A Global Compact on Learning - Brookings Institution

and post-conflict countries, the Norwegian Refugee
Committee’s Youth Education Pack provides out-ofschool
youth with a comprehensive package of basic
academic, life, and market-driven vocational skills,
with a focus on young mothers (see box 4.4).
Box 4.4. Providing Out-of-School Youth with a
Comprehensive Skills Package
Burundi has seen years of conflict internally
and throughout Central and Eastern Africa,
resulting in large numbers of refugees and
young adults who have been severely affected
by war. With 30,000 Congolese refugees living
in Burundi, 17,000 Burundian refugees in
the Democratic Republic of Congo, more than
300,000 Burundian refugees in Tanzania, and
hundreds of thousands of internally displaced
persons throughout the region, many adolescents
have had limited or no schooling due to
displacement. The Norwegian Refugee Council
established a Youth Education Pack to address
the learning needs of fourteen- to eighteenyear-olds
through a holistic one-year training
program that focuses equally on literacy and
numeracy, life skills, and vocational skills. The
program specifically targets young single mothers,
youth heads of households, and those with
the lowest levels of education. Vocational skills
training included carpentry, welding, and baking.
A comprehensive evaluation of former
trainees showed that they were able to satisfy
their basic food, clothing, and shelter needs and
that young women were significantly less likely
to turn to prostitution. Many voiced future professional
aspirations.
Source: Norwegian Refugee Council, “Evaluation Report,” June 2008.
In any second-chance program, the reasons why
young people dropped out must be taken into account,
and gender differences and corresponding
learning needs should be included in the design and
implementation. There should also be clear pathways
back to school or work, which requires that graduates
receive recognized qualifications upon completing
a program. A national system to validate learning
should be developed, such as a national qualifications
framework in education and vocational training that
focuses on learning outcomes. 193 A greater number
of learning options, however, will require enhanced
coordination, regulation, and quality control. Governments,
while promoting diversity in learning opportunities,
must also play a stronger coordination
role between the various ministries and actors responsible
for the delivery of post-primary education.
Although many of the above-mentioned practices
have shown to be promising, there is an urgent need
for more rigorous evaluations of non-formal, alternative
education programs.
The fifth needed action is to provide flexible post-primary
models utilizing innovative modes of delivery,
including technology innovations, where appropriate.
Education should be flexible in delivery to allow for
young people’s work and domestic responsibilities,
which for girls increases with age. Schooling times,
for example, might be adjusted during peak harvest
periods or when local economic activity is highest
to allow children to both work and go to school.
Evening classes and shift systems might also be introduced,
where schools are used for longer days to
allow more children to attend at different times. 194
Originating in Colombia, FUNDAEC (The Foundation
for the Application and Teaching of the Sciences)
has spent over 35 years implementing innovative
education programs that integrate a secondary school
curriculum into the reality and needs of rural life and
livelihoods. 195 Graduates have knowledge of both traditional
rural vocational skills, like agriculture and
animal husbandry, and skills that link to a globalizing
world, such as creating a microenterprise. Rural
youth who might have migrated to urban centers to
find work are able to stay within their community to
set up small businesses or run vital public services for
the community. 196 Success of the program is evident
in the tens of thousands of students enrolled in Colombia
and the expansion and the expansion to seven
other countries, including Kimanya-Ngeyo’s Preparation
for Social Action program in Uganda.
The use of information and communication technology—such
as electronic learning (e-learning),
mobile-learning (m-learning), or open and distance
learning—can be another approach to reach
young people who are unable to attend face-to-face
A <strong>Global</strong> Compa c t on Learning: Taking Action on Educat i o n in Developing Countries
C e n t e r for Universal Educat i o n at Brookings
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