By: Gilbert Mwenedata,
Co-Champion, Youth in Peace & Security, YouthPower Learning.org
This year’s theme is about “Transforming education”. I would like to take this opportunity and draw your attention to the fact that access to education is crucial to conflict prevention and peacebuilding.
Two years ago with YouthPower Learning, I visited the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). According to Amnesty International, it was estimated that the DRC had the highest concentration of child soldiers in the world (30,000 children associated with armed forces or militia groups), 30% to 40% of which were girls. While in DRC, I discussed with youth groups – ex-combatants, leaders of youth organizations, and various education stakeholders. From our discussions, and testimonies from youth ex-combatants, I learned that most of these ex-combatants were out of school at the time they joined armed groups. Also, I learned that the youth attending school were less likely to join armed groups.
Conflict and violence have devastated the education system in eastern DRC. Displaced youth often lack educational opportunities, and youth that are not displaced or orphaned only have access to inferior education systems and facilities. The following facts and statistics explain how eastern DRC schools were affected by conflict, and how the lack of access to education made the youth prone to joining armed groups:
· Schools can regularly be the target of attacks and violence during armed conflict and civil instability;
· Over 80 percent of the schools monitored had suffered some form of attack as recently as 2015, according to a Columbia University study;
· The quality of the DRC educational system remains a challenge with only 18% of students advancing to the secondary level;[1]
· In North and South Kivu, just over one-third of the province’s population has never attended school. Primary school enrollment in South Kivu and North Kivu is 53%[2]
· The illiteracy rate in South Kivu is 42%, and 37% for North Kivu;
· The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) estimates state that two-thirds of Congolese children do not have birth certificates even though it is a prerequisite to enroll in school.
Given some of you are working with the youth to promote peacebuilding, some of the activities that youth-serving organizations could consider increasing youth access to education while promoting peace and security include:
· Increase cooperation between formal & non-formal education providers and other youth-serving organizations.
· Accelerated learning for out-of-school youth that builds basic skills (literacy and numeracy) as well as important technical skills.
· Mainstream peace education and conflict resolution into the education curriculum as appropriate.
· Assess and address school physical safety.
· School-based feeding programs or food subsidies as a way to increase educational access by food-insecure families.
· School-based health (formal or non-formal settings) to increase access to basic and reproductive health services.
This year’s theme “Transforming education” is a reminder for all of us to make education more inclusive and accessible for all youth. Education programming should be implemented with sensitivity to local conflict dynamics and a view toward how education programming can contribute to peace and other positive youth development outcomes.
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[1] African Development Bank Group (AFDB). Democratic Republic of Congo: 2013-2017 Country Strategy Paper. Retrieved from AFDB: https://www.afdb.org/fileadmin/uploads/afdb/Documents/Project-andOperations/Democratic%20Republic%20of%20Congo%20-%202013-2017%20-%20Country%20Strategy%20Paper.pdf.
[2] UNDP Unité de lutte contre la pauvreté (Poverty Reduction Unit). (2009). Province du Nord-Kivu Profil Resume: Pauvreté et Conditions de vie des ménages (North Kivu Summary Profile: Poverty and Household Living Conditions). Retrieved from UNDP DRC: http://www.cd.undp.org/content/dam/dem_rep_congo/docs/povred/UNDP-CD-Profil-PROVINCE-Nord-Kivu.pdf