Reaching the marginalized: EFA global monitoring report, 2010; 2010

010CHAPTER 42Education for All Global Monitoring ReportThereconstructionof educationsystems incountriesemerging fromconflict can playa vital role inunderpinningpeace, rebuildinglives and layingthe foundationsfor stability16. The countries includedare ones that experiencedarmed conflicts resultingin at least twenty-fivebattle-related deaths peryear over at least threeyears between 1999 and2007 or more than1,000 battle-relateddeaths in at least one yearduring the same period.Of these, only countriescategorized as leastdeveloped countries bythe United Nations orlow-income countries bythe World Bank in 2007were included.17. These twentycountries account for 56%of those out of school inlow-income countries.Aid to conflict-affected countriesLow-income countries affected by conflict pose someof the greatest challenges for aid partnerships.People living in these countries need help to rebuildtheir livelihoods, health and education systems. Yetfor donors, working with conflict-affected countriesis difficult and often dangerous.Analysis of the role of aid to education in conflictaffectedstates is not straightforward. There isno agreed definition or list of such states. Even ifa list could be agreed, the status of the countrieson it would vary enormously. The situation in theDarfur region of the Sudan is not the same as thatof Helmand Province in Afghanistan. Some preferthe broader term ‘fragile states’ to encompasscountries affected by conflict and those facingwider governance challenges, but this does littleto add clarity: almost all low-income countriesare fragile in some way.There is broad agreement, however, that conflicthas had devastating consequences for education inmany poor countries, affecting millions of children.Whether they are injured or traumatized bybombing in Gaza, living in camps for displacedpeople in Sri Lanka or recruited as child soldiers innorthern Uganda, children are never immune to theimpact of conflict. Neither are education systems.Warring factions often destroy schools and targetteachers, and education suffers badly when conflictleads to a collapse of governance.Childhood disrupted as a result of conflict is difficultto mend. Yet education can provide children andyouth with protection, a safe space and hope for thefuture. Similarly, the reconstruction of educationsystems in countries emerging from conflict canplay a vital role in underpinning peace, rebuildinglives and laying the foundations for stability (Aguilarand Retamal, 2009). The experience of Sierra Leonedemonstrates what is possible, while the failureto rebuild education in the Democratic Republicof the Congo demonstrates the corrosive effectof slow social reconstruction on peace processes.Most donors recognize the importance ofsupporting education in conflict-affected countries.Yet they face difficult policy dilemmas. Donors wantaid to be effective, so they focus on conditions suchas country ownership, macroeconomic stability andgood governance. Few countries emerging fromconflict are in a position to meet these conditions.In addition, maintaining access to education duringhumanitarian emergencies is enormously difficult.Such considerations help explain the highlyunequal, volatile and poorly coordinated patternof aid delivery to conflict-affected countries.Yet adequate education provision in these countrieswill not be achieved without scaling up aid.Monitoring aid to conflict-affected countriesHow do countries affected by conflict fare inattracting aid, in comparison with other countries?This Report addresses the question by focusingon twenty poor countries meeting establishedcriteria for classification as conflict-affected(Harbom and Wallensteen, 2009; Uppsala ConflictData Program, 2009). 16The diversity of the group underlines theproblems in defining conflict-affected countries.Those covered include countries such as Liberiaand Rwanda that have embarked on successfulpost-conflict recovery strategies, countries thathave faced localized conflict (Senegal and Uganda)or far broader conflict (Côte d’Ivoire), and thosesuch as Afghanistan where reconstruction istaking place amid continued instability.The impact of conflict on educational access isclear. Taken collectively, these twenty countriesaccount for about one in three children who areout of school. 17 In many cases, national data makeit difficult to establish the full consequences ofconflict. For example, there are no reliableestimates of the out-of-school population in Darfur.In other cases, national data can obscure the extentof conflict-related damage to education. WhileUganda has made strong national progress towardsuniversal primary education, several northerndistricts affected by conflict have been left behind.While aid to conflict-affected poor countries isrising from a low base, it still falls far short ofwhat is needed. For 2006–2007, just under one-fifthof overall aid to education and one-quarter of aidto basic education went to conflict-affected poorcountries (Figure 4.13). Data limitations makeit difficult to provide an accurate assessmentof the levels of aid required for education inthese countries. Indicative estimates for thisReport put the basic education financing gap inconflict-affected poor countries at approximatelyUS$7 billion or 41% of the total gap for low-incomecountries (Education Policy and Data Center andUNESCO, 2009). This is substantially more than theUS$1.2 billion of aid for basic education committedto these countries in 2006-2007.240