Carmen Pon, author of the Education and Conflict Evidence Summary, is joined by Dr Loise Gichuhi, thematic lead of Education in Emergencies at the University of Nairobi in Kenya and Cornelia Janke, Director of Education Development Centre’s technical team for Crisis, Conflict and Violence. Our panellists offer insight into the challenges of supporting education provision in conflict and crisis situations, garnered from their years of experience working in this area.

Chair: Dr Carmen Pon
Carmen Pon is a senior consultant at the Education Development Trust who has worked with teachers in Sierra Leone, Jordan and Egypt, providing training and professional development on core subjects, peace education and child protection. She has also contributed to a United Nations Girls’ Education Initiative (UNGEI) report on mitigating threats to girls in education and conflict zones, and completed a PhD focused on peacebuilding and social justice education in the Middle East. Carmen, together with Juliette Myers, updated the What Works Hub Evidence Summary on education provision in conflict contexts. 

Panellist 1: Loise Gichuhi
Dr. Gichuhi is an economics of education and education in emergencies specialist and a senior lecturer at the University of Nairobi. She is the thematic lead of education in Emergencies at the University, and Kenya’s INEE Country Focal Point (2022-2024). She holds a Ph.D. in Economics of Education (University of Nairobi) and a Master’s in Economics of Education (Kenyatta University). She has extensive experience and expertise in education policy, planning, and curriculum development, education in emergencies programming, implementation, monitoring, and evaluation. Her academic and research interests are in both quantitative and qualitative research methodologies, while her recent research work has focused on education and conflict, particularly in Kenyan conflict-affected counties. Dr. Gichuhi has recently consulted for COMESA, Equal Measures 2030/FAWE, Porticus-Africa, and UNESCO IIEP and is currently consulting on a five-year Ministry of Education/World Bank project (2019-2023). 

Panellist 2: Cornelia Janke
Cornelia Janke’s work in crisis and conflict-affected environments took shape between 2004-2014 through the design and management of youth basic education and livelihood programming in Afghanistan, Haiti, Timor Leste, Kosovo, Bosnia-Herzegovina, and Rwanda. Between 2008-2011, and again between 2016-18 Janke served as member and then co-chair of both the Education and Fragility Working Group, and the Education Policy Working Group, of the Interagency Network for Education in Emergencies (INEE). Through these ground-breaking global working groups, INEE brought together policy makers, practitioners and researchers focused on improving programming for education in emergencies. Between 2014 and 2019 Janke built on her experience and insights from INEE to develop and direct the USAID Education in Crisis and Conflict Network (ECCN), a learning network for USAID’s education staff and partners working in crisis and conflict-affected settings. Currently, Janke serves a dual role as Director of Education Development Centre’s (EDC) technical team for Crisis, Conflict and Violence (CCV), and as Project Director of the USAID Leading through Learning Global Platform (LTLGP), which brings together the USAID Center for Education’s three Learning Networks: the Education in Crisis and Conflict Network (ECCN); the Global Reading Network (GRN); and the Higher Education Learning Network (HELN).

Image: Start of the school day in this school in northern Burkina Faso. The EU is providing education to children caught up in humanitarian crises – give forcibly displaced pupils access to education. EU/Olympia de Maismont

WWH Evidence Summary: Education and Conflict

Expert panellists, Sujata Bordoloi, formerly UNGEI co-ordinator and co-chair of a global network of organisations working to end gender violence in and through education, and Margaret Kamu, EDT’s Education Technical Lead for the Girls’ Education Challenge project in Kenya, join Dr Jenny Parkes author of the SRGBV Evidence Summary to discuss their experience of working to prevent and reduce school related violence.

Image: UN Police (UNPOL) officers lead sensitization classes on sexual education at a school in Bangui, CAR. The classes are meant to prevent gender-based violence. UN Photo/Eskinder Debebe

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