Building blocks. Reconstructing education after a crisis

How can external agencies help rebuild education systems in countries that have experienced war, natural disaster, or political and economic upheaval? Depending on the severity of the situation, educational provision will suffer some degree of uncertainty and disruption. Problems such as decimated school premises, a dispersed work force, trauma, or ethnic division, will be top of the agenda. Researchers from the University of Oxford have examined work now being carried out by aid agencies and nongovernmental organisations (NGOs) in a wide spectrum of countries that have suffered a crisis situation. It emerged that education can play a major role in peaceful long-term development particularly in ending the legacy of violence or encouraging respect for different cultures.