Policy Roundtable 2010

An Enabling Right: Education for Youth Affected by Crisis

15 and 16 November 2010

• Download the Concept Note
• Download the Roundtable Flyer

INEE is pleased to announce plans for the 2010 INEE Policy Roundtable on An Enabling Right: Education for Youth Affected by Crisis. Organized in collaboration with the IASC Education Cluster, the Policy Roundtable will be held in Geneva on 16 and 17 November.

The Roundtable, which will be both a face-to-face and a virtual event, will address the reality that, while access to education opportunities for crisis-affected children of primary-school age has become an increasingly accepted critical component of humanitarian response, the rights and capacities of youth have not received the same attention. Across all sectors, the world’s significant youth population too often continues to fall between programming, policy and funding cracks; yet approximately 35% of the world’s 14 million refugees are young people between the ages of 12 and 24, and many more unaccounted for youth are seriously affected by disasters and displacement.

Acknowledging the unique needs and capacities of youth in crisis response and recovery, the 2010 INEE Policy Roundtable will convene policy makers, practitioners and expert youth from an array of sectors - including education, protections and livelihoods - to strategize around means of improving education service delivery with and for youth in crisis contexts.

In convening a diverse group of youth-focused participants, the INEE Policy Roundtable will:

• Stimulate cross-sectoral dialogue on approaches for engaging with, and addressing the needs of, youth in humanitarian response through to recovery.
• Review innovative youth-focused policies, programs and funding mechanisms to determine how the rights and needs of youth in crisis can be met at scale.
• Develop targeted policy recommendations and advocacy tactics to improve and expand policies, programs and funding for youth affected by conflict.

The one and a half day event will be focused around three thematic areas, examining a variety of age and gender-specific needs of youth in a range of contexts, as structured by commissioned papers. Through Roundtable discussion, working groups will collaborate on recommendations for action within each of the thematic arenas.

Roundtable Resources

INEE Policy Roundtable 2010 Outcome Report
This Outcome Report includes the`collated list of recommendations outlined by the 2010 Roundtable participants. It discusses the strategies and means necessary to address the needs and gaps in youth programming.

• Read the INEE Policy Roundtable 2010 Outcome Report

Framing Paper 1 – Education and Opportunity: Post-primary and Income Growth
This Framing Paper, authored by Joshua Chaffin, with youth partner Stephen Gichohi, considers the connections between post-primary education (PPE) for crisisaffected youth, and income growth interventions.

• Read Framing Paper 1 – Education and Opportunity: Post-primary and Income Growth
• Listen and watch the audio presentation of Framing Paper 1, with a presentation by the author followed by discussion (best viewed on Internet Explorer or Safari).

Framing Paper 2 – Financing for All: Beyond the Primary Need
This Framing Paper, authored by Janice Dolan and Laura Brannnelly, with youth partner Hibist Kassa, explores the extent to which post-primary education options are being financed, what approaches are being taken and the opportunities and challenges for supporting postprimary education in the future.

• Read Framing Paper 2—Financing for All: Beyond the Primary Need
• Listen and watch the audio presentation of Framing Paper 2, with a presentation by the author followed by discussion (best viewed on Internet Explorer or Safari).

Framing Paper 3 – Whole People, Holistic Approaches: Cross-Sectoral Action and Learning
This Framing Paper, authored by Barbara Zues with youth partner Kashif Saeed Khan, argues for holistic and participatory programming that capitalizes on cross-sectoral partnerships required to adequately address the complex challenges facing youth.

• Read Framing Paper 3 – Whole People, Holistic Approaches: Cross-Sectoral Action and Learning
• Listen and watch the audio presentation of Framing Paper 3, with a presentation by the author followed by discussion (best viewed on Internet Explorer or Safari).

The Right to Choose, the Right to Learn: Writings about education by youth affected by crisis
This publication is authored by nine youth, who share their thoughts on the importance of education for themselves and for their peers.

• Read The Right to Choose, the Right to Learn: Writings about education by youth affected by crisis and on the Roundtable youth blog here.

Research Symposium
Immediately following the close of the INEE Policy Roundtable 2010, INEE is convening a Research Symposium on youth-led and youth-focused education research in crisis contexts. This half-day event will bring together researchers, practitioners, policymakers, donors and youth to identify research gaps and priorities and share information about new and innovative research and research methods.

• Download the Research Symposium Flyer
• Download an Annotated Bibliography on Education Programming for Youth Affected by Crisis (coming soon)

Agenda and Logistics

• Download the Roundtable Agenda and the Research Symposium Agenda
• Access the Roundtable Flyer and Research Symposium Flyer
• Download the Logistical Note for the Roundtable

The full Participant List and Outcome Report will be also be available here, following the Roundtable.

How you can stay involved

Roundtable Reference Group
Planning for the Roundtable is being led by an Advisory Group, made up of the representatives from the Adolescent and Youth Task Team (AYTT), INEE Secretariat and INEE Steering Group. The Advisory Group also works with a broader Reference Group, comprised of individuals, organizations and expert youth committed to issues pertaining to youth affected by conflict.

Many thanks to the Advisory Group and Reference Group for their hard work and commitment to this importance event!.

Join the Adolescent and Youth Task Team (AYTT)
The INEE Adolescent and Youth Task Team (AYTT) is made up of over 100 committed individuals from UN-agencies, international and national NGOs, practitioners, researchers and policy makers who work collaboratively on technical tasks to ensure a coordinated, accelerated and expanded, evidence-based response to the educational rights, needs and aspirations of adolescents and youth affected by crisis. The AYTT will be providing ongoing support to the planning of the Roundtable, and INEE members interested in any issues relating to youth and education in crisis should consider joining this group.

More information about the AYTT, including ongoing work beyond the Roundtable, and the most recent Task Team email updates is available on the AYTT webpage here.

Join the Conversation on the INEE blog !
Thank you to all who submitted input on the three thematic areas via the Roundtable youth blog! To continue this conversation, please visit here, where you will find many excellent entries on education for crisis-affected youth by experts in the field as well as youth themselves. Feel free to leave a comment or share a story!

As part of the virtual component of the Roundtable, INEE hosted online presentations on each of the Framing Papers. Thanks to those who participated using this new platform; please keep an eye on this space for recordings of these sessions, which will be coming soon!