Peace matters for girls’ education

I remember hearing the tragic news.? I had to go and break it to a room full of senior colleagues.? I cried like a baby.?

We’d a couple of big grant-funded education projects in a beautiful country that had been war-torn for decades.? A group of folk associated with the grant recipient had been travelling up country to work alongside the front line project workers.? They were following all the security protocols, but their convoy got hijacked and one of them, tragically, was shot dead.? It was devastating.? The organisation they worked for was brilliant, and responded with professionalism, sensitivity and integrity.? We, and others in the grant funding ecosystem, did what we could to support.? Everyone felt the pain and loss.? And then - wait for it - the organisation doubled down on delivering its girls’ education programmes. It was humbling for many of us who were a fair few steps away from the front line.? The tragedy put additional fire in the grantee’s belly, and created an even stronger rationale for them to deliver for local girls.

The project was one of 45 Girls’ Education Challenge (GEC) projects across 17 countries that had received grant funding from the UK Government since 2012.? PwC, for whom I worked at the time, supported the Government with a range of grants services including project and financial and management, payments, and fraud and risk assessment.? The GEC operated in many countries that were riddled with war and conflict.?? And in such contexts the sad reality is that girls' education generally suffers more than boys'.? A recent study has shown that a girl of primary school age living in a crisis-affected country, is 35% more likely to be out of school than her male contemporaries.[1]??

So that’s the problem.? Fine!? But what about the solution?? How can education possibly be delivered effectively in the midst of crisis and conflict?? The evidence shows clearly that educators, aid workers and other stakeholders need to think and act differently, be razor focused on the kids, and stay extremely nimble on their feet.? For example, the GEC has recently reviewed the evidence about ‘what works’ in crisis and conflict.? Their? Learning Brief “Effective education for girls in emergencies and protracted crises” found that educators need to focus on three key things:

• Supplement mainstream services with informal, community-based initiatives.? Conflict and crisis disrupt.? And disruption means that formal education systems on their own can’t be relied on to deliver for pupils, and girls in particular.? For example, the GEC found that in fragile parts of Afghanistan, DR Congo and Somalia informal, community-based initiatives played a very positive role working alongside and within formal systems, e.g. through the provision of accelerated / catch-up learning for girls, remedial services for pupils with particular difficulties, and teacher training ‘top ups’.? In terms of delivery on the ground this requires educators and aid workers to ‘get over themselves’, collaborate better, and do whatever it takes to maintain front line services.
• Engage parents and communities about educating girls.? Traditional stereotypes about which children deserve to be in the classroom - “gendered social norms” as the technicians say - are always present and typically stubborn to shift.? Even in shattering crisis situations, there are often significant groups who don’t naturally support or prioritise girls’ education.? GEC evidence from multiple settings has shown that sensitive and targeted work with parents, community leaders and religious leaders can change perceptions and lay more solid foundations for girls’ education.? The need for this work doesn’t go away in a crisis - it becomes even more important.
• Build girls’ resilience, safety and mental health.? Conflict often exacerbates girls’ physical, mental and social vulnerability.? This means that in conflict situations, educators and aid workers need to double down on measures that build resilience, safety and mental health.? Many such measures will be targeted specifically at girls.? But, linked to the previous point, the GEC evidence also shows that it’s nearly as important to target such measures on other groups including parents, teachers and community / religious leaders.

I was a child of the Northern Ireland ‘Troubles’, the ‘ethno-nationalist’ conflict that lasted for around 30 years from the late 1960s until the signing of the Good Friday Agreement in 1998. Although the Troubles were small-scale compared to what’s going on in the world currently, they regularly disrupted education for kids like me.[2]?? So in a much more modest and local way I’ve seen first hand the disruptive effect that conflict has on education. [3]? The global evidence is consistent with this.? And that evidence shows that we need a laser focus on girls’ education in particular.?

Conflict messes with education.? Girls suffer most.? Peace matters for girls’ education!

• The author, David Armstrong, is currently self employed and writing in a personal capacity.

[1] Mind the Gap Report and Policy Paper Series, Inter-agency Network for Education in Emergencies see here.? And this is consistent with a evidence presented recently by the World Bank - Girls' education in conflict is most at risk: here's how to reach them

[2]? I’ve written separately about the Northern Ireland experience, for example in my recent blog published by the Global Partnership for Education. One of the arguments here is that the education-peace equation goes in both directions; yes, as outlined above, the absence of peace disrupts education. But education can also lay the foundations for peaceful and prosperous societies. And it's also worth noting that in Northern Ireland, the positive role of women, particularly through the Women's Coalition, has been pretty well documented; see, for example, "Women's Work: the Story of the Northern Ireland Women's Coalition", Fearon, K., Blacksaff Press.