Documentos de Académico
Documentos de Profesional
Documentos de Cultura
INSTRUCTOR
Dr. Fred Mednick
Founder, Teachers Without Borders
Professor, Vrije Universiteit Brussel
+1 206-356-4731
fred@twb.org
Course Overview
The news about large-scale emergencies is
inescapable and all-too familiar. ASAP:
This course is devoted to and is
Education in Emergencies was designed to help based upon the work of the Inter-
the public explore the complex issues of Agency Network for Education in
education in emergencies. Emergencies (INEE).
We will explore national and natural It is this instructors opinion that
disasters, as well as the space in between, and INEE represents our greatest hope
evaluate the relationship between education, for children and the capacity for
international development, and global aid. The educators to ensure their safe
future.
Inter-Agency Network for Education in
Emergencies (INEE) shall serve as our guide.
This course will cover (1) a review of basic elements surrounding the vast field of education in
emergencies (2) the work of INEE, along with examples of INEEs Toolkit in action (3) an
exploration of a case study designed by practitioners, global agencies, and stakeholders, and
(3) how the global community of development personnel, aid workers, and donors intersect
with education in emergencies.
The subject of education in emergencies is not for the faint of heart. Most likely, this course will
challenge, exasperate, anger, and raise more questions than provide answers. It is near
impossible for schools to function adequately or establish any semblance of normalcy. NGOs,
More specifically, lets say that an earthquake has just struck a seismically vulnerable country.
Thousands are crushed by their homes. In many under-resourced, densely populated
communities living atop shallow fault lines, close to 50% of the children who die in these
earthquakes perish in their schools. When is a natural disaster a truly preventable national
disaster? How have poor or unenforced building codes and policies, a lack of transparency,
wholesale neglect, misinformation, or a lack of preparedness and planning contributed to the
catastrophe? Have the tyrannies of the urgent plaguing that country made it such that disaster
risk reduction is unaffordable or a secondary priority?
On the positive side, how have countries prepared themselves and their people to address
these crises? What can we learn from them? Are their practices portable, replicable, and
sustainable?
We hope you will raise several such questions. I hope we can all agree on this: in emergencies,
children are especially vulnerable to the ravages of human trafficking, disease, and recruitment
into paramilitary gangs.
At the onset of a crisis, human necessities must be addressed ASAP, triage style: stop the
bleeding; protect, feed, clothe, and house the people; seek more aid; rinse and repeat. One may
assume that education in emergencies is less urgent. This is where the Inter-Agency Network
for Education in Emergencies (INEE) comes in.
About the Inter-Agency Network for Education in Emergencies
INEE has pioneered the notion that education is a basic necessity and cannot wait, and that
education is an indispensable and parallel component of relief. Even more, INEE stresses the
importance of prevention and planning, as well as coordinating and connecting those working
in response, recovery, and reconstruction.
INEE gathers and supports global stakeholders to build and maintain Minimum Standards for
Education in Emergencies. Thanks to INEE, educators are now part of first-responder teams.
Education clusters coordinate activities, assess needs, accelerate normalcy, and make it
possible for emergency work to continue. INEE has made it clear that education is the currency
that drives communities and simply cannot be separated, sheltered, or subsumed during an
emergency. In short, INEE is an extraordinary example of collaboration.
Collaboration is essential in this course as well. We shall emphasize learning from and with
ones new online colleagues and with organizations working in the field.
Finally, I cannot stress this enough: this course is an introduction to the field of education in
emergencies, not a comprehensive training program. It is impossible to do justice to these issues in
a single course. All emergencies do not look, feel, or act alike, requiring a complex interplay of
culture, history, power, language, local assets, global resources, obstacles, and opportunities.
Participation
Participation and discussions are included in student grading and evaluation. The instructor
will clearly communicate expectations and grading policy in the course syllabus. Students who
are unable to participate in the online sessions for personal, professional, religious, or other
reasons are encouraged to contact me to discuss alternatives.
1Louis D. Brandeis, cited on the Louis D. Brandeis School of Law, University of Louisville website, in
Other Peoples Money Chapter V: http://bit.ly/9vfrYh
MODULES
Getting Organized | Getting Acquainted
Session 1
Please fill out the survey
Central Questions2
1. How would you define the field of education in emergencies?
2
These questions are derived from Teachers Without Borders experience in the field and from the
excellent syllabi posted on the Inter-Agency Network for Education in Emergencies websites Academic
Space.
Readings
Multiple Faces of Education in Conflict-Affected and Fragile Contexts: Inter-Agency
Network for Education in Emergencies (INEE) Working Group on Education and
Fragility
Education Under Attack: UNESCO
Schools as Battlegrounds: Human Rights Watch
Session 2
Overview
The Inter-Agency Network for Education in Emergencies (INEE) is a global network of
individual and organizational members (as of June 2006) who are working together within a
humanitarian and development framework to ensure the right to education in emergencies
and post-crisis reconstruction. INEE works to improve communication and coordination by
Objectives
To explore issues faced by those working in the Education in Emergencies field
To recognize and articulate the structure of INEE and apply principles to case studies
and further activities/exercises
To enable students to demonstrate how educational systems prepare for and react to
various sorts of emergencies, from the general sense that educational systems
themselves are in crisis to natural disasters such as earthquakes to manmade disasters
such as wars
Readings
Education and Emergencies: Humanitarian Coalition
INEE: Minimum Standards: Preparedness, Response, Recovery: INEE
Protecting Education: media clips
Education Strategy 2012-2016 and UNHCR Where We Work: United Nations High
Commissioner for Refugees
The Sphere Project: The Humanitarian Charter
Learning is Their Future: Darfuri Refugees in Eastern Chad: INEE and Sphere Project
(to serve as a model for the assignment)
It is impossible to digest these hefty readings in such a short time. The intention here is to give
you a sense of the enormity of the subjects faced by researchers, networks, and practitioners
working on education in emergencies. As we continue with the course, I am certain you will
return to these documents and to consult the networks and resources to which they refer.
3 Frequently Asked Questions about INEE and the INEE Minimum Standards | http://bit.ly/1bfYKkK
Discussion
Share your feedback (last item on the Activity list) with your colleagues by posting it as a
discussion topic.
Session 3
This section is to be replaced with a 2017 version on the Syrian refugee crisis
Overview
We began this course by diving right in and looking at the gravity of education in emergencies.
Id like to pull back the lens even further in order to evaluate how the field fits into the overall
global development agenda and to identify areas of study, particularly now that the post
Millennium Development Goal era quickly approaches. All of this is intended to deepen ones
understanding of the connections, best practices, and gaps in the space between development
and global aid, with a particular emphasis on how INEE seeks to bridge the gap.
The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) were conceived at the Millennium Summit in
September 2000 after world leaders in history adopted the UN Millennium Declaration
outlining a set of 8 goals, with particular targets for 2015. These 8 MDGs address issues of
poverty, hunger, disease, lack of adequate shelter, and exclusion-while promoting gender
equality, education, and environmental sustainability. They are also basic human rights-the
4Special appreciation and acknowledgments are in order for Ariana Sloat, Deputy Coordinator for
Minimum Standards and Network Tools: arianna@ineesite.org
Discussion Post
Whether you are unfamiliar with the MDGs, a well-seasoned practitioner in the trenches, a head
of an NGO, or a donor, what would you do to affect one of the MDGs in an area of education in
emergencies? Why? How? Would you work in the policy area for maternal-child health?
Associate yourself with a particular NGO in a region you know about or you know is suffering?
Although it may be hard to contain yourself, do not focus on what has been done poorly by
others, but what you can see yourself doing.
NOTE: Well form working groups to connect a particular MDG with a particular
emergency and a toolkit used in the field
Overview
A high-ranking United Nations section leader once gave me a working definition of a teacher:
From my experience in the field, a teacher is anyone with valuable information to share. It is
interesting to note that, whether you are a student envisioning your future, a seasoned
professional, or a donor, youre an educator. Even more, relief agencies have made the mistake of
not conducting an assessment of community assets, alongside of their characteristic deficit
assessments. Should that be standard practice (again, part of INEE protocols), services not only
can be enhanced, but also sustained. Doctors and community health workers can be refugees, too,
with many of the same intellectual resources and more credibility than those flown in.
This session is designed to introduce you to well-crafted handbooks developed by INEE and
partners, in very close communication with community leaders.
It is now time to start drawing threads together: your passion, the MDGs, and now the INEE
Toolkit, by choosing a thematic area you would like to discuss further, in groups. Focus on the
INEE Toolkit Thematic Issues. Keep in mind your passion for a particular issue the earlier
readings (INEE, Education Under Attack, the Millennium Development Goals), and our class
discussions. All of this will lead to joining ONE MDG group, discussing your views there, and
preparing a project presentation that will connect MDGs and INEE Toolkit Thematic Areas.
Think of it this way: One Column is an MDG; another column is an INEE Thematic Theme.
Your job is to draw vital connections between them.
Required Readings
INEE Toolkit Key Thematic Issues/Resource Packs (required: centerpiece for what follows)
INEE Standards Integrated Toolkit: Integrated Humanitarian Response (support document)
Millennium Development Goals (website)
Recommended Readings
Education in Emergencies: Toolkit - Prevention Web (worth scanning)
Disaster Risk Reduction: UNICEF South Asia (for your reference)
Millennium Development Goals (individual pages)
Eradicating extreme poverty and hunger
Achieving universal primary education
Conflic
Disaster Early
t Gende HIV- Human Inclusive Protectio Psychosocia
MDGs INEE Toolkit Mitigat
Risk Childhoo
r AIDS Rights Education n l Support
Youth
Reduction d
ion
Lets say that you have chosen MDG 3: Gender Equality, Empowerment. Now you have a group devoted to the issue. Next, your group debates the
various INEE Toolkits and decides to focus on Human Rights. Next, someone suggests places to go for research. Another person learns that there is
an extraordinary NGO, Potohar Organization for Development Advocacy (PODA), in Rawalpindi, Pakistan that focuses on gender equality and
empowerment through training in education and human rights. They have been working on this issue for quite some time, and have become
increasingly vocal about Pakistans status on scales measuring progress toward the MDGs. Youd clearly place them on the development, versus aid
and relief side. They educate girls, gain support from men for womens empowerment, teach crafts, and every room displays a poster of the UN
Declaration of Human Rights. Lately, however, they have stepped up their efforts to identify the issue as an emergency, especially in light of the
news about how a girl, Malala Yousafzai, was shot for promoting education for girls. The head of that organization, Sameena Nazir, is available for a
Skype or email interview. Others choose to interview field workers at international agencies or NGOs. At this point, youre in great shape: Youve
chosen an MDG, an INEE Thematic Area, and a region where an ongoing emergency is taking place. Next, interviews.
STEP 5: Create a Group 2-page Briefing Report. The audience for such a report is a
high-ranking UN official. Add a list of references (websites), substantiating your claims, to
the 1.5-page Briefing Report.
Heres what you need to do:
Title Page: Include the name of the MDG and a descriptive subtitle, such as
Advancing MDG 3: Gender Equality and Empowerment Employing the INEE
Toolkit in Pakistan. List each team member, along with a few words about each
persons contribution. Youll see how the online public presentation (coming up)
will reflect these categories.
One Page: Describe the nature of the emergency as objectively as possible.
Establish your credibility with the facts. If news reports conflict, note that. Though
it will be hard to do, avoid making recommendations. Just make your case for the
emergency itself.
Second Page: Hardly comprehensive, make a concise case for taking one specific
action, such as launching an official United Nations public campaign; initiating a
resolution or policy discussion. This is where your earlier research on MDGs and
actors in the emergency youve chosen can be distilled and made available to
NOTE: Depending upon the size and vitality of the groups, this is where well
decide whether to create new groups (for discussions) or reconvene for
discussions with all colleagues taking this course
Overview
Thanks to INEE and its network, there are excellent and actionable models for assessment:
technical briefs; disaster-specific summary sheets, checklists, and best practices; quick
impact analyses; instructions for determining needs for child-friendly spaces; qualitative
and quantitative research techniques; mobile phone data-gathering applications; how-to
videos; joint and coordinated assessment matrices; and much more. Between INEEs
Monitoring and Evaluation manuals and those of The Assessment Capabilities Project
(ACAPS), youll have all the invaluable resources one would need.
One of the best ways to understand these assessment resources is to dive into a fictional,
yet realistic, case study. Momaland: Education Following an Emergency was developed by
Reading
Momaland: Slides
Education in Emergencies Training: Facilitators Guide (INEE, UNICEF, Save the
Children). Pay close attention to Session 6.
Overview
Girl Rising, a new film highlighting the extraordinary stories of 9 girls and 9 issues they face,
worldwide, has drawn much-needed attention to the subject of girls education. Films like
Girl Rising and the Internet put the world of images, data, and compelling news in our
This is a small fraction of the links to organizations, networks, documents, news, and
resources. Please join INEE and search their website for a far more complete list
Short Videos
TWBs Solmaz Mohadjer, Director of Teachers Without Borders Emergency
Education program on the power of earthquake science education to save lives
Defeating Earthquakes. Ross Stein, PhD geologist with the United States
Geological Survey (and TWB partner): TEDx talk about earthquake science and
safety