25-06-2015, INEE | Between 14-22 May 2015 the International Network on Education in Emergencies (INEE) held a global consultation to identify key challenges and potential solutions. The report is published today.
The purpose of the consultation was to ensure broad input into an issues paper on education in emergencies that identifies key challenges and potential solutions for the field of education in emergencies. The issues paper was developed by the Overseas Development Institute (ODI) in order to influence the Oslo Summit on Education for Development discussions on 6-7 July 2015.
Despite the short timeframe of the global consultation, INEE received inputs from more than 130 practitioners and policy-makers from UN agencies, international, national and local NGOs, civil society groups, academics, government representatives from ministries of education, donor agencies, and representatives from the business sector in Asia, Africa and the Middle East, Europe and the Americas.
As the report details, global consultation participants overwhelmingly voiced consensus around many of the challenges and some possible solutions related to the current emergency response architecture that require high-level political attention:lack of funding; complex aid architecture; the humanitarian/development divide, including the rationale for investing in education in emergencies; capacity and support for capacity building; coordination and collaboration; and preparedness, risk reduction, and resilience.
The majority of global consultation participants also recommended both improving the existing architecture and establishing a new platform/fund for education in emergencies that is embedded into the existing system. There was overwhelming consensus that funding for such a new platform/fund should be accessible for acute response and for the critical, and often unfunded, transition phase between emergency and development interventions. The fund should also support preparedness and prevention activities. Moreover, there was strong consensus that a platform/fund should deliver not only more funding but additional, timely, predictable, flexible, and multi-year funding. More detail for this and other recommendations can be found in the report.
The INEE Global Consultation report was shared with ODI at the beginning of June for inclusion in the issues paper and other background documents for the July 2015 Oslo Summit. It is also being shared with policymakers and practitioners who will be attending the Oslo Summit and other upcoming conferences on education, humanitarian response, and sustainable development.