A Non-formal Education Model and Approach for Community-Based Education in Northeast Nigeria

Group Submission Type: Panel Session

Proposal

The northeastern states of Nigeria remain a region that is subject to insurgent attacks, widespread corruption, and a large population of out-of-school children and youth. In this complex and fluid environment, USAID has funded the Education Crisis Response project since 2014, implemented by Creative Associates International in partnership with the International Rescue Committee (IRC), Florida State University and local NGOs. The aim of the Education Crisis Response is to increase equitable access to quality and relevant non-formal education for nearly 89,000 vulnerable children and youth ages 6-17. The project has worked across five states with a wide range of community and local government stakeholders to strengthen institutional capacity, increase community support for education, and establish more than 900 non-formal learning centers.

This panel will:
• Discuss USAID’s vision for a community-based education approach to respond to the emergency in Northeast Nigeria
• Explore the ways in which the Education Crisis Response (2014-2017) engaged local communities through a replicable model to prioritize education and increase access to quality, relevant learning opportunities
• Inform the strategy and design of future educational development activities in the conflict-affected Lake Chad Basin

Key Questions:
The following key questions will be probed in the panel:
1. Why is a community-based education model key to responding to education in emergency contexts, and how can government counterparts be engaged to maximize sustainability?
2. What are the critical elements of an effective, flexible, and replicable emergency education response?
3. What impact does Social Emotional Learning have on learners’ identity and participation in the classroom and what is the best way to measure that impact?
4. What are they strategic approaches taken in Nigeria from which we can learn?

Objectives:
1. Participants in this session will be able to express the rationale for community-based, conflict-sensitive education in conflict-affected Northeast Nigeria.
2. Participants will be able to articulate the basic components of the Education Crisis Response’s replicable non-formal education approach.
3. Participants will be able summarize and apply key lessons learned from the project’s implementation experience in Nigeria to other educational development activities in similar contexts.

Sub Unit

• SIG: Education, Conflict, and Emergencies

Chair

• Croshelle Harris-Hussein, USAID/Nigeria

Individual Presentations

• USAID’s vision for community-based education delivered through a non-formal education model and approach - Croshelle Harris-Hussein, USAID/Nigeria

• Packaging and delivering a replicable, community-based non-formal education model for conflict-affected communities - Jake Thomsen, Creative Associates International

• Using social emotional learning to help children/youth recover from crisis, and to convince families that school is a safe place - Rena Deitz, International Rescue Committee

• Replicability of the Nigeria Education Crisis Response model and lessons learned during implementation - Ayo Oladini, Creative Associates International