USAID Education and Conflict Forum

Start Date: June 27, 2011 - 8:30am – 4.30 pm
End Date: June 28, 2011 - 8.30am – 1.00 pm

Location:
American Institutes for Research
1000 Thomas Jefferson Street, NW
Washington, DC 20007-3835

The global community is grappling with the growing trend of armed conflict and its effects, e.g., the deprivation of education to 28 million children worldwide (UNESCO 2011). These children in conflict-affected contexts represent 42% of all primary school-aged children not enrolled in school (UNESCO, 2011). Strengthening the design, delivery, monitoring and evaluation of education programs in areas of conflict must be a global priority if the cycle of illiteracy, poverty and war is to end. In February 2011 the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) finalized a new global education strategy. The third goal focuses on “education in crisis and conflict-affected environments,” establishing the first explicit reference to the impact of crises on education, and of education on crises, in a USAID global strategy document. The Education and Conflict Forum funded by USAID brings together expert practitioners and academics to discuss patterns and practices of education programs in crisis and conflict-affected contexts.

This forum offers practitioners an opportunity to review existing program models and develop newer ones with metrics that are better suited to conflict and post-conflict education contexts. It will contribute to shaping USAID’s new efforts to promote education that is conflict-sensitive. It is organized around two papers:

Dana Burde, Assistant Professor, New York University, will present a paper entitled: “Education and Conflict Mitigation: What the Aid Workers Say” (Day one)

Grace Akukwe, Principal Project Specialist, American Institutes of Research, will present a paper entitled: “Frameworks and Indicators: Why They Matter Even More in Conflict and Education Programs” (Day two)

The objectives of this one and a half-day forum are:

• To discuss and give feedback on the two papers.
• To review some of the programming tensions and find common ground to improve program design, implementation and monitoring.
• To move the education and conflict agenda forward by making recommendations for future research, approaches and activities.

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Inquiries
If you have any questions about this event please contact Grace Akukwe at gakukwe@air.org. Funded by USAID and hosted by the Educational Quality Improvement Program 1 (EQUIP1).