Education system resilience

Disasters and conflicts have a considerable impact on the education of children and youth. According to the EFA Global Monitoring Report 2011, 28 million of the 67 million children of primary school age who are out of school are in conflict-affected countries. Furthermore, it is estimated that 175 million children every year are likely to be affected by disasters.

Education is the foundation for economic growth and human development. Therefore, the efforts to prevent (or reduce) the risks of conflict and disasters impacting the education systems must lay the foundation of institutional resilience. Crisis-sensitive planning does just that. It also saves lives and money. Mainstreaming conflict and disaster risk reduction measures into education policies, plans, and programmes helps countries strengthen their capacity to anticipate, prevent, and respond to conflict and disaster.

There is growing evidence of the need to strengthen the resilience of education systems. Including crisis prevention and peacebuilding measures in educational policy and planning is one mechanism for achieving this. If the post-2015 Sustainable Development Goals are to be truly sustainable, conflict and disaster risk reduction must be embedded in sector policies, plans, and budgets.

Together with partners such as PEIC, UNICEF, Education Development Trust, and GIZ to name a few, IIEP cooperates with ministries of education to reduce the impacts of conflicts and disasters on education systems and education communities. This support is provided through technical cooperation, training, and the development of materials, and dissemination of information.

IIEP also contributes to international advoacy including, through the Global Education Cluster’s Working Group, INEE’s Education and Fragility and Education Cannot Wait Working Groups, and UNISDR’s Global Alliance for Disaster Risk Reduction and Resilience in the Education Sector (GADRRES).