Kenya hosts regional workshop on conflict-sensitive and risk-informed education planning

Education stakeholders from 15 countries met in Nairobi this morning for the first day of the regional workshop ‘Strengthening capacities for conflict-sensitive and risk-informed education planning’, organized by IIEP and UNICEF’s Eastern and Southern Africa Regional Office (ESARO).

Participants include representatives from ministries of education and UNICEF country offices in Angola, Burundi, Ethiopia, Kenya, Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi, Mozambique, Rwanda, South Africa, South Sudan, Somalia, Uganda, and Zimbabwe.

The three-day workshop aims to strengthen national capacities to plan for resilient education systems that build tolerance, promote equity and inclusion, and strengthen social cohesion.

The event will provide participants with an opportunity to:

• strengthen capacities for developing conflict-sensitive and risk-informed education sector plans;
• increase cross-country networks for strengthening education sector systems;
• develop strategies for mainstreaming conflict sensitivity and peacebuilding into education in emergencies and education responses;
• develop action plans for responding to immediate humanitarian needs.

The workshop is a follow up to a 2014 policy seminar and workshop held by UNICEF ESARO and IIEP in Kampala, Uganda, on mainstreaming conflict and disaster risk reduction in education sector plans and policies. 

Title Text: 

Group photo from the workshop in Nairobi, Kenya.

Education sectors in nearly all Eastern and Southern African countries face numerous challenges in providing quality education for all, including recurrent hazards such as droughts and floods, but also issues such as conflict, political unrest, and population displacement. Education systems can play a vital role in reducing conflict and disaster risks, particularly when such risks are addressed through education sector planning processes.

The workshop is part of a joint UNICEF ESARO and IIEP project to strengthen capacities for risk-informed and conflict-sensitive education sector planning and management in Eastern and Southern Africa.