Education and Stability Learning Journey: Lessons Learned and Emerging Issues

Abstract

This document brings together key findings from a Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) Learning Journey designed to explore the relationship between education, conflict, and stability. Prepared by the Knowledge, Evidence and Learning for Development Programme (K4D), it responds to questions from FCDO on how education interventions can build peace and stability, drawing together research and lessons from FCDO posts, and input from leading academics.

The Key messages are: 1) Education matters for peace. 2) At the same time, education can exacerbate conflict. 3) All education interventions need to be grounded in robust political economy and conflict analyses. 4) To avoid instrumentalising education simply as a tool for security. 5) Taking a pragmatic inter-sectoral approach to maximise opportunities. 6) Recogniseing the links between education and inclusive economic development 7) Acknowledging unavoidable trade-offs in meeting the needs of different groups. 8) Aiming for nationally owned systemic change rather than piecemeal interventions 9) To consider the importance of different educational sectors, 10) Recognising that the recommendations set out by the global education agenda are difficult to achieve in situations of extreme instability.