Regional Consultation Meeting on Education and Resilience in East Asia and the Pacific: Developing Guidance for

Programmes and Policies that Promote Social Cohesion and Comprehensive School Safety

4 – 7 November 2014SEAMEO INNOTECH, Quezon City, Philippines

by: Teija Vallandingham, UNICEF EAPRO

Challenges in East Asia and the Pacific

Conflict and Insecurity• EAP has the 2nd largest no. of fragile and conflict stricken states and regions

after Africa.• Many EAP countries have recently emerged from or are still confronting

some form of insecurity, violence and social/political unrest.• Several countries have high rates of poverty and widening income gap.• Some are geographically and politically isolated, with weak economies,

governance structures and capacity to address shocks.• Attacks on schools, teachers and students in many countries

Natural Hazards• Asia-Pacific 2004-2010: 500,000 deaths, 40 million homeless.

• Disaster risk and climate change are increasing.

• ‘Case fatality rate’ of flooding and tropical storms is decreasing.

• Livelihoods implications of disasters are more severe. Disasters make the poorest even poorer.

• Asia-Pacific’s population is young: children, youth and women proportionally the most vulnerable and will feel the full force of climate change, not adults.

• Progress towards EFA and the MDGs slowed down.

Meetings Objectives and Outcomes

1. Exchange ideas on appropriate and effective ways to equip EAP countries, particularly our education systems, with the capacities to address “all risks” faced by children and their communities, both natural hazards and conflict and social cohesion risks.

2. Assess the extent to which governments, communities and partners have effective systems, policies and programmes in place to address all risks, and to identify good practices at policy and programme level, and the merits and limitations of current strategies.

3. Strengthen regional knowledge networks and generate better understanding of the role of education for resilience.

4. Contribute to regional guidance to assist our governments, MoEs, education agencies and communities to operationalize the concepts of education and social cohesion and the Comprehensive School Safety Framework into strategies, policies and programmes.

• New Knowledge, Tools, Platforms to better address “all risks” faced by children

• Regional Guidance on Education and Resilience

Outcomes

Agenda OverviewDAY 1, November 4, 2014Part I: Education and Resilience: Conflict and Social Cohesion- Session 1A: Education, Conflict and Resilience: Lessons from Theory and

Practice1) Examine the relationship between education, conflict and social cohesion, 2) present results of research on the role of education and conflict, and 3) describe how a systemic conflict analysis of education system can be used to develop inter-related initiatives to promote social cohesion.

- Session 1B: Panel on Education Policies/Planning that Promote Social Cohesion in EAP1) Provide examples of conflict-sensitive policies and planning approaches that are designed to promote social cohesion, and 2) provide evidence of the impact of these policy reforms.

- Session 1C: Education Programmes and Community Based Initiatives that Promote Social Cohesion Describe and provide evidence on the impact of education programmes initiated by NGOs, UN agencies and others that promote social cohesion.

- Group Work Session A: Education and Social CohesionDevelop preliminary list of recommendations for policies, programme and strategies for social cohesion to be incorporated into regional guidance.

Agenda OverviewDAY 2, November 5, 2014Part II: Education and Resilience: Natural Disasters, Climate Change and CSS- Session 2A: Country Good Practice Policies for Resilience to Natural Disasters and

Climate Change1) Provide examples of policies/planning approaches that have been implemented at national and local levels to strengthen resilience in the education sector, and 2) explore methodologies for monitoring the impact of policies.

- Session 2B: Vietnam Case Study: Comprehensive Government Policy in DRR/CCADescribe 1) policies that Viet Nam has developed to incorporate DRR/CAA into the MoE, 2) collaboration between the MoE and other agencies, and 3) the impact of the policies and evaluation methods for assessing their effectiveness.

- Session 2C: Country Good Practice Education Programmes and Community Based Initiatives for Resilience to Natural Disasters and Climate ChangeDescribe and provide evidence on the impact of education programmes initiated by government, NGOs, UN agencies and others that strengthen resilience to natural disasters and climate change.

- Group Work Session B: Comprehensive School Safety and Climate Change Education for Sustainable DevelopmentDevelop a preliminary list of recommendations for policies, programmes and strategies for CSS and CCESD to be incorporated into regional guidance.

Agenda OverviewDAY 3, November 6, 2014Part III: Mainstreaming C/DRR into the Education Sector- Session 3A: Lessons Learned from UNICEF PBEA Programme in Mainstreaming C/DRR in

EducationProvide UNICEF global and regional lessons learned in mainstreaming C/DRR in the education sector.

- Session 3B: Incorporating Indigenous Knowledge and Values in Mainstreaming C/DRR in EducationAddress 1) the relationship between indigenous communities and conflict, 2) the importance of drawing on indigenous knowledge, practices and values in sustaining social cohesion and environmental protection, and 3) ways of incorporating indigenous knowledge and values into education policy and programmes to increase resilience and reduce conflict and disaster risks.

- Session 3C: Monitoring and Evaluation of C/DRR: Tools and Strategies1) Review and assess the utility of tools developed to assist governments in C/DRR development and implementation M&E processes, and 2) give countries an opportunity to describe other methods countries have used to evaluate their C/DRR strategies.

- Group Work Session C: Mainstreaming C/DRR into the Education SectorDevelop a list of recommendations for mainstreaming C/DRR into the education sector.

Agenda OverviewPart IV: Strengthening Networks, Partnerships and Information Platforms in EAP- Session 4: Strengthening Regional Networks - Sharing Resources and Filling Gaps to Build Capacity at Regional

and Country Levels1) Share information on the role and services of key regional networks for education and resilience, 2) identify country needs from the networks/platforms, 3) suggest ways that countries can better access existing information and tools, and 4) make recommendations for strengthening the networks.

Part V: Developing Regional Guidance for Education and Resilience- Group Work Session D: Synthesis and Final Recommendations for Regional Guidance

Develop synthesis and final recommendations for regional guidance, with action steps for appropriate bodies.

DAY 4, November 7, 2014CLOSING SESSION: East Asia and the Pacific Recommendations for Regional Guidance on Education and Resilience 2015Provide a synthesis of the recommendations for the EAP guidance, and 2) enable key stakeholders to comment on priorities, operationalization of the guidance, and commitments from stakeholders.

CLOSING CEREMONY:• Insights and Reflections• Messages from Representatives of organising agencies • Video Highlights• Meeting Evaluation

AustraliaBelgium

CambodiaCanada

FijiFinlandFranceIndia

IndonesiaJapanKenya

Lao PDRMongolia

MyanmarNepalPNG

PhilippinesThailand

Timor LesteViet Nam

Republic of KoreaSenegal

Solomon IslandsUnited Kingdom

United StatesOthers?

We have multinational participants, at least from 25 countries… Our participants are from ASEAN; MoEs; NDMOs; Ministries of Environment; UNICEF Country and Field Offices, HQ, East and Southern, and West and Central Africa; UNESCO Bangkok, Jakarta and Paris (UNESCO-IIEP); SEAMEO Secretariat; Community-based NGOS; Academic and Research Institutions; Regional Networks and the Asian Coalition for School Safety (ACSS) members – namely IFRC, Plan International, Save the Children and World Vision

SEAMEO Secretariat:Dr. Tinsiri SiribodhiDr. Asmah Ahmad

UNESCO Bangkok:Mr. Danilo Padilla

Ms. Hyunkyung (Jasmine) Lee

The Steering Committee

UNICEF EAPRO:Ms. Teija Vallandingham

Ms. Melinda SmithMs. Vilasa (Audrey) Phongsathorn

SEAMEO INNOTECH:Dr. Ethel Agnes Valenzuela

Mr. Jesse Tuason

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Wishing you a fruitful meeting. Thank you!