all kinds of difficult situations (refugees, the urban poor, in remote villages, etc.) remains generally poor. It will often be delivered by weak, undertrained and unmotivated volunteer or drafted teachers with minimal resources. A lesson observed by one of the authors in a village in Southern Sudan in 2012 was in no way different from a lesson he observed in a nearby village in 1981. The teacher, an untrained secondary leaver, probably having had few good experiences as a pupil himself, was teaching in a dark classroom with no teaching aids and with no way to answer the children’s questions if they went beyond his own knowledge. He had no one to support him or advise on methodology. Textbooks were old-fashioned and incomplete. His school had no electricity.
Based on several decades of experience in training and preparing materials for such teachers and students in different countries and different languages, and wide experience of face-to-face, distance and online delivery, the authors/researchers wish to examine the hypothesis that it is now possible to support untrained teachers in difficult circumstances by providing:
• robust hardware, using solar power (with or without various enhancements such as battery powered projectors) • appropriate saved content (1) in methodology, (2) in content and (3) in classroom administration. Content will be backed up in centres weekly or monthly. • enrichment material such as a library or resource centre would provide • harmonisation and standardisation and monitoring of progress so that they can meet the expectation from parents that learners follow a syllabus which enables students to learn and to take examinations.
The authors would further like to test the idea that tablets or similar can be used for distance education in similar unpromising circumstances, e.g. by urban youth.
Collaborative Learning Session Two: Silvia Guetta & Alice Binazzi Daniel
title Child Refugees and Asylum-Seekers in Israel
abstract At this session, the presenters will discuss a recent project, involving contact between their academic research unit and a local organisation of practitioners in Israel, supporting asylum seekers’ rights. The local organisation is attempting to formalise their action and research, through this collaboration. The first step of this collaboration has already been included in the recently published book Peace Shining through the Sails:
Page | 16
the international symposium on education, fragility and conflict
Experiences of international cooperation and research for co-existence among cultures, rights and human development . Further steps will be agreed with the local organization during next months. According to the presenters, the particular situation of refugees and asylum-seekers children in Israel currently represents a challenge for the realization of their rights, especially regarding education, due to the emergency context. They are interested in exploring possible ways forward for the project, focusing on the girl child.
Collaborative Learning Session Three: Abdinur Mohamud
title Reconstructing Education in a Fragile State
abstract With the fall of the central government in 1991 and the ensuing struggle for power and resources, public education in Somalia like other basic governmental services came to a standstill. As most schools closed doors and public properties looted or destroyed, many teachers and educators as well as students fled the country seeking refuge in neighbouring countries. Some who could not afford the long travel out of the country relocated internally to relatively safer areas and became known as internally displaced persons (IDP’s). There are very few public educational institutions and school infrastructures that remain fully functioning in politically fragile Somalia today. Publicly supported educational systems with centralized curriculum, assessment and standardized systems of teaching and learning have been completely replaced by privately-run school systems. Unlike publicly funded schools, most private schools levy tuition, utilize borrowed curriculum from foreign systems and generally use foreign languages such as Arabic or English as medium of instruction (Saggiomo, 2011).
Massive enrolment and compulsory education polices of former regimes, the centrality of the Somali as the preeminent language of instruction, and a uniform national curriculum throughout the country all collapsed with the fall of the former regime. Costly private education, often forcing parents to make hard choices of who is schooled and who is not among their children, created intolerable gender and income imbalances in the classroom especially in upper secondary and higher education levels. Additionally, international strong funding support and programmatic linkages with local educational institutions to provide basic services to relatively stable communities as well as sporadic emergency education services to displaced communities. However, the gap between school-aged children enrolled in schools and those deprived of the right to education remains relatively large. Even though article 26 of the UN declaration of human rights proclaims that education is a human right, some Somali children still remain unschooled, illiterate and unsafe. As a consequence, Somalia today is at the bottom and local non-governmental organizations established of most international human development indexes including inability to make tangible progress towards the critical Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) due to expire by 2015.
The purpose of this research project is to investigate the state of public education in fragile and conflict-prone Somalia in light of the undeniable historical role of the school as an agent of modernity in Somali society. The study focuses on the impact of two decades of conflict and anarchy on public education and its sustainability in the absence of a central authority. It is anticipated that this study will contribute and complement to growing body of research in the field of education, fragility and conflict. It will look in particular the impact of massive privatization of education that took place after the fall of the Somali state in 1991 and the outsourcing of k-12 curriculum by foreign entities. Finally, the study will underscore challenges that face post-transition governments to reconstitute a sound public education system and will highlight necessary legislative and public policy mandates that are required to reconstitute an enduring system of public education for Somalia.
Page | 17
the international symposium on education, fragility and conflict
Collaborative Learning Session Notes
Session Attended?
Purpose of research/presentation?
Main question(s) behind research?
What does the presenter / do the presenters need help with?
What are some of the strengths of this work?
Page | 18
the international symposium on education, fragility and conflict
What are some of the challenges of this work?
General notes/comments
Follow-up questions/actions?
Page | 19
the international symposium on education, fragility and conflict
Tuesday, April 9 Notes
Session One: Results of Workshops, Reflections on Day One
Facilitators: Stephanie Bengtsson, Sarah Dryden-Peterson, Michelle Reddy
title Lessons Learned
General notes/comments
Lessons learned?
Follow-up questions/actions?
Page | 20
the international symposium on education, fragility and conflict
Session Two: Lessons from the Field: Country Case Studies on Education, Conflict and Fragility
Presentation One: Mieke Lopes Cardoso
title Losing Ground: A Critical Analysis of Teachers’ Agency for Peace Education in Sri Lanka
abstract with Celine Hoeks This paper aims to give insight into teachers’ agency for peace education, by analysing the strategies teachers adopt within the political framework and a changing context from war to post-war Sri Lanka. Our multiscalar and critical analysis looks into the politics, policies and practices of peace education.
At the level of ‘education politics’, the formulation of the peace education policy by the Ministry of Education’s Unit for Peace and Social Cohesion in 2008 seems a promising development. However, whereas government actors directly involved in peace education programs seem motivated, the need for peace education is losing ground within the larger post-war political discourse, wherein the war and processes of conflict are largely negated. In addition, our study illustrates there is a gap between the education politics – at the discursive level – and the education practice level, where implementation remains rather poor due to a range of structural and more agency-related factors. Data collected at the ‘educational practice’ level shows there is a lack of funds, no clear structure to transcend peace education from the ministry to school level, no effective monitoring and evaluation system and a lack of teacher training in peace education, creating serious structural challenges to the implementation of peace education. Our analysis of teachers’ practices at the school level illustrate how due to poor implementation and lack of teacher training, teachers hold different perceptions in regards to the political engagement to peace education, and compared to government officials have different understandings of what peace education is and how it should be practiced. This divergent understanding limits the strategies teachers (can) adopt to effectively turn the policy discourse into a reality.
Following from our conversations with Sri Lankan teachers, and the literature that recognises teachers as key actors in processes of transformation, we argue that Sri Lankan teachers could function as strategic catalysts of inclusive and sustainable peace, but that the present context – including a lack of adequate training, an overcrowded curriculum combined with a fierce exam- oriented system and restricted political freedom of speech – does not leave much space for manoeuvre for teachers to take up this role.
Main argument(s)/research question(s)?
Purpose of research/presentation?
General notes/comments
Page | 21
the international symposium on education, fragility and conflict
Lessons learned? (think: strengths AND weaknesses)
Follow-up questions/actions?
Presentation Two: Lisa Deters
title Understanding the Role Early Childhood Development Plays in Contexts of Fragility
abstract The purpose of this paper is to present a new framework for planning and programming of ECD in crisis and crisis-prone contexts. It underscores the right to safe, relevant and quality education for all and advocates that it is a right inclusive of young children. The benefits of including ECD extend beyond the young child. It further supports their caregivers and families. A recognizable benefit is that it allows school-aged siblings to attend school or access learning opportunities and adult caregivers to seek out income-generating activities in place of caregiving responsibilities.
The paper draws on findings from a research case study conducted in post-earthquake Haiti 2010, a complex emergency exacerbated by a natural disaster. From which a holistic framework is developed to examine the role that ECDiE plays in mitigating fragility and contributes to promoting stability. The framework stresses the value of enabling caregivers, involving communities and providing resources while remaining grounded by a theory of care. This holistic framework provide a conceptual understanding of the role of ECDiE to further inform and shape policy and practice for young children in contexts of emergency.
Page | 22
the international symposium on education, fragility and conflict
Main argument(s)/research question(s)?
Purpose of research/presentation?
General notes/comments
Lessons learned? (think: strengths AND weaknesses)
Follow-up questions/actions?
Page | 23
the international symposium on education, fragility and conflict
Presentation Three: Júlio Gonçalves dos Santos & Rui da Silva
title Theory and Praxis: Reflections and Lessons from a Bilateral Educational Aid Program in Guinea-Bissau
abstract This presentation draws attention to an educational endeavour promoted by Portuguese official aid in Guinea- Bissau in the last 12 years, focussing on the main lessons learned on how to support education in a context of fragility and political uncertainty. In a context of fragility, it is critical to strengthen, in a holistic way, the transition to a stable education system at the administrative, financial and educational levels.
This research is based on the wide experience of the Portuguese bilateral educational aid Program – PASEG (Program Supporting the Educational System of Guinea-Bissau), aiming to discuss and to highlight the main lessons learned regarding the theory and praxis (understood as instructed action) of PASEG as a complex and transversal intervention. Emphasis will be put on the influence of the inclusion in the design of the Program of principles of capacity development and fragility; also other important issues need to be discussed at the macro, meso and micro levels: These include, inter alia, the political, institutional and school contexts, the role of local actors at the school and community level, training scheme at the regional and school levels, the choice of a locus of intervention and research, re-establishing dialogue and the creation of a capital of trust.
Main argument(s)/research question(s)?
Purpose of research/presentation?
General notes/comments
Page | 24
the international symposium on education, fragility and conflict
Lessons learned? (think: strengths AND weaknesses)
Follow-up questions/actions?
Presentation Four: Anna Gromada, Kaori Okabe, Grace Zhu Manyun & Sarah Smail
title Coping Mechanisms for the Education System in Afghanistan
abstract This research aims to contribute to educational development in Afghanistan by analysing several issues that are obstacles for the further development of the educational system, evaluating current solutions in place to meet these challenges posed, and proposing a more comprehensive coping mechanism for the education system based on the results of our analysis. The following topics will be explored: (1) Political co-existence and the unfolding negotiation process with the Taliban. In particular, the gains and losses in education for girls’ after the last decade of NGO/state efforts and Taliban negotiations (2) Youth activism under the influence of factional politics (3) Corruption and nepotism, particularly as linked with the drug trade in Afghanistan, and how state management of resources influence the state provision of education (4) Educational reforms during civil war periods and how they impact the dynamics between foreign actors in Afghanistan (especially efforts in provision of education by these actors) and local actors. (5) Agriculture, poverty and the rural/urban divide
Main argument(s)/research question(s)?
Page | 25
the international symposium on education, fragility and conflict
Purpose of research/presentation?
General notes/comments
Lessons learned? (think: strengths AND weaknesses)
Follow-up questions/actions?
Page | 26
the international symposium on education, fragility and conflict
Presentation Five: Dana Burde
title Education and Stabilization: The Unintended Effects of Targeting Aid to Restive Populations in Afghanistan
abstract This presentation will provide the first empirical assessment of the relationship between education programs administered as part of a foreign stabilization effort and their effect on underlying conditions for conflict. It is essential for educators to understand these relationships better in order to avoid unintended negative consequences. It will also explore the tensions between international humanitarian norms and strategic goals to stabilize conflict-affected countries, highlighting the fraught relationship between aid to education and counterinsurgency efforts in Afghanistan and arguing that uneven support to education can exacerbate underlying conditions for conflict.
After 11 September, the U.S. mandated the use of humanitarian aid as part of its counterinsurgency and stabilization strategy, requiring that aid be allocated to populations considered at greatest risk of conflict. In Afghanistan, international interventions to combat insurgency included a new approach that mixed civil, diplomatic, and military efforts. The new US counterinsurgency manual changed the military mission and suddenly gave priority to winning conflict by protecting the population and providing social services. Since the population became the prize, reconstruction and other forms of humanitarian aid assumed a central place in counterinsurgency and stabilization initiatives. As part of this strategy, the US funded rapid educational interventions in targeted districts that were intended to increase the legitimacy of the Afghan government and gain trust from the population. Humanitarians were uncomfortable with this new relationship to military interventions, arguing that singling out conflict-prone areas for education aid threatened the delicate balance among rival ethnic groups, potentially igniting conflict rather than preventing it. This research presents preliminary evidence that suggests that rather than mitigating conflict, education promoted in this way has exacerbated it. Some districts have witnessed increased conditions for conflict as a result of these interventions.
Main argument(s)/research question(s)?
Purpose of research/presentation?
General notes/comments
Page | 27
the international symposium on education, fragility and conflict
Lessons learned? (think: strengths AND weaknesses)
Follow-up questions/actions?
Session Three: Assessing Conflict, Building Peace: International Agency Interventions
Presentation One: Alan Smith
title Peacebuilding Logic: What Does it Mean in Practice?
abstract The focus for this draft proposal is the UNICEF Peacebuilding, Education and Advocacy programme, a €120m initiative funded by the Government of the Netherlands over a four-year period (2012-15). The programme is underway and the first year has involved conflict analyses in up to 14 conflict-affected countries which then provide the basis for education programme planning. One of the challenges for UNICEF Country Offices has been to develop a ‘peacebuilding logic’ that links proposed programming to the conflict analysis in each country.
The proposed research would have three main objectives: i) To review the conflict analyses undertaken by Country Offices and analyze each in terms of its approach, ‘conflict drivers’ identified and findings in terms of implications for education programming; ii) To review Country Office education programme proposals in terms of their ‘peacebuilding logic’, i.e. the extent to which ‘theories of change’ have been identified and linked to education programmes and outcomes; iii) To provide a summary of the challenges that the process has generated, for example, in terms of implications for current work plans, capacity development, partnerships and possible indicators of programme impact.
It is anticipated that the findings will provide constructive feedback to UNICEF, as well as contributing to a publication on theories of change on the role of education in conflict transformation.
Page | 28
the international symposium on education, fragility and conflict
Main argument(s)/research question(s)?
Purpose of research/presentation?
General notes/comments
Lessons learned? (think: strengths AND weaknesses)
Follow-up questions/actions?
Page | 29
the international symposium on education, fragility and conflict
Presentation Two: Jennifer Hofmann
title Analysing Education Systems from a Conflict Perspective: Examples from West and Central Africa
abstract Systematic analysis of education systems from a conflict perspective is still an under-developed area. However, supported by the growing recognition that education is not merely a technical activity but a sphere that interacts with social, political, security, and economic dynamics, conflict analysis in education can be used to assess: i) risks of negative effects of conflict on the education system; ii) risks of education programmes or policies exacerbating conflict; iii) opportunities to improve the effectiveness of education interventions in contributing to conflict prevention, reduction, and transformation. The presentation will look at the work carried out by UNICEF and partners in Chad, Cote d’Ivoire, DRC, Liberia and Sierra Leone and address the following questions: what methodologies were used? What contentious challenges were faced? What key findings emerged? How can conflict analysis be used to shape dialogue and education reform?
Main argument(s)/research question(s)?
Purpose of research/presentation?
General notes/comments
Lessons learned? (think: strengths AND weaknesses)
Page | 30
the international symposium on education, fragility and conflict
Follow-up questions/actions?
Presentation Three: Marc Chernick
title A Methodology for Assessing the Impact of Violent Conflict on Education: Preliminary Work and Case Studies from Colombia and Central America
abstract This paper will develop work begun with the World Bank to create an assessment tool to evaluate the impact of violent conflict on education, as well as the role education plays in promoting or mitigating different forms of violent conflict. It also draws on a series of pilot projects in Colombia and Central America that were initiated to test and refine the tool. The analysis examines both situations of internal armed conflict, such as in Colombia, as well as situations of high levels of violent crime in the post-conflict situations of El Salvador, Guatemala, Nicaragua and Honduras. The findings were then used by educational researchers in each country to develop educational programs designed to address the issues identified through the conflict assessment.
Main argument(s)/research question(s)?
Purpose of research/presentation?
General notes/comments
Page | 31
the international symposium on education, fragility and conflict
Lessons learned? (think: strengths AND weaknesses)
Follow-up questions/actions?
Closing: Reflections & The Way Forward
Presentation: Natalie Welfens & Celine Cheng
title Education in Emergencies: Bridging the Gap between Academia, Researchers & Practitioners through Students’ Research
abstract The Inter-agency Network for Education in Emergencies (INEE) functions, as stated on its website, as an “open global network of more than 9,000 practitioners, students, teachers, staff from UN agencies, non- governmental organizations, donors, governments and universities who work together to ensure the right to education in emergencies and early recovery”. Their declared goals are a strong collaboration between all actors devoted to the field of education as a priority in humanitarian response, which should be achieved through common standards (see INEE Minimum Standards ), advocacy and sharing of resources and experiences.
The idea of enhancing cooperation and cohesiveness through an overarching, flexible and inclusive network can be extremely valuable. For example, closing research gaps, searching for best practices and developing a common framework for theoretical and practical approaches around education as an important means in conflict-ridden and fragile regions. Achieving the latter is not only based on the efficient and collaborative
Page | 32
the international symposium on education, fragility and conflict
work of institutions, but also on the research and expertise of academics and practitioners in the field. However, gaps in terms of research, cohesiveness and cooperation between the different actors involved (for example, through insufficient pooling or limited access to information) hamper a full realisation of the striven for “shared vision and collective determination”.
Yet, if properly coordinated, all actors embedded in the INEE framework may strongly benefit from the practical and theoretical contributions of dedicated young students, willing to invest their knowledge and skills. The latter was essentially the idea of the Sciences Po – INEE Project Collectif , which links master’s students from the Paris School of International Affairs as research assistants to presenters at the International Symposium on Education, Conflict and Fragility. This expanded, on the one hand, the INEE network even further and introduced, on the other hand, the students to the multilayered professional field of education in conflict zones. This extension can be of outstanding value for tightening the links between the different actors involved in the project, and might therefore have a strong impact on the network’s efficiency. To this end, we want to critically analyse our own experience as research assistants in terms of usefulness for the researchers, ourselves, and the wider INEE network. It will also serve as a ground for developing a general framework for efficient research, which in turn will inspire the work of other volunteer research networks. Finally, we will present how this research might be a highly valuable and innovative source for researchers, practitioners and institutions alike, and therefore “bridge the gap” between all the different actors involved.
Main argument(s)/research question(s)?
Purpose of research/presentation?
General notes/comments
Lessons learned? (think: strengths AND weaknesses)
Page | 33
the international symposium on education, fragility and conflict
Follow-up questions/actions?
Facilitators: Stephanie Bengtsson, Sarah Dryden-Peterson & Michelle Reddy
title Reflections & The Way Forward
General notes/comments
Lessons learned? (think: strengths AND weaknesses)
Follow-up questions/actions?
Page | 34
the international symposium on education, fragility and conflict
General Notes Pages
Page | 35
the international symposium on education, fragility and conflict
Page | 36
the international symposium on education, fragility and conflict
Page | 37
the international symposium on education, fragility and conflict
Page | 38
the international symposium on education, fragility and conflict
Participant Information
Presenter Bios
Stephanie Bengtsson
Institutional Affiliation: University of Newcastle Australia
Stephanie Bengtsson is a Lecturer in Education at the University of Newcastle in Australia, where she commenced her appointment in January 2012. She holds a Doctorate in International Educational Development from Teachers College, Columbia University, an MPhil in Inclusive Education from the University of Cambridge, and a Bachelor of Arts (cum laude) in English Literature from Harvard. A Swedish citizen, born in Germany, and raised in Zimbabwe, with university degrees from institutions in the United States and the United Kingdom, she naturally has an interest in all things international, but particularly humanitarian aid, development assistance and fragility, the relationship between global and local forces in educational settings, understanding educational discourse, and the Education for All (EFA) agenda and inclusive education in Sub-Saharan Africa. She likes to refer to herself as an “academic practitioner” (a term used by the comparativist Dr David N. Wilson to describe those active in the fields of comparative and international education): in addition to her academic work, she has been involved in a number of projects with UNICEF and the Inter-Agency Network for Education in Emergencies (INEE). Webpage: http://www.newcastle.edu.au/staff/research-profile/Stephanie_Bengtsson/
Alice Binazzi Daniel
Institutional Affiliation: University of Florence, Italy
Alice Binazzi Daniel is an anthropologist and a child protection expert. She is a Lecturer in Education at the University of Florence, where she collaborates on child protection research and projects activities. A former UNICEF staff member and consultant, she served for about ten years in UNICEF Innocenti Research Centre, in different projects and initiatives. As an independent researcher and consultant, she carried out ethnographic field research in the Caribbean and Latin America contexts, where she also lived for several years. She deepened the qualitative analysis of exploitation and rights violation phenomena of marginalized children and adolescents. She has also collaborated on local projects for girls’ empowerment in Africa.
Dana Burde
Institutional Affiliation: New York University, USA
Dana Burde is an Assistant Professor of International Education at New York University and an Affiliate at the Saltzman Institute of War and Peace Studies, Columbia University. Her research and teaching focus on the effects of war on education and how to mitigate these effects; the relationship between education and political violence; and transnational advocacy and humanitarian action. In Afghanistan she carried out a randomized controlled trial to study the impact of community-based schools on children’s educational outcomes and parents’ trust in institutions. This work was supported by grants from the Spencer Foundation, the National Science Foundation, the U.S. Institute of Peace, and the Weikart Family Foundation. Recent publications include: “Assessing impact and bridging methodological divides: Randomized trials in Countries Affected by Conflict,” in Comparative Education Review (2012); “The effect of village-based schools: Evidence from
Page | 39
the international symposium on education, fragility and conflict
a randomized controlled trial in Afghanistan,” NBER paper (with Leigh Linden) (2012); “Education and Conflict Mitigation: What the Aid Workers Say,” USAID (2011); and “Preventing Violent Attacks on Education in Afghanistan: Considering the Role of Community-Based Schools,” in UNESCO, Education Under Attack: a Call to Action (2010). Beyond the university, Burde’s work as an international education consultant includes global reviews of education in emergencies programs; assessment and evaluation of education in emergencies programs in the Balkans; civil society building in the Caucasus; refugee education in Pakistan; and research on parent and community participation in community schools in Central Asia, Central America and Mali. She received her PhD in Comparative Education and Political Science from Columbia University; EdM from Harvard University; and BA from Oberlin College. Professor Burde is currently on leave in Pakistan (AY 2012-2013) supported by a Fulbright research grant for the spring semester.
Céline Cheng
Institutional Affiliation: Paris School of International Affairs, Sciences Po, France
Céline Cheng is currently in her first year of a Master’s programme studying human rights and humanitarian action at Sciences Po’s Paris School of International Affairs. Her primary interests lie in the field of humanitarian action, in particular, the ethical and political challenges that humanitarian actors inevitably face.
Marc Chernick
Institutional Affiliation: Georgetown University, USA
Marc Chernick is Director of the Master’s Program in Latin American Studies and an Associate Professor of Political Science in the Center for Latin American Studies of the School of Foreign Service, Georgetown University. He also serves as Director of the Georgetown Program on Conflict Resolution and Human Rights at the University of Los Andes in Bogotá, Colombia. He has written widely on issues of violence, guerrilla insurgencies and peacemaking in Colombia and in Latin America, and recently published Acuerdo posible: Solucion negociada al conflicto armado colombiano (Bogotá, revised 3rd edition 2012), as well as two book chapters in English on the FARC: “The FARC at the Negotiating Table” and “The FARC: From Liberal Guerrillas to Marxist Guerrillas to Post-Cold War Insurgents.” He has served as a consultant for the World Bank, UNDP, USAID, the governments of Norway, Sweden and Switzerland, and for other international organizations and NGOs on issues of human rights, democracy, early warning and conflict resolution in Colombia and elsewhere in Latin America and Africa. Current projects include participatory action/ transformative research in support of peace negotiations between the Colombian Government and the FARC; the development of historical memory in a conflict-affected zone in Magdalena Medio, Colombia; and the development of a methodology and case studies to analyse the impact of violent conflict on education. This latter project has been developed with the World Bank. Chernick has a Ph.D. in Political Science from Columbia University.
Rui da Silva
Institutional Affiliation: University of Minho & Center of African Studies of the University of Porto, Portugal
Rui da Silva is a researcher with a PhD Grant in curricular development from the Portuguese Science Foundation, an MA (2011, University of Minho) in curriculum development, and a BA (2003, ESE-IPVC) in physical education and primary education teaching. He has worked as teacher and trainer in Portugal and since 2004 as a consultant, trainer and programme assistant for projects in Angola, Cape Verde, East Timor
Page | 40
the international symposium on education, fragility and conflict
and Guinea-Bissau. Da Silva is an invited specialist for seminars and workshops in Portuguese Higher Education Institutions on project management, education in emergencies and development assistance. He is an active member of the INEE Portuguese language community. His research interests include globalization and curriculum, humanitarian aid and development assistance; small states, educational change and cross- cultural transfers.
Lisa Deters
Institutional Affiliation: Macquarie University, Australia
Lisa Deters is currently an international doctoral candidate at Macquarie University in Australia. Her research is focused on young children and early childhood development (ECD) responses in emergency situations. She holds a Bachelor’s and a Master’s degree in international educational development with a concentration in peace education. She is a certified teacher in elementary education and early childhood care and education in the United States. Most recently, she has worked as an emergency response personnel specializing in education in emergencies and engaged in ECD research in diverse contexts and regions including the Caribbean, Middle East, Africa, Asia and the Asia Pacific.
Júlio Gonçalves dos Santos
Institutional Affiliation: Higher School of Education, Polytechnic Institute of Viana do Castelo, Portugal
Júlio Santos, coordinator of the Unit for Education and Development Studies, School of Higher Education of the Polytechnic Institute of Viana do Castelo, and researcher, Centre for African Studies, University of Porto, has a BA (Minho University, 1982) in the Teaching of French and Portuguese and an MA (1996) and PhD in Education (University of Sussex, UK, 2001). He has taught in Slovakia, France and Angola and currently coordinates specialised courses on Aid, Citizenship and Development. He has coordinated, since 2001 the Unit’s technical assistance for programme in Guinea-Bissau, Angola, and Cape Verde and has worked as a consultant for UNICEF (Timor Leste), Save the Children, ADRA Angola, and IIEP/UNESCO. He is an active member of INEE.
Sarah Dryden-Peterson
Institutional Affiliation: INEE & Harvard Graduate School of Education, USA
Sarah Dryden-Peterson leads a research program that focuses on the connections between education and community development, specifically the role that education plays in building peaceful and participatory societies. Her work is situated in conflict and post-conflict settings in sub-Saharan Africa and with African Diaspora communities in USA and Canada. She is concerned with the interplay between local experiences of children, families, and teachers and the development and implementation of national and international policy. Her research reflects connections between practice, policy, and scholarship and is strengthened through long- term collaborations with UN agencies, NGOs, and communities. Current projects include Diaspora RE-ACT (Rebuilding Education and Community Together), which examines the role of Diasporas in rebuilding education systems post-conflict (in Zimbabwe, South Sudan, Afghanistan, and Haiti); and the Borderless Higher Education for Refugees (BHER) project (in collaboration with the Centre for Refugee Studies at York University, Toronto), which seeks to improve teacher training and access to higher education for Somali refugees in Dadaab camp in northern Kenya. She is also working on a book arguing that the experiences of African immigrants and refugees in the United States offer a compelling model for reframing our
Page | 41
the international symposium on education, fragility and conflict
understanding of immigrant integration as a community-building endeavour. Dryden-Peterson received her EdD from HGSE, her MPhil from the University of Cape Town (South Africa), and her A.B. from Harvard College. She was a Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) postdoctoral fellow affiliated with the Comparative, International & Development Education Centre at the University of Toronto. Her work has been supported by research grants from various organizations, including the SSHRC, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), Save the Children, and the Andrew Mellon Foundation. Dryden-Peterson currently serves as Co-Chair of the Inter-Agency Network for Education in Emergencies (INEE) Working Group on Education & Fragility. She previously taught middle school in Boston and founded non-profits in Uganda and South Africa. Webpage: www.sarahdrydenpeterson.com
Anna Gromada
Institutional Affiliation: Paris School of International Affairs, Sciences Po, France
Anna Gromada is a Master's student of International Development at Sciences Po, Paris. Prior to her time at Sciences Po, she studied Sociology and Politics at Cambridge University. Anna has a range of research interests, including issues related to gender, education and development.
Silvia Guetta
Institutional Affiliation: University of Florence, Italy
Silvia Guetta is an Associate Professor of Social and General Pedagogy at the University of Florence, Italy. She is a Professor of Inter-Cultural Pedagogy and of Peace Education. She is the referee of the University of Florence for the scientific collaboration agreements with the Israeli University of Tel Aviv, the Palestinian University of Al-Quds, the University of Granada, in Spain, and Holy Cross College, USA. She is Coordinator of the knowledge net on Culture of Peace of the Trans-disciplinary UNESCO Chair on “Human Development and Culture of Peace” at the University of Florence. In 2011-12, she served as a scientific referee of a UNICEF Project “Observatory on Youth Rights” in Italy.
Anne Hewling
Institutional Affiliation: Echo Bravo: Education Base, Uganda
Dr Anne Hewling is a consultant in education and development specialising in mobile technologies and e- learning, with a particular interest in instructional design for new technology delivery of curriculum and teacher support. She has qualifications in teaching, training, distance education and research methods. Her doctoral research in educational technology looked at culture in the online class. She also has many years of experience in eastern and southern Africa and recently was team leader on a health sector education capacity building project in Nigeria. Presently she is collaborating with Education Base: Echo Bravo Consultants on supporting teachers in emergency situations.
Jennifer Hofmann
Institutional Affiliation: UNICEF
Jennifer Hofmann is an Education Specialist with UNICEF, currently working in the West and Central Africa Regional Office based in Dakar, providing technical assistance to countries on emergency preparedness and
Page | 42
the international symposium on education, fragility and conflict
response in education as well as coordinating the implementation of the Peacebuilding, Education, and Advocacy programme with a particular focus on Chad, Cote d'Ivoire, DRC, Liberia and Sierra Leone. She worked for close to three years with UNICEF in Côte d’Ivoire where she focused on regular education programming as well as humanitarian response and advocacy during the 2010 post-electoral crisis and served as Education Cluster Coordinator in Haiti post-earthquake. Prior to joining UNICEF, Ms Hofmann worked for three years for the Inter-Agency Network for Education in Emergencies (INEE) as Capacity Building Manager and Coordinator for Minimum Standards. Ms Hofmann has consulted for the International Rescue Committee, the Watchlist on Children and Armed Conflict, and Amnesty International.
Mieke Lopes Cardozo
Institutional Affiliation: University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Dr Mieke Lopes Cardozo is currently employed as an Assistant Professor at the Amsterdam Institute for Social Science Research of the University of Amsterdam. She is the coordinator of the ‘IS-Academie’ co-funded research project of the University of Amsterdam and the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Her work is focused in the area of Education, Conflict and International Development. Mieke teaches in the BA and MA course on International Development Studies, and Education and International Development and is currently involved in an EU funded Life Long Learning development programme for a joint Masters on Global Education Policies (www.globed.eu). Mieke formerly also worked at UNICEF in the Netherlands at the communication and education department. In the spring of 2006, she conducted research in Sri Lanka on the state of peace education. Since then, the area of Conflict and Education has been a continuous area of interest and research. Mieke focused her doctoral research (2007-2011) on teachers and social change in Bolivia. She currently works on a research project on education and peacebuilding in Indonesia.
Abdinur Mohamud
Institutional Affiliation: Department of Education, Office of Curriculum and Assessment, State of Ohio, USA
Abdinur Mohamud, Ph.D. is an education practitioner and a consultant with Ohio Department of Education’s Office of Curriculum and Assessment. He consults widely with Ohio's pre-K-12 teachers and administrators on best practices in curriculum, instruction and assessment of Ohio’s diverse learners. Dr Mohamud also teaches education courses as an adjunct at Otterbein University in Westerville, Ohio. His academic and research interests include international comparative education, foreign language education, education for development and fragile states. Dr Mohamud is a former Minister of Education, Culture and Higher Education of the Transitional Federal Government (TFG) of Somalia in 2010-2011 and is a graduate of Ohio University’s College of Education with a Ph.D. in Education Administration.
Mario Novelli
Institutional Affiliation: University of Sussex, UK
Mario Novelli is Professor of the Political Economy of Education, and deputy director of the Centre for International Education (CIE), University of Sussex. His research explores the relationship between education, globalisation and international development, with a specific focus on education and conflict. He has recently published work on political violence against educators in Colombia; the securitisation of aid to education and on issues related to the new geopolitics of aid to education after 9/11. Over the last decade he has worked on projects with a wide range of international organisations (such as UNICEF; UNESCO;
Page | 43
the international symposium on education, fragility and conflict
Education International) and published widely in academic journals. He is currently working with UNICEF on a new 4-year programme on Education and Peacebuilding in Conflict-Affected States and leading a Rigorous Literature Review of the Political Economy of Education Systems in Conflict Affected Contexts for the UK’s Department for International Development (DFID).
Kaori Okabe
Institutional Affiliation: Paris School of International Affairs, Sciences Po, France
Prior to her Master's studies, Kaori Okabe accumulated some professional experience working with various non-governmental and international organisations in Geneva, Switzerland. Her latest experience had been with the Geneva International Centre for Humanitarian Demining, where she was involved in the analysis and promotion of sound operational methods in mine action. Additionally, she has also worked with the International AIDS Society, the International Campaign to Ban Landmines and the Gender and Mine Action Programme. She currently holds a Bachelor's degree in Political Science and History from the University of British Columbia.
Julia Paulson
Institutional Affiliation: Bath Spa University, UK
Julia Paulson is a Lecturer in Education at Bath Spa University, where she is responsible for developing undergraduate and graduate teaching around peace, conflict and education. Her doctoral research at the University of Oxford explored the relationship between education and transitional justice, focusing on the policy change in Peru after the release of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s report. Julia is editor of Education and Reconciliation and Education, Conflict and Development and author of a number of articles on education and conflict and education and transitional justice.
Michelle Reddy
Institutional Affiliation: Paris School of International Affairs, Sciences Po, France
Michelle Reddy is the Assistant Dean for Communications at the Paris School of International Affairs (PSIA), Sciences Po, and the Academic Advisor for the Master in Development Practice, the Master in Human Rights and Humanitarian Action, as well as several other programs at PSIA. She was part of the initial six-person team that launched the Paris School of International Affairs in 2010, which has quickly become the largest school of international affairs in Europe, and one of the largest in the world. Michelle teaches “Contemporary Africa: International Actors in Globalization, Development, and Peacebuilding” to students in the Europe- Africa program.
Ghassan Salamé
Institutional Affiliation: Paris School of International Affairs, Sciences Po, France
Ghassan Salamé is the Dean of the Paris School of International Affairs (PSIA) and Professor of International Relations at Sciences Po, Paris (1986-) and Columbia University, New York (2008). Dean Salamé is furthering his commitment to the future of global affairs by fostering the development of PSIA, the largest professional
Page | 44
the international symposium on education, fragility and conflict
school of international affairs in Europe. Born in 1951 in Lebanon, he studied law (Saint Joseph University, University of Paris); literature (PhD, University of Paris); and political science (PhD, University of Paris). Salamé taught international relations at the American University of Beirut and Saint Joseph University in Beirut and, later, at the University of Paris. He was Senior Advisor to the United Nations Secretary-General (2003-2006) and Political Advisor to the UN Mission in Iraq (2003). In 2000-2003, he was Lebanon’s Minister of Culture, as well as Chairman and Spokesman of the Organization Committee for the Arab Summit (March 2002) and of the Francophone Summit (October 2002) in Beirut. Salamé presently sits on the board of the International Crisis Group (Brussels), the International Peace Institute (New York), the Open Society Foundations, the Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue, the Bibliotheca Alexandrina (Egypt), and several other non-profit organizations. He is the chairman of the Arab Fund for Arts and Culture.
Barry Sesnan
Institutional Affiliation: Echo Bravo: Education Base, Uganda
Barry Sesnan works in education in East and West Africa, in the Horn and Great Lakes, as a practitioner and at the policy level. He has worked with UNICEF and UNHCR as well as many NGOs. He was a research fellow at the Refugee Studies Programme in Oxford, and has taught and supervised research in Makerere and Nkumba Universities. An early proponent of quality education in refugee and other difficult circumstances, he has worked with refugees, stayees, returnees and displaced people. He has designed and undertaken education projects during and after volcanoes, floods, loss of teachers due to AIDS, famines and wars. He is committed to a return to normal education as soon as possible avoiding institutionalisation of temporary measures.
Robin Shields
Institutional Affiliation: Bath Spa University, UK
Robin Shelds is a Senior Lecturer in Education at Bath Spa University in the United Kingdom, where he teaches undergraduate and postgraduate classes on international education. His research interests include education, globalisation and international development; he has published on international student mobility in higher education, information technology and education, and education and conflict. He is author of Globalization and International Education published by Bloomsbury in 2013.
Sarah Smail
Institutional Affiliation: Paris School of International Affairs, Sciences Po, France
Sarah Smail is from Algiers, Algeria and Paris, France. She is currently in Paris studying for a Master's in Human Rights and Humanitarian Action. Her academic interests lie in the field of education and communication in post-conflict contexts, mostly in the Arab and Muslim world, and West Africa.
Alan Smith
Institutional Affiliation: University of Ulster, Northern Ireland
Alan Smith holds the UNESCO Chair in Education at the University of Ulster, Northern Ireland. He was a British Council visiting fellow to Nigeria, Indonesia and Hong Kong and has undertaken research for DFID,
Page | 45
the international symposium on education, fragility and conflict
GiZ, International Alert, Save the Children, UNESCO, UNICEF and the World Bank with working experience in Bosnia, Serbia, Nepal, Sierra Leone, Sri Lanka, Uganda and Zimbabwe. He was an advisor and contributing author to the Education for All (EFA), Global Monitoring Report (2011) and is a member of the Inter Agency Network on Education in Emergencies (INEE). His presentation at Sciences Po is based on current research with UNICEF on education, conflict and peacebuilding.
Natalie Welfens
Institutional Affiliation: Paris School of International Affairs, Sciences Po, France
Natalie is currently in her first year of a two year Double-Master Program in Human Rights and Humanitarian Action between PSIA and the Freie University Berlin. Her main interests in this field are migration, and minority- and gender-related issues. Prior to commencing her Master’s program she was studying at the French-German campus of Sciences Po in Nancy and did her year abroad at the University of Amsterdam, where she mainly focused on Education, Development and Gender Studies. During her course of studies she gained some professional experience through internships at the German Ministries of Education and of Foreign Affairs. In addition, Natalie is working as a social media communication and research assistant for the NGO Asylos.
Grace Manyun Zhu
Institutional Affiliation: Paris School of International Affairs, Sciences Po, France
Grace pursued her undergraduate degree in Near Eastern Studies and Russian and Eurasian studies in Princeton University, specializing in conflict or post-conflict zones such as Afghanistan, Bosnia, Xinjiang and the Middle East. Her research experience included identity construction, party politics, ethno-religious tensions and historicization. Currently pursuing a Master’s degree in International Development in Sciences Po, concentrating in South Asia, Grace is interested in how to design public policy for development under deep structural, cultural and political limitations.
Conference Participants Contact Information
Name Contact Info Notes
Page | 46
the international symposium on education, fragility and conflict
Name Contact Info Notes
Page | 47
the international symposium on education, fragility and conflict
Name Contact Info Notes
Page | 48
the international symposium on education, fragility and conflict
Institutions to Reach Out To
Name Contact Info Notes
Page | 49
the international symposium on education, fragility and conflict
Logistical Information
Map of Sciences Po
Route from Sciences Po to UNESCO by public transport
UNESCO is located three metro stops from Sciences Po. Please walk to the station Sèvres–Babylone, take line number 10 to the station Ségur. Metro tickets can be purchased in machines located at the metro station for €1,70. You may find it useful to purchase a day pass for € 6,60 (zones 1-2)
Page | 50
the international symposium on education, fragility and conflict
Route from Sciences Po to UNESCO on foot
(30 minute walk)
Taxis
Taxi can be booked online http://www.taxisg7.com/ (both in French and English) or called on the number 3607 (from French numbers) or +33 1 47 39 47 39 (from foreign numbers) or +33 1 41 27 66 99 (from foreign numbers for English speakers).
Map of UNESCO
UNESCO is conveniently located 160 meters from the metro station Ségur.
Page | 51