Finland is now in a position to lead on continued support to education for displaced children to ensure a more peaceful world. Finland is also in a unique position to more actively connect education in emergencies with vocational education – the two must go together if we are to break the vicious circle of displacement and disparity.
Each year in November, the World gets its school report card. This year is no exception.
The 400 page long Global Education Monitoring Report (GEM) from UNESCO in Paris has collected data and analysis on where each country is on its way to meeting the Sustainable Development Goal number 4 (SDG4) on education and development.
Although the world overall gets better and more coordinated at meeting the many challenges, the report also reveals how far we still are behind the goals, and the amount of work needed over the next decade to be where we want to be in 2030.
The report looks at all countries, analysing their data on school systems and education financing. It focuses both on the countries that provide aid assistance to education and those receiving it.
Finland has the means and the technical know-how to do so, and this would not only help ensure the right to quality education. It would also contribute to a much more stable world in an age of mass displacement and in a reality where the gap in transition to secondary education is especially large for refugee children and where few have the right skills to enter the labour market and therefore break out of a vicious circle of displacement and disparity.
Refugees and displaced children are the key to meeting SDG4
Because displacement is the great issue: Each year, the GEM report has a specific theme. This year it is on an urgent and globally rising challenge: Migration, displacement and education – Building bridges, not walls.
The report sets out the challenges with this large and growing population, and maps trends and debates on how progress is made, providing the international community with recommendations.
This is especially important for Finn Church Aid (FCA), because we work in some of the most difficult country contexts, where refugees and displaced persons are a major part of the population we try to assist.
Uganda has one of the world’s largest refugee populations as well as one of the most progressive policies on rights for displaced persons. Myanmar on the other hand has forced more than 700 000 people across the border into Bangladesh, a country which is understandably weary of integrating such a large new population into already fragile national systems. In Somalia and Eritrea a lot of people are either internally displaced or they left their home country after years of unrest or challenging political situation.
FCA works with education in all of these countries. Today’s crises are long and protracted, resulting in extensive periods of displacement and disruption. Because of this and a range of policy and financial barriers that may prevent refugees from accessing national education systems, displaced populations are five times less likely to attend school than other children and youth.
UNHCR estimates that only 61% of refugees attend primary school, compared to 91% at the global level. Only 22% refugee adolescents receive a secondary education, compared to 84% around the world.[1]
The new GEM report goes on to make the all-important link between ensuring the right to education for displaced populations and achieving the wider SDG4 goal for development.
Integration into national education systems
A major recommendation is for the inclusion of refugee children into national systems of the host countries – of which most are in the Global South, such as countries like Uganda and Bangladesh.
This is the best and most sustainable way forward to ensure quality education and avoid creating large parallel societies or refugee camps, in which people are caught for years and years with neither hope of going home nor integrating into the host countries.
Without integration and hope, there is a very real danger that war and instability continue and spread. Unfortunately, there is still a lack of political will for addressing this issue.
Only a little more than half of the 25 refugee host countries, who according to UNHCR have the biggest populations and needs, actually allow refugees to integrate into national systems.
One country that is on the forefront is Uganda, which for instance allows refugees from Chad, DRC and South Sudan the freedom of movement and gives them a piece of land, among other things.
This is in part due to a far-sighted regional collaboration of seven East African countries that have come together on a commitment to inclusion in education, as expressed in the Djibouti Declaration.
However, what is needed in Uganda, and in the many other countries that draw up impressive policies, is a greater support from the international community, better accountability and improved monitoring systems to prove that the good intentions are actually translated into action rather than just staying at a policy level.
Finland and its EU partners can help support and encourage the host countries to do so through collective and coordinated political and financial action, as well as through technical support on key issues like the important connection between education, youth and the labour market in the host countries.
By Peter Hyll-Larsen
INEE Advocacy coordinator, seconded by FCA
[1] https://www.unhcr.org/5b852f8e4.pdf
From 2017 to 2018, Finn Church Aid (FCA) offered tailor-made vocational and entrepreneurship training ro refugees, persons with disability, and Jordanians in the most vulnerable positions. A total of 424 refugees and Jordanians completed the vocational training and 49 businesses were started in the project that ended in September.
Out of the graduates from the vocational training, 84 have found employment, and 116 have received additional training as well as tools and equipment to start their own business. More than half of the graduates are women.
Jordan has an unemployment rate of over 18 percent, and the number is much higher still for women (80%) and young people (90%). A country with a population of 9.5 million, Jordan has reveiced the second highest number of refugees relative to population after Lebanon, over a million. Syrian refugees are only allowed to work in certain branches with a shortage of labour.
Before the training started, a marketing survey was conducted to find out which branches had the need for labour and which skills employers valued. Occupational groups in demand included carpenters, electricians, mobile phone repairers, construction assistants, hotel and restaurant workers, and tailors.
To support and encourage women to participate in the vocational training, FCA offered child care services near the training locations in cooperation with the Finnish aid organisation Fida.
”The work of Finn Church Aid is rights-based, meaning that the leading principles throughout the project have been equality, non-discrimination and responsibility. It has been encouraging to work with women and persons with disability in this project,” says Ashraf Yacoub, Finn Church Aid regional director in the Middle East.
Finnish entrepreneurship training encouraged to start businesses
In addition to vocational training, FCA cooperated with Mercuria Business College to organise compact entrepreneurship courses including a training period, mentoring and a small start-up grant.
After the entrepreneurship training, unemployed Jordanian engineer Ibrahim Milhem has started a hydroponic plantation producing vegetables and flowers on his brother’s rooftop. The hydroponic plantation saves about 80 percent water compared to regular growing by circulating water with the help of a pump in the tubes in which the plants have been planted. Water is in short supply in Jordan, and it is expensive. Photo: Tatu Blomqvist.
55 people participated in the courses. They have already started a total of 49 businesses, some of which already employ others as well. Over half of those who have started businesses are women and ten percent are persons with disability.
Jordanian friends Asma’a and Hussam took part in the entrepreneurship training and are starting a flower shop in their neighbourhood. Both are deaf.
”We are developing an application that works through a flat-screen television and allows us to communicate with our customers, because there are very few sign language interpreters in Jordan,” says Asma’a.
Legislation limits refugees’ entrepreneurship
Refugees and Jordanians attending the course have started joint business ventures.
”It’s good to build a business with a Jordanian partner. Unfortunately, there is no law or official document to corroborate my right to own a business. I’m constantly worried of losing my business”, says one of the Syrian entrepreneurs in the project.
Based on the experiences from the project, Finn Church Aid is cooperating with other international non-governmental organisations to advocate for a clear legal framework for joint business ventures in Jordan. This would allow Syrians to work as entrepreneurs with Jordanians as equal partners and to benefit the Jordanian economy.
Syrian widow Wazirah emphasises the importance of developing legal channels to register businesses. The training gave her confidence, knowlege and skills, and she can now provide for her family and give her son an education.
”This project was a step out of my comfort zone, I feel stronger now,” says Wazirah.
See full press release here.
The project was funded by the European Regional Development and Protection Programme for the Middle East (RDPP), supported by the European Union, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Ireland, the Netherlands, Norway, Switzerland and the United Kingdom.
Humanitarian funding has an increased emphasis on education, but resources do not yet meet the needs. As world leaders gathered in New York for the 73rd UN General Assembly, FCA’s representatives highlight that Finland can gain from its educational expertise.
With one in four of the world’s 1.8 billion youth affected by violent conflict, the need for education for refugees and internally displaced people is dire. The importance of refugee education was highlighted in many sessions of the UN General Assembly this week.
“This year, the topic was not only discussed in sessions related to refugees and education, but also at other important events. The focus was however mainly on children’s education. We cannot afford to forget about the youth, says Katri Suomi, Head of Advocacy and Ecumenical Relations at FCA.
A new global study ‘Missing Peace – Independent Progress Study on Youth Peace and Security’ was published at the UN General Assembly, highlighting what role young people play or should play in peace and security. Currently, 90 percent of direct conflict deaths are young men.
The report highlights that “policy panic”, driven by stereotypes of youth as prone to violence, is counter-productive. There is for example simply no correlation between bulging youth populations and violence.
Education may on the other hand become an enabling factor for an increased political participation of young people. The report outlines three effective ways to activate the youth peace dividend: invest in youth, include youth and collaborate with youth.
Earlier this week, the UN also launched its’ Youth Strategy to ensure that every young person is empowered to achieve their full potential, get their voices heard and advocate for positive change.
Finland should prioritise education in development policy and funding
The emphasis on education has grown within humanitarian funding, but the funds do not meet the needs. Countries, such as Denmark, Norway and Canada, as well as the EU and the World Bank are now investing in refugee education. The UN General Assembly demanded that also leaders of developing countries increase their national budgets for education.
FCA’s Executive Director Jouni Hemberg says that Finland now has the opportunity to raise its profile with its educational expertise. Finland has so far been absent for example at the Global Partnership for Education fund.
The report ‘Stepping Up Finland’s Global Role in Education’, ordered by the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland, states that the Finnish expertise in the education sector should be prioritised more in the country’s development cooperation policy and funding.
“Finland has so much to give to refugee education and the education sector of the developing countries in general,” says Hemberg.
FCA ready to start post-war reconstruction in South Sudan
In South Sudan three out of four children are out-of-school. The country’s security situation remains extremely poor after conflict parties reconfirmed the peace treaty on September 12.
International donors expressed their strong support to the civil society organisation’s working in the country, and criticized the taxes and fees that the South Sudanese government charges from aid organisations.
There are also severe challenges in accessing areas in need of humanitarian assistance. During the rainy season, around 60 percent of the country is inaccessible due to bad roads and flooding. In addition, one must negotiate with several armed groups to gain access. So far this year, 13 humanitarian workers have been killed and 70 have been detained.
Internally displaced people and refugees from Uganda and other countries hosting South Sudanese refugees have begun the long process of returning home. The war has ruined infrastructure, schools and food production, and everything needs to be built from scratch.
FCA has stayed in the country throughout the crisis, and its employees are now in well positioned to begin assisting in the reconstruction efforts.
“We have already started a vocational training programme together with the Norwegian Refugee Council. In addition, we deliver food aid, build schools and support the peace work of the South Sudanese Council of Churches”, says Hemberg.
New partnerships to step up development
Participants of the UN General Assembly called for investments in African businesses in the session ‘Africa: Open for Business’. What Africa needs to do is invest in the infrastructure and the regulations, for example visa policies, the session concluded.
Africa is on the rise, but not without investing in education. The American economist Jeffrey Sachs emphasised the importance of education to the development of the African private sector: Quality education is a vital condition for businesses.
FCA Investments, a new financing company founded by Finn Church Aid, is investing in small and medium sized enterprises in developing countries. In its initial phase, it invests in Uganda among others.
“FCA has many years of experience from development cooperation in the most fragile states in the world, and we believe that we can lift people from poverty through vocational training and granting loans to small and medium sized businesses”, Hemberg states.
At this year’s UN General Assembly, partnerships between governments, the private sector and civil society organisations, including faith-based actors, as well as a search for new ways of working were prominent, Suomi adds.
“Many enterprises, such as Google, Amazon and Microsoft were visibly present, and for example artificial intelligence was discussed in many occasions.”
Finnish expertise and leadership well represented
Faith-based actors have an increasingly significant role within the UN. The Faith-Based Advisory Council to the UN Task Force on Religion and Sustainable Development organised its first meeting in connection with the General Assembly on Friday September 21. Tarja Kantola, Chair of FCA’s Board of Directors, is co-chair of the Advisory Council.
Faith-based actors have a lot to offer to the UN system, and the cooperation benefits both, says Suomi. Churches and mosques are present in almost every community, even in the most remote places.
“Partnerships with them can provide access, help spread information, and do advocacy work. Religion can also be a big resource in difficult circumstances and crisis situations”, she states.
The Network for Religious and Traditional Peacemakers also organised a side event called ‘Demystifying the narrative of the so-called Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant’, together with the UN Office on Genocide Prevention. The event discussed gender issues concerning ISIL.
ISIL strategically projected women’s empowerment to persuade them to travel to ISIL held territories while subjigating them once they arrived through sexual slavery, their physical appearance and limited social interactions. Additionally, the enslavement of women, often as sex slaves, was used as a recruitment tool for ISIL fighters.
“In my interactions with survivors, I heard loudly and clearly from women and girls who escaped ISIL captivity, the desire that ISIL perpetrators be held accountable not only for terrorism, but the sexual atrocities they committed,” stated Pramila Patten, Special Representative to the UN Secretary General.
Other pressing topics discussed were climate change, girls and women’s rights, tuberculosis, the status of International Humanitarian Law, the UN reform and the situation in Syria.
“I was pleased to see that Finland had a broad representation at the assembly. President Niinistö and several ministers were present. A huge part of Finland’s international weight relates to development policy”, Suomi says.
Text: Minna Elo
Photo: Hugh Rutherford
Four major international NGOs launch an innovative and ambitious new education project, aiming to get thousands of out-of-school refugees and Ugandan children back into education.
The INCLUDE project will use accelerated education methods to teach children who have missed out on years of school. It provides interactive computer games to promote learning, helps children who have fled war to cope with the stress of their experiences, and engages communities to identify their own priorities for improvement.
The project is developed by the new Education Consortium, which is led by Save the Children alongside Finn Church Aid, Norwegian Refugee Council and War Child Holland thanks to a €3 million humanitarian grant from the European Union.
Uganda hosts the largest number of refugees in Africa and one of the largest numbers worldwide. More refugees continue to arrive every day and more than 60% are reported to be children.
More than 350,000 refugee children (57% of the total number) are now out of school.
The Government of Uganda and local communities have shown tremendous hospitality in opening their doors to refugees who have fled horrific violence and suffering, but the influx has put severe strain on local resources. Schools which were already overcrowded and short of teachers and basic resources are now under increasing pressure.
At least 171,000 children in local host communities (34% of the total) are also out of school.
The INCLUDE project will start work in West Nile, with children aged 10–18. Many have had to drop out of school because they can’t afford to attend, or because they have been separated from their families, have to work to support their relatives or have themselves become child mothers.
European Commissioner for Humanitarian Aid and Crisis Management Christos Stylianides says:
“Education is not a luxury, it is a basic right that gives children the tools, support, protection and hope for a better future for them and their community. Each child has a right to learn, whatever the circumstances. Preventing lost generations is our collective duty.”
“The EU is a leading voice in education in emergencies. Since 2015, we have consistently increased our humanitarian funding for education in emergencies, and next year we aim to increase it by a further 2%, reaching a 10% allocation of the overall aid budget in 2019. This allocation will be 10 times more than the allocated budget in 2015.”
Lisa Parrott, Acting Country Director for Save the Children in Uganda says:
“With hundreds of thousands of children out of school, the scale of the education crisis requires new approaches and new ways of working. By joining together and using innovative new ways of teaching and learning, we can achieve so much more.”
“Education is vital to give these children the chance of a better future. Refugee children can make a valuable contribution to Ugandan society and to building a prosperous and peaceful South Sudan, but they need to be given the chance to fulfil their potential. Host communities have generously welcomed refugees, and it’s essential that they receive a decent education as well.”
The INCLUDE project makes use of technology and innovation to implement four different components:
- Accelerated Education, which uses a specially designed and condensed version of the Ugandan curriculum to speed up learning for children and youth who have missed out on years of school. By covering two to three grades of primary education in one year, and using teaching methods appropriate for different age groups, the programme helps children transition back into the formal schooling system.
- Can’t Wait to Learn is an innovative technology-based solution for quality education, especially tailored for children affected by conflict. It provides classrooms with tablets loaded with interactive games that help teach literacy and numeracy. The games make learning fun, engaging and more effective.
- Team Up is a series of recreational activities that are designed to reduce the stress that refugee children experience as a result of war, their difficult journeys to safety and life in a new country. Many of these children have seen horrific violence, which could scar them for years to come. Team Up activities strengthen the cognitive, physical, emotional and social development of children through sports, games and body movement.
- ILET (Improving Learning Environments Together) encourages communities to participate in improving the quality of education, through a series of assessments that are designed for humanitarian contexts and empower teachers, parents and learners to set their own priorities for school improvement.
By working closely together and combining technical expertise, the Education Consortium will be able to have a bigger impact for out of school children and provide greater value for money.
For more information, contact:
Rachael Corbishley, Education Consortium Manager, rachael.corbishley@savethechildren.org
Alun McDonald, Head of Advocacy and Communications, Save the Children alun.mcdonald@savethechildren.org
Learn more about Finn Church Aid’s work in Uganda by clicking here.
With EU humanitarian funds amounting to €700 000, FCA will rehabilitate schools, provide school supplies and train teachers in Baidoa, a hub for internally displaced people in Somalia.
This ‘education in emergencies’ intervention will address the lack of education for children of displaced families, but also of vulnerable host communities in Baidoa. Some 250 kilometres west of the capital Mogadishu, Baidoa has around 190 000 inhabitants and is a major hub for internally displaced people in Somalia’s Bay region.
Combined effects of droughts and other ongoing crises have damaged Baidoa’s economy. Not only are people’s livelihoods opportunities limited, a large number of children do not have access to quality education. There are only 14 public schools and no separate schools for primary and secondary levels.
“Years of devastating conflict and drought have led to mass displacement, interrupting the lives of ordinary Somalis and preventing children from going to school. The EU is committed to supporting education for children caught in crisis and giving displaced children the chances in life they deserve,” said Johan Heffinck, Somalia Head of Office for EU Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid.
An assessment revealed that a lack of classrooms and safe learning spaces in addition to limited awareness and information have contributed to this education deficit. The community has previously not considered education its first priority and few parents can afford the tuition fees. Classrooms have not been renovated for over 30 years and are missing furniture and supplies. The camps for displaced people lack learning facilities.
With EU humanitarian support, FCA will rehabilitate ten classrooms in four schools and construct gender-sensitive water and sanitation facilities. The organisation will provide training for 50 teachers in pedagogy, school curricula while strengthening the capacity of community education committees to ensure quality education.
FCA has garnered considerable experience in running education projects globally and particularly in Eastern Africa. FCA aims to improve access to inclusive education, teaching and learning by building teacher capacity.
In June, graduations were celebrated in Uganda as well, as 20 graduates of a Finnish entrepreneurship training received their diplomas. This is the first time that it has been possible to complete a Finnish secondary vocational education in Uganda.
The project carried out in cooperation between Finn Church Aid and education export company Omnia Education Partnerships aims to offer entrepreneurship education to both refugees in Uganda and young Ugandans.
Uganda is the third-largest recipient of refugees in the world. There are currently almost 1.5 million refugees in the country.
”Education export like this has not been carried out in Uganda before. An official vocational qualification opens up doors to further education for the graduates. The qualification allows them to apply for institutes of higher education within the EU, for example,” says Finn Church Aid project manager and instructor for the project, Ville Wacklin.
This is an official entrepreneur’s further vocational qualification, equivalent in its requirements to a Finnish upper secondary level degree. In addition to improved prospects of employment, completing the qualification certifies the graduate as a trainer who can train others wanting to become entrepreneurs in the future.
Dreaming of international markets
Last week, the Finnish Entrepreneurship Diploma was granted to 20 students, five of whom are refugees living in Uganda, and 15 Ugandan citizens.
One of the graduates is 25-year-old Ugandan Doris Akampurira. Empowered by the education, she has founded her own online store through which consumer goods and groceries can be ordered straight to one’s door step.
Empowered by the training, Doris Akampurira, 25, realized a long-time dream and established her own online store.
”Even though I had dreamed of entrepreneurship for a long time, I was hesitant to start my own business. Thanks to the training, I gained enough courage to take the final step. Now I dare to take calculated risks and I know what it takes to be an entrepreneur,” Doris says.
It all started from an idea that online shopping is the future.
”I want to make buying easier for people. The idea of my business is that customers can shop in the comfort of their home and have their shopping delivered straight to their door step,” Doris says.
The young businesswoman’s ambitious aim is to make her business known abroad as well.
”My dream is that in five years, everyone knows my online store, and that it’s one of the biggest in Uganda. One day, I hope to expand my online store even beyond Ugandan borders,” plans Doris.
26-year-old Joseph Lohose arrived in Uganda five years ago as a refugee. The entrepreneurship training has given him faith in the future and helped the young businessman to develop his business ideas.
”Personally, the qualification is a huge achievement for me. People have lots of preconceptions about refugees. It’s not easy to make it in a foreign country. Now I can apply for further education and realize my business plans”, Joseph says.
The successful pilot project is planned to continue in the fall, when the training hopefully commences on an even larger scale than before. At the moment, there are 60 future refugee entrepreneurs studying to attain the Finnish Entrepreneurship Diploma at a refugee camp in Kampala.
The joint-project of Finn Church Aid and Omnia Education Partnerships was carried out in cooperation with Savon ammattiopisto, Kauhavan yrittäjäopisto and Kauppiaitten kauppaoppilaitos Mercuria.
More information: Ville Wacklin, project manager, FCA, tel. +358 40 719 0592
Translation: Leena Vuolteenaho
Finn Church Aid (FCA) handed over twelve classrooms to the government authorities in the Greater Pibor area in late May. FCA ensures quality education through training teachers and involving parents.
Stella Boyoi teaches mathematics to children in the newly built classroom. Photo: Kajasuk Jackson
Finn Church Aid and local authorities completed a mayor achievement in the education of children in the Greater Pibor Area with the handover of five classroom blocks, consisting of twelve classrooms.
The project’s aim was to improve access to quality education in most remote communities in Pibor and Gumuruk, locations that were marginalised and neglected for long due to conflict.
In addition to the classrooms, FCA trained 88 members in Parent-Teacher Associations to support school functions, 10 county education staff in management and 60 volunteer teachers in pedagogy and psychosocial support. Thanks to public awareness campaigns, the project reached 4 106 children.
Stella Boyoi is one of the newly recruited volunteer teachers in Langachod Primary School. According to Boyoi, there were no good school structures in Pibor in the past.
Parents are now encouraged to send their children back to school after a long period of instability.
“Before, children were learning under trees and ran home whenever it started raining”, she says.
Safe and inclusive education for girls and boys
Boyoi believes that the brand new classrooms themselves, with benches and desks, attract children to participate in lessons and help them stay attentive throughout the school days. FCA has provided exercise books, chalks and chalkboards, as well as incentives for the volunteer teachers to ensure quality education.
Parent-Teacher Associations play an important part in managing the schools. The members received agricultural tools, seeds and trainings to generate income and thus support the schools financially.
Mary Paul, 11, says she feels safe in the new school block in Langachod. Photo: Kajasuk Jackson
Boyoi hopes that families also send their daughters to school. In the local culture, it has been common that parents expect girls to do domestic work and marry at an early age.
Attitudes are slowly changing with improved access to education and the opportunities it brings for the future of the children.
“I decided to become a teacher because I want to change our community through education. As a woman, I also want to be a role model for all the young girls”, Boyoi says.
11-year-old Mary Paul is the second youngest of four sisters. Her eldest sister did not go to school, but Mary now has an opportunity to participate because the new structures are close to her home.
“I joined school because it is now near to my home, and I don’t have to fear to come to school alone”, she says.
Text: Kajasuk Jackson, Erik Nyström
Read more about Finn Church Aid’s work in South Sudan here.
How is advocacy best done for financing of education and the SDG goal 4, especially in situations of emergency and conflict? Is good advocacy about gathering evidence and data, and then meeting influential people with fat check-books? Or is it better to be out on the streets, mobilising grass-roots and sharing stories of injustice? When you have a bunch of very feisty civil society campaigners from across the Arab world and Eastern European countries meeting the regional networks in Africa, Asia, and Latin-America in Beirut for a few days, as happened last week, then the answer is a bit of both.
The Arab Campaign for Education for All, together with UNESCO and the Open Society Foundation, had invited representatives of both national coalitions and education ministries of Somalia, Lebanon, Palestine, Tunisia, Iraq, Sudan, Yemen, and Jordan to meet with their colleagues from Albania, Moldova and Georgia, as well as the coordinators from the regional networks and representatives from the Global Partnership for Education (GPE), Education Cannot Wait (ECW), the Inter-agency Network for Education in Emergencies (INEE), Education International (EI), the Right to Education Initiative (RTE) and others.
For an organisation like FCA, whose work focuses on linking education to earning opportunities for young people and to peace, the question regarding how to best use our advocacy efforts to secure funding are fundamental. FCA works in several of the countries that were present in the meeting. We are closely involved in advocacy for better funding for development at the global level, especially for emergencies and fragile countries. As such, we try to influence decisions taken by national governments and funding initiatives like the ECW and GPE, either as a single agency, or through ACT Alliance, or via the very close relationship we have with INEE.
However, in a conference that is full of activists, a question that rises for FCA and for INEE as well, is how much should we align ourselves with the street-fighters, for whom every struggle is political and ideological? Whose agenda often springs from very strong social movements in Africa and Latin America, closely linked to teacher unions and other left-leaning organisations, and who work hard to mobilise youth through empowerment and inclusion?
Or should we instead focus on the ‘movers and shakers’ in New York and Brussels, the influential people, who can sway large funding streams and direct them the right way to ensure that as many as possible get their fair share of the cake? But who, on the other hand, also sometimes represent governments and organisations that promote their own interest, and for whom international development is just a source of business and of winning elections.
There are similar fundamental questions considering which funding streams we should be looking at and trying to influence. More than 95 % of all funding to education – in time of peace – comes from domestic sources, not from international aid. Perhaps this means that New York is not the right place to do advocacy; that instead we need to dress up in our jeans and hoodies and support local civil society, and demand that local governments use much more of their budget on education (and less on military), and try to push for tax reforms that make multinationals and the rich pay their fair share. In emergencies, this figure of 95 % goes down drastically, as often the government disappears and there are no taxes. People are on the move, and education systems become reliant on coordination from the outside and on international funding streams, directed from New York, Brussels and Geneva. Therefore we must travel to these places, put on our dark suits and enter the corridors of power, to speak on behalf of local civil society and young learners denied an education.
Whatever the approach we choose – and of course it is always a bit of both! – the meeting produced a very strong sense of a shared responsibility for us all to stand up – either in front of influential people or out on the streets – and to demand that financing for education in emergencies must be quick, meaning available to be disbursed immediately; long-term, meaning disbursed predictably over multiple years; flexible and allocated to non-formal as well as formal solutions; equitable, meaning that it should be spread evenly across all emergencies and intended to reach all children; and lastly additional, in order to not displace other aid and support, but instead to be directed to new and necessary evidence based interventions.
The meeting also produced this wonderful poem from one of the participants, outlining the four S’s that must guide all our work:
To build a nation,
You need education
So, governments that care,
Should pay a fair SHARE!
And citizens should always resent
Anything less than 20 percent.
But the budget SIZE
Is the biggest prize;
So, let’s make rich companies face the facts
And force them to pay much more tax.
Then allocate funds with SENSITIVITY
For more equity and creativity
And to make sure that its spent truthfully
Invest in civil society SCRUTINY.
The right to education will materialise
With sensitivity, scrutiny, share and size.
So, the simple message that we should stress is
That education budgets need four S’s.
(copyright David Archer, ActionAid International)
Peter Hyll-Larsen
The writer is seconded by FCA to work as an Advocacy Coordinator for the Inter-agency Network for Education in Emergencies (INEE), see ineesite.org
Jonaliese, Sauda and Daphe found a direction for their lives at FCA´s vocational school in Uganda. Thanks to their exceptional motivation, the young graduates from FCA´s school face no difficulties in finding work.
If someone had asked 20-year-old Jonaliese Karsugho where she will be in five years’ time, she would have hardly thought that she would be instructing a final project in metalwork at a Ugandan refugee settlement.
But here she is at the age of 25, in the middle of a metal workshop, dressed in a pink dress, going over the instructions of the final project in her native language of Kinyabwisha, for a group of young men.
Jonaliese’s future plans were altered by the war.
She escaped the violence in Congo to Uganda with her sister in 2014. Rebels killed Jonaliese’s parents. Amidst the chaos, her third sister disappeared. To this day, Jonaliese does not know whether her sister is still alive.
At Rwamwanja refugee settlement, Jonaliese supported herself and her younger sister first by cultivating land. One day, she saw an advertisement for a course organised by Finn Church Aid (FCA). After taking the farming course, the following year Jonaliese was accepted as an assistance leader for a metalwork course. As a result, she is now watching attentively as 15 students start hammering a sheet of metal into a toolbox.
Soon the air is filled with a horrific sound of banging metal hammers. We have to leave the classroom.
From a refugee to a barber
73 % of the young people trained by FCA find work
Rwamwanja refugee settlement was founded in the 1960’s to settle refugees of the Rwandan genocide. The settlement was closed for a few years, until unrest in Congo flared again in 2012.
FCA founded a vocational school in the area in 2015. Most of the young people participating in the vocational training have lived at the camp for 3-5 years. Out of the young people who have completed the training, an impressive 73 percent have either found employment or started their own business.
There are about 63,000 refugees living at Rwamwanja refugee settlement, most of whom having escaped the civil war in the neighbouring Congo. One of the biggest problems of the settlement, with a population roughly the size of the city of Vaasa, has been youth unemployment.
”When young people had nothing to do, they would just drink and gamble,” says FCA project coordinator Caphas Mugabi.
FCA started working at Rwamwanja three years ago by first mapping which professions the young people should be trained for, in order for them to have good chances at finding work. The first courses started in May 2015, training the youth to be construction workers, engine repairers, tailors, cooks, metalworkers, and barbers.
250 students are selected for the six-month long training twice a year. There are more applicants than there are openings, and the students are selected based on applications and interviews. Both refugees and young Ugandans are admitted into the training.
”We do not care about previous studies, since many have been forced out of school due to the war. What we care most about is motivation. Many of the young people are in a desperate need for training and work, for example in order to support younger siblings after their parents have died,” says Mugabi.
Finding work is the main goal of the training. The studies include an internship, learning about finding a job and entrepreneur skills. The results have been excellent. A total of 73 percent of the graduates have either found employment or started their own business.
”We feel as if our work here truly changes the lives of these young people,” says Mugabi.
Sauda Tusingwire found her calling at the FCA vocational school. ”I’m happy that I have a plan and a future now”. Photo: Fredrik Lerneryd
Clothes for twelve siblings
The clamour of the metal workshop eases a little as we cross the yard to another classroom. Here the air is filled with the buzzing of sewing machines, as some twenty young people are sewing the seams of skirts as part of their final project.
Sauda Tusingwire, 21, looks like a professional using her sewing machine. It is hard to believe that she first tried using a sewing machine only six months ago. The elegant dress Tusingwire is wearing is also designed and sewn by her.
”Although I was interested in becoming a tailor and I had lots of ideas for clothes, I didn’t know anything before starting this school,” says Sauda.
In addition to sewing her own clothes, Sauda has sewn clothes for her twelve siblings. For the children of a single father, the clothes sewn by their sister have been very welcome.
”However, the most important thing to me has been that I have been able to make money by selling the clothes I have made at school. My dream is to start a big business,” says Sauda.
”I also want a family, but not until I have started my business.”
Jonaliese Karsugho dreams about starting her own enterprise. Photo: Fredrik Lerneryd
Student counselor helps find work
Young people from harsh circumstances need additional support. They are assisted by FCA´s student counsellor Olivia Nazzawi. She visits the students and graduates regularly. After graduation, Nazzawi’s task is to help them find employment or start their own business.
”My job is to encourage and support them. At a refugee camp, it is easy for people to become passive and give up. It is then my task to say that you have no choice. You have to work,” says Nazzawi.
For example, graduates of farming studies are provided with a plot of land and farming equipment by the school. They can sell their crop at the marketplace or at a store and earn a living.
The employment prospects are brightest for construction workers, since there is a great deal of construction going on in the fast-growing area.
At the start of their career, graduates of catering studies may be offered a job at a small restaurant founded by FCA, and in addition, many have found employment at other restaurants in the area. Aside from the restaurant, FCA has founded a repair shop in which young people can gain work experience and earn money.
Wilson Kiiza loves his job as a mechanic. ”The thing I love the most is when I sometimes get to test drive the motorbikes.” Photo: Fredrik Lerneryd
”Now I can do something others can’t”
Last year, the most popular courses were those for hairdressers and tailors. Daphe Nantesa, 17, weighed between the two courses after she heard about the school from a teacher visiting her village. Daphe applied and was selected for hairdresser studies, which turned out to be a good choice for her.
Daphe has calculated that for one customer, she needs to buy hair salon materials for 10,000 Ugandan shillings (which equals roughly 3 euros). She can then charge the customer 30,000 shillings (approximately 8.5 euros).
”In this work, not a lot of initial assets are needed, and I don’t have to move anywhere, since the customers and their hair come to me,” Daphe smiles.
Daphe is Ugandan, and has seven siblings. Before the training, she felt as if there was nothing special about her.
”There was nothing that would have distinguished me from others. Now, after completing the training, I can do something that not everyone can!”
After graduating, she plans to work hard and save up the money, in order to be able to open her own hair salon one day. There, in her own business, she could teach young people as well.
”I want to give others the same opportunity to change their life that I’ve been given through the training,” Daphe says. For many young people, school has sparked a needed boost for their self-esteem.
For Jonaliese, who escaped from Congo four years ago, the training offered an opportunity to earn more money and start planning her future. If Jonaliese could decide, where would she be in five years’ time?
”I dream of a big business where I could train young refugees and offer them jobs. I want to provide young people with a chance to lead an independent life,” Jonaliese says.
Text: Noora Jussila
Translation: Leena Vuolteenaho
Photos: Fredrik Lerneryd
Read more about FCA’s work in Uganda.
Violent extremism contributes to some of the world’s worst humanitarian catastrophes. It also poses a challenge to the gains in development enjoyed by many countries in Africa, a new report concludes.
The typical extremist organisation recruit is a 17–26-year-old from a state’s poorest, peripheral areas with only a few years of secular education and a low level of religious literacy. At the time of joining, the recruit’s main concern in life is employment. His or her confidence in institutions and governance is limited.
This is one of the main conclusions of the UN Development Program UNDP’s extensive report, launched in Helsinki on Friday 4th of May. The Journey to Extremism report sheds new light on the path to radicalisation and on how the effects of violent extremism hampers humanitarian work and development cooperation. (Download the full report in pdf-format here.)
Researchers conducted interviews with 718 people from Somalia, Nigeria, Kenya, Sudan, Niger and Cameroon – the largest sample of interviews with former members of extremist groups thus far.
With the above-mentioned preconditions, a recruit only needs to reach a “tipping point” before making the final decision to join an extremist group. In 71 percent of the cases, the defining event consists of a government action, often an excessive security response against a perceived terrorist threat.
The decision to join is quick, says Mohamed Yahya, lead author of UNDP’s research. Some 80 percent join an extremist group within a year after the tipping point, and a striking 48 percent within less than a month.
“This emphasises the fact that development solutions are essential in addressing the incentives and drivers of violent extremism. Military solutions are not enough”, Yahya concludes.
Research in sync with FCA’s key findings
FCA’s Reach Out coordinator Milla Perukangas providing perspectives on preventing violent extremism in Finland. Photo: Rabbe Sandström
The destructive consequences of violent extremism have resulted in 33 300 fatalities in Africa between 2011 and 2016, not to mention the devastating effects related to displacement and economy.
Extremism-related research has thus far largely been the territory of organisations working with security issues, although the issue profoundly affects development actors, says Yahya. It threatens to stunt development outcomes for generations to come if left unchecked.
“How can you talk about sustainable development goals and women’s rights when the question for many is whether they dare to go to the market and take the risk to be blown up”, Yahya says.
Almost 80 percent of the interviewees had previous connections to the extremist groups Boko Haram and al-Shabaab, which Finn Church Aid’s (FCA) previous research has focused on. UNDP’s research is in line with FCA’s previous findings, for instance that family and friends – not religious leaders – recruit most members.
(Read more about FCA’s research on al-Shabaab by clicking here and about Boko Haram by clicking here.)
Yahya highlights the role of local voices as a counterbalance to the influence of extremist groups, especially the role of religious leaders, which is one of the key groups supported by FCA’s peace work.
“But we also need to create viable exit paths, which include opportunities created by development in these poor peripheral areas”, Yahya says and adds that current circumstances do not contain enough options.
“Like one of our interviewees said: ‘After I left Boko Haram, I was welcomed by poverty’.”
Trust is key in preventing violent extremism
Panel discussion on preventing violent extremism, held at the UNDP’s report launch in Helsinki on May 4th. From the left UNDP’s Africa Regional Programme Coordinator Mohamed Yahya, Arshe Said from the Finnish Somali League, David Korpela from the Finnish Ministry for Foreign Affairs, Katja Creutz from the Finnish Institute of International Affairs and Milla Perukangas, FCA’s Reach Out coordinator. Photo: Rabbe Sandström
The question of how to prevent youth from joining extremist groups is a question for the whole society, says Milla Perukangas, coordinator for FCA’s Reach Out project against violent extremism in Finland. FCA has put its international experience and knowhow of preventing violent extremism in use in Finland since 2015 as a response to the vast number of foreign fighters traveling from Europe to conflict zones.
The solutions are always context-specific, but there are universal keywords that are applicable in all circumstances. Trust is one of them, says Perukangas. The Reach Out project has specialised in building bridges between those at risk of recruitment, their families, civil society actors and Finnish authorities.
“We need to empower youth through for instance education and opportunities to both speak their mind and find employment”, Perukangas said in her presentation at the report’s launch event in Helsinki.
“In the long run, the work to prevent violent extremism needs more emphasis on the human experience and the initial grievances of people in affected areas.”
Text: Erik Nyström
Download the full UNDP report The Journey to extremism in pdf-format by clicking this link. Read more about FCA’s research on al-Shabaab by clicking here and about Boko Haram by clicking here. Read more about the Reach Out project here.