Presenter 3

• In Event: How Risk Analyses Informed Education Programming as War Continues into Its Fourth Year

Proposal

The final panelist will describe to purpose and use of the RERA in South Sudan from a donor’s perspective.

For decades, USAID has supported the education sector in South Sudan. Specifically, USAID has been working with partners and collaboratively with donors to increase equitable access to education for learners living in the most conflict and crisis-affected environments across the country. Over the past four years, violence has increased significantly and USAID and its partners have been forced to navigate unprecedented levels of displacement within and outside the country, adding further complexity to this context.

The RERA is a new and innovative approach to data collection that helps education actors design, manage expectations, and evaluate projects continuously, in order to seek flexible ways to adapt programs when necessary and remain focused on increasing equitable access to education. The RERA tool in South Sudan has introduced analytic rigor, adaptive management and utilizes diverse approaches to build into and ensure more effective education programming in conflict and crisis-affected environments.

In June 2017, USAID South Sudan conducted a RERA focusing on six states that were most affected by the conflict that started in December 2013. Part of the plan was to pull together evidence to help USAID South Sudan develop a strategy that would closely link humanitarian assistance with conflict and development assistance – all the while, using programs to strengthen the underlying community resilience. Functional schools are often identified as key contributors to recovery and reconciliation processes in conflict-affected settings; however, for education to support the promotion of unity and social cohesion, it is important to understand the context within which education is delivered and equitably manage the process to avoid further inequity and exclusion.

This presentation will share the findings of how the RERA in South Sudan helped to inform education programs, including lessons learned during the process. The tool is meant to guide the design and implementation of education programs in crisis and conflict situations. Here we showcase how this happened in South Sudan. We will walk through the program cycle in the presentation and stop to highlight the places where data collected significantly changed the design and informed our choices for program elements.

Author

• Wendy Wheaton, USAID