[hr-education] Education in Darfur: A critical component of humanitarian response

We are pleased to share with you "Education in Darfur: A critical
component of humanitarian response". This advocacy brief outlines findings
on education from field visits taken by the Women's Commission for Refugee
Women and Children in 2005 and 2006, and recommends actions the
international community can take to ensure that children and young people
in Darfur have an opportunity to learn while displaced from their homes
and communities. The 8-page brief is available in English at
http://www.womenscommission.org/pdf/dfeducrit.pdf and Arabic at
http://www.womenscommission.org/pdf/dfeducrit_arabic.pdf .

For far too long, education has not been considered a priority issue in
humanitarian emergencies, and children traumatized by conflict and
displacement have missed the opportunity for the security, structure,
stability and sense of normalcy that schooling can provide. Because so
many "emergencies" are now multi-year, protracted crises, it is even more
critical to ensure that education is fully integrated into the
humanitarian response and coordinated with a longer-term development
process.

Darfur is particularly illustrative of these points. The emergency there
is almost four years old, yet the Women's Commission found that support
for quality and appropriate education for displaced children and youth in
Darfur is significantly lacking. Some of the many challenges children in
Darfur face in accessing education are: too few teachers, overcrowded
classrooms and limited or no supplies. Youth face even more difficult
barriers: secondary schools do not exist in internally displaced persons
camps and there are few opportunities for vocational training, leaving
young people with nothing to do in the camps and little hope for the
future. The situation has been further exacerbated by the recent
escalation of violence in the region, and reduced access by humanitarian
groups to displaced populations.

The findings and recommendations detailed in the attached brief are based
on meetings with representatives from the Government of Sudan, UN
agencies, international and local nongovernmental organizations and
members of the local education community. Recommendations include:
- encouraging the international community to increase funding for formal 
and non-formal education; 
- establishing more programming for youth-in collaboration with young 
people; 
- and developing creative interim measures to ensure teachers are 
compensated. 

"Education in Darfur: A critical component of humanitarian response"
highlights action required to ensure that quality, relevant education is a
right realized by all children and youth in Darfur.

For hard copies of the report in English or Arabic, please contact
Jenny Perlman Robinson at <     >.

Jenny Perlman Robinson 
Senior Coordinator, Education in Emergencies Women's Commission for
Refugee Women and Children 
122 East 42nd Street, 12th Fl 
NY, NY 10168-1289 
tel: 212.551.3140 
fax: 212.551.3180 
www.womenscommission.org 

Working to improve the lives and protect the rights of refugee and
displaced women, children and adolescents. 





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