EDUCATION in EMERGENCIES It Is Time to Learn

EDUCATION in EMERGENCIES It Is Time to Learn

Thematic Report EDUCATION IN EMERGENCIES It is time to learn EDUCATION IN EMERGENCIES 01 PHOTO: Jonathan Hyams Op-Ed JANEGELANDis the Perspective is a production series that aims to provide insight, raise Secretary General of the debates and stimulate ideas in an on-going effort to improve the lot of Norwegian Refugee Council Content millions of people suffering from the effects of today’s humanitarian crises. Time to learn reat strides have been made in The communities affected by on-going con- ensuring that we deliver the right flict in Masisi are also emphatic that educa- kind of assistance at the right tion cannot wait for development. Rather, time. Yet at least one serious gap it is education provided in emergencies that remains: the strong demand for can lead to stability and development in the G education in emergencies. A recent survey of longer term. In Masisi, a community leader aid recipients in Masisi, DRC, showed that 30 explains, “We see that the school is a stabili- per cent prioritised receiving access to edu- sing influence on the community.” A parent cation over food, health services, water, or notes, “It was education that helped me un- shelter. Recent surveys in Haiti and the Syria derstand that the land here is very fertile, region also revealed a similarly strong de- and how to manage it.” mand for education, underscoring that this People living with conflict know that is an underserved sector. Yet humanitarian education is an investment that can not PHOTO: Jonathan Hyams PHOTO: funding for education globally has fallen to be lost. A 13-year-old girl explains to us the a new low of 1.4 per cent. universal value of education: “If I have to It can be easy to dismiss calls for more flee again, all the things I have I will have to education in emergencies with arguments leave, but I will always bring the knowledge 04ALIFE-SAVINGLESSON such as: “it isn’t life-saving”, “more educa- I have in my head.” Can education really matter as much as food, water and sanitation tion means less food or health”, and “it is the job of development actors”. But accor- n n in emergencies? Those affected by conflict certainly believe so. ding to those struck by emergencies, edu- If you wait three months, many of these cation is absolutely life-saving. children will go with the armed forces or In an emergency, schools are a secure face violence, and they may die. location for children to be while their pa- rents go about securing other necessities. COMMUNITYLEADER,Masisi, DRC “School is the only safe place for children 08 10 13 14 15 to be,” according to a community leader in FACTS&FIGURES DRC PROFILE COLOMBIA SYRIACRISIS Masisi. “If you wait three months, many of It is a well-established tenet of huma- these children will go with the armed forces nitarian action that we who deliver assis- An overview of facts Meet the real Nobel Teacher Esdras Biri- Mauricio dreams of It is graduation day in or face violence, and they may die.” tance must be accountable to those whom and statistics, including Peace Prize winners giro knows all too well starting his own prawn Zaatari refugee camp quotes from international of 2012, in a school in how war can affect chil- business. With a cur- in Jordan, and Ahmad Rather than competing with other se- we seek to assist. Among other things, this leaders supporting the Masisi, eastern DRC. dren’s learning. riculum adapted to his from Syria is one of ctors, schools have long been a platform means ensuring that affected communities claim to education in background, that dream the lucky few who has for delivery of nutritious meals, health are consulted when determining the assis- emergencies. may now be realised. access to education. services, and life-saving knowledge about tance we provide. It is common sense; help hygiene, sanitation and the conflict. A that people are not asking for is not really parent in Masisi noted that their children help at all. “come home from school and share all this People affected by emergencies are tel- knowledge with their little brothers and sis- ling us what they need. It is up to us to learn WRITERS AND CONTRIBUTORS DESIGN Teft Design as QUESTIONS REGARDING THE Tiril Skarstein, Sara Tesorieri, Jonathan PRINTING Gamlebyen Grafiske NRC SHOULD BE DIRECTED TO: ters, and even with us”. the lesson. n Hyams, David Garcia, Oscar Rodriguez, [email protected] CIRCULATION15,000 EDITOR Anna Tresse Christian Jepsen, Andreas Stensland, Norwegian Refugee Council Matthew Stephensen, Odette Asha, PUBLISHER Box 6758 St. Olavs Plass 02 EDUCATION IN EMERGENCIESBrooke Lauten. The Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) 0130 Oslo Norway EDUCATION IN EMERGENCIES 03 SAFETYINCONFLICT. In eastern DRC, armed groups routinely recruit or abduct children. But according to Congolese communities, a child in school is much less likely to be a target. Photo: Marcus Bleasdale ALIFE-SAVINGLESSON Half of the world’s out-of-school children live in conflict-affected areas. Getting those children back to school can save their lives and their futures. TEXT:Sara Tesorieri The basic survival needs of humans mething else scored higher on their list household possessions, and most pro- are well-known. When crises strike, of necessities: education. bably their source of income, asking whether natural or man-made, clean Across both communities, educa- for education over shelter or food may water, nutritious food and safe shel- tion was prioritised by 30 per cent seem an odd choice. But where peo- ter are the first things relief workers of respondents, with food coming se- ple are often displaced not once but usually provide to the people affected, cond, chosen by 19 per cent of respon- multiple times, it is seen as a good in- along with medical attention. These dents. This observation is backed up vestment. New houses and crops can four sectors are the focus of most hu- by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, be burned, newly-distributed posses- manitarian response, and are conside- who in September 2012 stated, “In al- sions looted or destroyed, and water red to be ‘life-saving’. most all my visits to areas ravaged by sources polluted or poisoned – all for- But a recent survey by NRC and Save war and disaster, the plea of survivors cing people to flee again. Knowledge, the Children of people receiving huma- is the same: ‘Education first’”. however, cannot be destroyed. nitarian assistance in North Kivu, De- A woman who fled the conflict in BACKINSCHOOL. Children at the Don Bosco school in Goma, DRC. mocratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), ASMARTINVESTMENT Darfur summed up the reasoning of The school works to get vulnerable children into the classroom. and Dollo Ado, Ethiopia, found that so- When people have lost their homes, many people in a similar position Photo: Tiril Skarstein 04 EDUCATION IN EMERGENCIES EDUCATION IN EMERGENCIES 05 around the world: “We had to leave behind all of our possessions. The only thing we could bring with us is what we have in our heads, what we have been taught – our education. Education is the only thing that cannot be taken from us.” SCHOOLSGIVESAFETY Several studies have found that where there is fighting, schools can provide particular safety for children, keeping them out of harm’s way physically, and giving them a constructive alter- native to joining – or being forced to join – the conflict. In eastern DRC, ar- med groups routinely recruit or abduct children. But according to Congolese communities, a child in school is much less likely to be a target. In a forthcoming report by NRC and Save the Children on education in emergencies, a young boy explains his first-hand experience, “I was in the militia and I wanted so badly to leave, SAFELEARNINGSPACE. Congolese children attending NRC’s education programme at Lushebere Primary School, DRC. The education in emergencies project will ensure that over 7,000 children across 13 schools in Masisi have access to quality basic so I asked for an authorisation to go education. For many this will be the very first time that they have been given the opportunity to learn in a safe, protective and nurturing environment. The schools also provide child friendly spaces for young children to play. Photo: Jonathan Hyams for four days. I took the opportunity to escape. School is the only safe place for me now, because even if they find me here it is hard for them to take me.” tegy for reducing the need for other ires either pooling of a community’s should be integral to the humanitarian of emergency funds for education, ar- houses 500,000 Somali refugees, He continues, “Once, when I was kinds of aid. In Ethiopia, for example, resources or outside assistance. emergency response. guing that schools are the responsibi- some of whom have been there for still with them they found someone refugees with access to education In the Lushebere camp for displa- In Syria, the world’s biggest current lity of development actors. The impli- two decades. Children and young pe- who had escaped to a school but they have learned to build and use irriga- ced people in DRC, the community humanitarian crisis, almost 2 million cation is that education can wait for ople from Somalia have been stranded couldn’t get permission from the tion systems, making the next drought was so concerned about the lack of a children have dropped out of school. the longer timelines and slower adjust- there for years, the majority without commander to take him back, because less likely to impact their food supply.

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