Education and Fragility

Threats posed by fragility have increasingly been considered as barriers to development and are now a high priority for international policy-makers. The definition of fragility used by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)–Development Assistance Committee (DAC) Fragile States Group emphasizes the lack of capacity and willingness of a government to perform key state functions for the benefit of all. The effects of fragility stretch beyond poor services to include conflict, state collapse, loss of territorial control, extreme political instability, clientelist policies and repression or denial of resources to subgroups of the population. The level of state capacity and will is categorized by the following phases of fragility: arrested development, deterioration, post-conflict transition, and early recovery. Organized violence, corruption, poverty, exclusion, and poor governance are all common conditions and indicators of fragility.

Please click here for more information about the governance of education and addressing governance in fragile situations.

Please click here for information on capacity building and development.

Please click here for information on education finance in fragile situations and access to INEE resources regarding external education financing.

INEE Working Group on Education and Fragility

In early 2008, a Working Group on Education and Fragility was established within INEE, as an inter-agency mechanism to coordinate diverse initiatives and catalyze collaborative action on education and fragility. The 2008-2011 Working Group completed its mandate in March 2010 and a new Working Group was reconstituted in October 2011 with a two-year mandate for 2011-2013, aligned with the main INEE goal. The Working Group 2011-2013’s goal and objectives are:

Learn more about the Working Group on Education and Fragility 2011-2013


Please click here to learn more about the Working Group on Education and Fragility 2008-2011.

Please click here to download the review of the Working Group on Education and Fragility.

Key Education and Fragility Documents and Resources

The Working Group on Education and Fragility (2008-2011) worked to achieve the following goals:

  • Strengthen consensus on what works to mitigate fragility through education while ensuring equitable access for all.
  • Support the development of effective quality education programmes in fragile contexts.
  • Promote the development of alternative mechanisms to support education in fragile contexts in the transition from humanitarian to development assistance.

The Working Group continues to support research and policy related to understanding education’s role in conflict and fragility and to advocate for its wide recognition and consideration with the aim to ensure that education, at a minimum, does no harm and, at its best, contributes to conflict prevention and long-term peacebuilding. As part of this research and advocacy efforts, the INEE Working Group 2008-2011 produced a paper entitled “The multiple faces of education in conflict-affected and fragile contexts”, as contribution to the EFA Global Monitoring Report. In addition, research examining the relationship between education and fragility in four countries - Afghanistan, Bosnia-Herzegovina and Liberia - as well as the synthesis report of this research was conducted in 2009-2010. In order to reach out and gain wider perspectives on the relationship between education and fragility, the analytical framework used in the synthesis forms the key methodology for a series of consultative workshops over 2010-2011.

Please click here to access the Situational Analyses of Education and Fragility studies on Afghanistan, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Cambodia and Liberia as well as the Synthesis Report.

Please click here to find out more about “The multiple faces of education in conflict-affected and fragile contexts”.

Please click here to find out more about the INEE Reference Guide on External Education Financing.

Please click here to read more about the Consultative Workshops on Education and Fragility.

Please click here for other key resources relating to Education and Fragility.