Education in Complex Emergencies: A Case Study of the IRC Guinea Education Program
Jones, Deborah
2006
- Submitted in partial fulfillment of the degree Master of Arts in Law and Diplomacy at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy. Abstract: Civil wars in Liberia and Sierra Leone sent tens of thousands of people across the border to safety in Guinea. The newly arrived refugees started schools on an ad hoc basis to protect their children. Intervention by the International Rescue Committee, an agency ... read morethat has traditionally specialized in humanitarian relief, took on the mandate to organize the refugee schools into one system and to implement programs as part of the relief effort. The lives of the refugees were changed because the IRC sponsored education programs gave an entire generation of children, and tens of thousands of adults, access to a formal education, to non-formal programs and vocational training they otherwise would not have had. The programs made a difference because: Tens of thousands of children ages 5-17 were given the opportunity to attend formal school programs equal to the formal programs in their home countries. Non-formal education programs were relevant to the lives of the refugees. In many cases, it was the first time these beneficiaries had ever been exposed to the information they received regardless of the setting. Knowledge and skills gained by the children and adults have been verified via documents that certify learning, training or skills. Because the countries of origin recognize the documents, the refugees can continue schooling or access employment upon repatriation. The statistics, revealed for the first time, are dramatic. For example, the first IRC sponsored school year came to a close in July 1991. Data show reveal that 9 percent of the population of refugee students would could have attended school actually did attend IRC sponsored schools. A decade and a half later, when the school year came to a close in 2005, the percentage of the population of refugee students would could have attended school increased to 61 percent. This thesis is an analysis of how and why that change occured.read less
- ID:
- 76537c60h
- Component ID:
- tufts:UA015.012.DO.00120
- To Cite:
- TARC Citation Guide EndNote
- Usage:
- Detailed Rights
