Education for peacebuilding approach

and examples

November 2015

Education can become both a conflict driver and a contributor

to positive peace

• Not accessible to everyone

• Poor in quality and irrelevant

• Used for politicization

• Disrespectful of cultural

identities

• Discriminating against groups

• Equitably accessible

• Of quality and relevant

• Reinforces common narrative

• Strengthening intergroup

relationships and identities

• Fairly administered across

groups

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Education as a conflict driver Education as a peace capacity

Education can contribute to vertical and horizontal cohesion

between institutions, groups, individuals

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State and policy level

Community A / Individual A Community B / Individual B

Education for peacebuilding programming

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West Africa: Chad, Côte d’Ivoire, Democratic Republic of Congo, Liberia, Sierra Leone

East and Southern Africa: Burundi, South Sudan, Ethiopia, South Sudan, Uganda

Middle East: State of Palestine, Yemen; South Asia: Pakistan; Eastern Asia and Pacific Region: Myanmar

Education for peacebuilding programming

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West Africa: Chad, Côte d’Ivoire, Democratic Republic of Congo, Liberia, Sierra Leone

East and Southern Africa: Burundi, South Sudan, Ethiopia, South Sudan, Uganda

Middle East: State of Palestine, Yemen; South Asia: Pakistan; Eastern Asia and Pacific Region: Myanmar Peacebuilding may be the primary or secondary objective

USAID Strategic Goals

• Improved reading instruction

• Tertiary and workforce development

• Improved equitable access to education in crisis and conflict situations

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UNICEF Country Example: Myanmar

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Conflict Analysis Key Finding:

Systems Level Intervention:

Community Level Intervention:

Individual Level Intervention:

• Historical failure to recognise and provide for ethnic minority languages, identity and culture within the education system.

• Language policy within the national education system that responds to the linguistic and learning needs of Myanmar’s diverse ethnic groups

• Participatory dialogues and consultations involving key diverse language and education stakeholders leading to joint agreement and policy action

• Children access learning oppor-tunities in their mother language, which makes them better pre-pared to understand classroom materials, learn additional languages, and to develop a positive sense of cultural identity

“Do no harm”: Conflict-sensitivity as a minimum requirement

In Myanmar, the education sector

agencies coordinate to ensure

equitable distribution of aid support

to both Muslim and ethnic Rakhine

communities.

In Chad, a conflict-sensitive school

construction strategy and manual

have been developed through a

consultative process with the

government, civil society partners,

and engineers.

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“Do more good”: Peacebuilding

In Côte d’Ivoire, early childhood

development (ECD) centers are

being leveraged as entry points for

women’s empowerment and social

cohesion.

In Pakistan, calligraphy lessons and

discussion sessions - focusing on

unpacking peace messages in, and

mitigating extremist interpretations of

religious texts - are rolled out in

madrassas.

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PBEA utilizes multiple methods of monitoring and measuring

peacebuilding outputs and outcomes

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M&E method Description

Monitoring of

outputs

Output monitoring of policies influenced, institutions

capacitated, beneficiaries reached, and evidence

products published

Case studies

Monitor conflict-sensitivity of programme

implementation and document processes and

emerging outcomes in selected contexts

Knowledge,

attitude,

perception (KAP)

surveys

Develop an index of social cohesion, resilience, and

human security through contextualized indicators

that gauge beneficiaries’ sense of belonging,

attitude towards diversity, trust in institutions, etc.

Developmental

evaluation (DE)

Embed a developmental evaluator in programme

teams to infuse evaluative thinking and reflective

exercises throughout the implementation

In-depth research

Bridge gaps in evidence through rigorous

quantitative and qualitative research on the

relationship between conflict and policy, teachers,

youth, education inequality, and transitional justice.

Discussion: Proposed work

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• Conduct peacebuilding and resilience focused surveys

• Create maps that merge peacebuilding data with social service delivery

Education for Peacebuilding Indicators (Draft)

Level Violent Conflict & Conflict Sensitive Education / Peacebuilding Education

System

Number of countries with education sector plan informed by conflict analysis (conflict

sensitivity and peacebuilding)

Number of countries with education sector diagnostic informed by conflict analysis (conflict

sensitivity)

Number of countries with education management information systems that collect and provide

data disaggregated data by identity groups and gender (conflict sensitivity)

School

Community

Percentage of parents/guardians who perceive education content as relevant for their children

(conflict sensitivity)

Percentage of parents/guardians who perceive school as accessible (not exclusionary) for

their children

Number of trainees demonstrating increased knowledge, attitudes and practices in peaceful

conflict mitigation and tolerance.

Percentage of schools with conflict resolution mechanism (e.g. within a parent teacher

association, student council, peace club, etc.) that address tensions, grievances, and

misunderstandings

CYP

Percentage of targeted children, reporting a positive change in their own ability to prevent,

reduce and cope with conflict and promote peace

Percentage of children and young people in school catchment area who engaged in the last

school year in a community activity that addressed tensions (drivers of conflict) in the

community

Number and percentage of UNICEF-targeted children in humanitarian situations accessing

formal or non-formal basic education programmes that have incorporated psychosocial

support (“reached”)

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Learning for Peace Website

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http://learningforpeace.unicef.org/

For more information, please contact

Friedrich W. Affolter

Senior Education Specialist / PBEA Programme Manager

Tel: +1 212 326 7433

Email: faffolter@unicef.org

United Nations Children’s Fund

3 United Nations Plaza

New York, NY 10017, USA

Tel: 212-326-7000

www.unicef.org

© United Nations Children’s Fund

November 2015

Cover photo © UNICEF/UGDA02504/Hyun