Strengthening the Safety Net
Alternative Education in the DRC
USAID's Education in Crisis and Conflict Network (ECCN) recently completed a field study in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) to better understanding the offer and demand for Alternative Education (AE) opportunities in the North Kivu region. With the December 2015 adoption of the 2016-2025 national education strategy, the recent disbursement of US$180 million dollars by USAID and DFID to support the education sector, and the focus on SDG Goal, this research is timely as there is a unique opportunity to jointly channel efforts toward more responsive and efficient AE opportunities for the 3.5 million young people who remain outside of the formal system.
In addition to offer and demand, this field study looked into how AE programs operate in North Kivu, their historical development, and promising practices on the part of local and international governmental and non-governmental actors. Additionally, one of our key areas of inquiry was the extent to which programs engaged with the national system(s), how national systems engaged with each other, and how this ultimately might affect equitable access to education for young people touched by conflict. Accelerated Learning Programs (ALPs), a specific type of AE, are very important in the DRC context, and North Kivu in particular garners a substantial amount of attention from the donor community in this regard. Thus much of the study took place there. The study took on a two-phased approach: 1) a rapid qualitative assessment with beneficiaries and implementers at the local level (North Kivu), and 2) targeted in-person interviews with ministries, alternative education providers, and donors at the national level (Kinshasa).
The little money I earn, if I had studied, I would know how to use it effectively, how to manage it for my small projects. Having not studied, I have great difficulty trying to do my small projects.
Young person living in North KivuOne of our initial findings provides an example of the disconnect between young people’s needs, what opportunities they have for accessing education, and how this is linked to the structure and actors within the education system. As the quote above illustrates, young people in North Kivu were very clear that in order to get a "good" job, a passing certificate was an absolute necessity – though it didn’t ensure a job, at least it made a person more competitive. All students, whatever course of learning they choose, must take the same national certificate exam on the same day each year. As one might expect, those young people enrolled in ALPs tend to be the most vulnerable – in North Kivu, especially so are IDPs who have been displaced by violence either in the short or long term, ultimately finding themselves too old to attend formal schooling. The safety net for such young people are the ALPs, and even if they are able to attend classes regularly (a challenge in itself), it can be difficult for them to take their exams because as IDPs, they remain vulnerable to further displacement. If they miss the exam, they must wait another year to take it. This could deter them from enrolling into an ALP again, leaving them where they started.
Interested in finding out more about these and other field study findings? Stay tuned in the coming months for the full consolidated report and policy briefs related to the research and the development of an ALP assessment tool. Reference World Bank. 2015. Public Expenditure Review of the Education Sector in the Democratic Republic of Congo: An Efficiency, Effectiveness, and Equity Analysis, Report No. ACS14542. Kinshasa: The World Bank Group.