Education for refugees
From the ground up: education and livelihoods in South Sudan
Background and overview of education and livelihood needs for returning populations, Sudan
Authors:
J. Young; D. Buscher; J. Perlman Robinson
Publisher:
Women's Refugee Commission, 2007
This report is based on the findings of a field mission to southern Sudan to assess education and livelihood programmes, including formal and non-formal education, vocational training, income generation and micro-credit.
It finds that the provision of education and training in the region and in displaced persons’ camps during the conflict have been grossly inadequate. Further, in the post-conflict environment, participation in education remains severely constrained by barriers such as a lack of resources for schools, prohibitive school fees, low teacher skills and very low adult literacy rates, together with widespread poverty.
The local economy and livelihood opportunities are also described. The report observes that formal and non-formal education programmes and livelihood programmes for returning IDPs, refugees and receiving communities have not been effectively coordinated to provide the people of Southern Sudan with the skills and knowledge they need to rebuild sustainable livelihoods in that region.
Recommendations from the report centre around the need for:
- better provision of education for displaced populations
- ensuring that oil revenues are directed to productive investment in education, health care, training, infrastructure and job creation programmes
- training of teachers and resourcing of schools
- livelihood interventions appropriate to local circumstances so that they build on rather than undermine existing livelihood strategies, particularly in the areas of agriculture and microcredit services.
