Capacity Development for Education Systems in Fragile Contexts

This paper examines fragility, capacity development and education and the links between these by analyzing relevant research and policy literature. It proposes ways forward for action and reflection at national, regional and international levels.

Areas of action include:

• Capacity development for education in fragile situations must analyze and work within the specific constraints of the security and development needs of the social, economic and political context. While different forms of alignment may be necessary in the short term, the long-term aim should be to rebuild the state and restore its functions.
• Capacity development goes beyond the technical skills of individuals. In education, it should contribute to greater equity, cohesion and trust in the system.
• Planning, regulatory and accountability functions need to be strengthened within ministries of education and relevant local authorities. Issues such as workplace culture, nepotism, creative accounting and corruption should be surfaced and tackled.
• Education personnel need to develop capacity to ensure greater and more equal participation in education.
• Where education is decentralized, capacity development is needed at local levels to enable decentralized education governance to work. Yet across all levels, there is a need for understanding and consensus on decentralized power itself.
• Capacity development is also needed for those involved in youth employment policies and programmes, women's groups and adult literacy. This will help to strengthen civil society.
• Capacity development in the area of labour market analysis is essential. This will help to ensure that vocational education is relevant.
• Teachers' capacity development must include the ability to promote political literacy and media understanding and to deal with controversial issues. Teacher education in areas such as citizenship and legal education is needed.
• Accurate situation analyses are needed, along with a description of how the education system is affected. There is a need for help in generating reliable indicators and standards for monitoring and evaluating education, and for support to coordinate these.
• Regional networks can support cross-border topics such as the education of refugees and migrants. They can also help to address national issues in a less politically sensitive way.
• A network of international experts on capacity development in fragile situations could be created. However, care should be taken that such expertise builds on local cultural and political knowledge.