Education and conflict: From emergency response to reconstruction and peacebuilding

Abstract

Education for All (EFA) was a promise made by 155 countries and about 150 representatives of humanitarian organizations in Jomtien, Thailand in 1990. This promise was reiterated in Dakar, Senegal in 2000, where six broad goals and targets were set to be met by 2015. In 2011, the international community is far from achieving these goals; yet, as the 2011 Global Monitoring Report shows, considerable efforts have been made and achievements are visible. For example, some of the poorest countries are doubling their primary enrolment rates and narrowing their gender gaps. The articles published in this special issue on Education and Armed Conflict are based on selected background papers, which were commissioned for the 2011 EFA Global Monitoring Report. The 2011 report highlights one of the greatest barriers to reaching the EFA goals: conflict. Many countries suffer from continuous or spontaneous conflict, which creates unstable conditions for civilians, and particularly children, who are too often forced to leave behind the little education that they were receiving in order to escape from the conflict. Due to the nature of conflict, humanitarian efforts must, more often than not, focus on the immediate survival of victims, by providing shelter, water, food, and medical care. However, some of these conflicts are continuous, forcing people to live for years in temporary arrangements, where, without education, they may completely lose hope for a better future. The Global Monitoring Report stresses that education is life-saving, especially for those living in conflict, and should therefore be treated as such in the humanitarian response. As Ms. Irina Bokova, Director General of UNESCO, expressed it at the official launch of the report in New York on March 1st, ‘‘education cannot remain the poor cousin of international efforts to manage conflicts’’. Providing education in a post-conflict context helps national reconstruction, in a different and more profound way than meeting only basic needs such as food, water, and shelter. Furthermore, an education that promotes human rights and civic values can go a long way in helping the next generation to work towards a self-sustaining and peaceful society. In fact, more often than not, it is the populations affected by conflict that demand an education so they can actively create a better future for