Navigating Equitable Education Provision in the midst of hot conflict: The untapped potential for transformative collaboration in education in Sudan

• In Event: Teachable Moments: Reimagining Education for Peacebuilding in a Divided World A Panel Discussion on Nigeria, Syria, Sudan, and Niger

Proposal

This paper examines the complexity inherent in attempts by international and local education communities to deliver conflict-sensitive and equitable programming in the context of Sudan’s civil war. The research employs a mixed-methods approach, analyzing program and policy documents and building on extant research examining how historical processes of Arabisation and systemic inequity in educational access have undermined attempts at national unity, entrenching marginalisation, social fragmentation, and protracted conflicts.


The study employs a mixed-methods approach, combining institutional analysis with ethnographic methods to explore three interconnected dimensions of education programming in Sudan. First, the research examines how the absence of a neutral, accountable state apparatus compromises the efficacy of international humanitarian assistance. Through analysis of access negotiations and service delivery patterns, the paper demonstrates how international agencies' reliance on conflict parties for operational access fundamentally politicizes education programming. Empirical evidence reveals how these dynamics perpetuate structural deprivation in historically marginalized communities, paradoxically undermining the very inequities that international assistance aims to address.


Second, the paper provides a critical analysis of localization initiatives that have emerged across Sudan's diverse regional contexts. While local organizations demonstrate remarkable capacity for community-driven, contextualized programming that can reach populations systematically excluded by state mechanisms, the research identifies significant disparities in grassroots capabilities across different regions. The findings reveal how areas with limited historical access to educational infrastructure face compounded disadvantages in developing indigenous capacity for education service delivery, creating a troubling paradox wherein communities most in need of support possess the least capacity to mobilize resources.


The study explores how these two dynamics, at the international and grassroots level, necessitate a thoughtful and strategic intersection to maximise the capabilities of both to realise the right to education for all children in the context of the Sudanese civil war. Findings will highlight the political, institutional, and cultural factors that undermine effective collaboration.


Finally, lessons are drawn from the investigation, specifically on how the education community can learn from the Sudanese experience to strengthen capacities for sustained peacebuilding in Sudan, considering the distinct roles of these two stakeholder groups and opportunities for their enhanced coordination and partnership in the absence of an accountable state.

This research contributes to academic debates on localization in humanitarian action, conflict-sensitive education programming, and the role of education in peacebuilding processes. The findings have broader implications for understanding how service delivery partnerships can either reinforce or challenge existing structures of marginalization in conflict-affected societies.

Author

• Lisa Walker, The Palladium Group