Peace-promoting
Education Reform
in Southeast Asia
and the South Pacific
UNICEF East Asia and Pacific Regional Office

a

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Peace-promoting Education Reform in Southeast Asia and the South Pacific
© UNICEF East Asia and Pacific Regional Office 2014
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b


Peace-promoting
Education Reform
in Southeast Asia
and the South Pacific
UNICEF East Asia and Pacific Regional Office

c

Acknowledgements
Peace-promoting Education Reform in Southeast Asia and the South Pacific was commissioned as
part of UNICEF East Asia and Pacific Regional Office’s (EAPRO) contributions towards the 4 year
global ‘Peacebuilding, Education and Advocacy (PBEA) Programme’ (2012–2015), funded by the
Government of the Netherlands. The report contributes to the PBEA programme Global Outcome
5: that is, the generation and use of evidence and knowledge in policies and programming related
to education, conflict and peacebuilding.
Our sincere gratitude goes to the principal author of this report, Amanda Seel, and all those
in UNICEF Country Offices for their support during the research phase. Our appreciation goes
particularly to Clifford Meyers, who initiated and guided the process, and also to Teija Vallandingham
for their expert advice and guidance.
We sincerely thank Tani Ruiz for editing this report and Vilasa Phongsathorn for her overall support
and assistance in reviewing and lay-out of this document.
The views expressed in this report represent those of the author and not necessarily those of
UNICEF.

Contents
Acronyms and abbreviations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
1. Regional analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
1.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
1.2 Peace, conflict and natural disaster in
Southeast Asia and the South Pacific . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
1.2.1 Peace and conflict . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
1.2.2 Natural disasters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
1.3 Dynamics of peace and conflict . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
1.3.1 Inter-related processes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
1.3.2 Economic growth, poverty and inequality . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
1.3.3 Social, cultural and demographic change . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
1.3.4 Environmental degradation and climate change . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .14
1.3.5 Governance and capacity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
1.3.6 The geopolitical and regional contexts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
1.4Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
2. Concepts and themes in the literature . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
2.1Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
2.2 Statistical relationships between the development of
education systems and levels of conflict . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
2.3 Three sets of processes that link education to peace,
conflict and natural disaster . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
2.3.1Exclusion ó inclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
2.3.2Fragmentation ó cohesion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
2.3.3Vulnerability ó resilience . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
2.4 The opportunity of education sector reform . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
2.5 Summary: Possible roles of education in peace, conflict and
natural disaster in Southeast Asia and the South Pacific . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
3. Working model and outline methodology for exploring
‘peace-promoting’ education sector reform at the country level . . . . 43
3.1 A working model of a ‘peace-promoting’ education system . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
3.2 A framework for unpacking education sector reform . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
3.3 Outline methodology and stages of research . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45

Annexes
Annex A: Definitions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
Annex B: References for chapter 1 – Regional analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
Annex C: References for chapter 2 – Concepts and themes in the literature . . . . . 54
List of Figures
Figure 1: Dynamics of peace, conflict and natural disaster in
Southeast Asia and the South Pacific . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
Figure 2: Potential positive influences of general education
expansion/universalization on processes that link to peace,
conflict and natural disaster . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
Figure 3. Education’s roles in the dynamics of peace, conflict and natural disaster . 41
Figure 4: A working model of ‘peace-promoting education’ for
Southeast Asia and the South Pacific . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
Figure 5: Applying the ‘peace-promoting’ model to education sector reform . . . . . 45

Acronyms and abbreviations
ARMM
ASEAN
AEC
AusAID
CREATE CSO
DAC
DFID
DRR
EAPRO
ECD/E
EFA
EiE
ESCAP
EU
FBO
GCPEA
GMR
GPE IDP
IIEP INEE
INGO
LESC
LTLT
M&E
MDG
MoE
MIC
MTB-MLE
NAT
NFE
NGO
OECD
PBEA
PDR
PNG
RAMSI
SEAMEO
SEL
SWAp
UNDP
UNESCO
UNGEI
UNICEF
USAID
VAC
Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao
Association of Southeast Asian Nations
ASEAN Economic Community
Australian Agency for International Development
Consortium for Research on Education Access, Transitions and Equity
Civil Society Organization
Development Assistance Committee
Department for International Development (UK)
Disaster Risk Reduction
East Asia and Pacific Regional Office
Early Childhood Development/Education
Education For All
Education in Emergencies
Economic and Social Commission for East Asia and the Pacific
European Union
Faith-Based Organization
Global Coalition to Protect Education from Attack
Global Monitoring Report (on Education For All)
Global Partnership for Education (formerly the Fast Track Initiative on EFA)
Internally Displaced Person
International Institute for Educational Planning
Inter-Agency Network for Education in Emergencies
International Non-governmental Organization
Language, Education and Social Cohesion
Learning to Live Together
Monitoring and Evaluation
Millennium Development Goal
Ministry of Education
Middle-Income Country
Mother Tongue-Based Multilingual Education
National Achievement Test
Non-formal Education
Non-governmental Organization
Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development
Peacebuilding, Education and Advocacy Programme
People’s Democratic Republic
Papua New Guinea
Regional Assistance Mission to Solomon Islands
Southeast Asian Ministers of Education Organization
Social and Emotional Learning
Sector-Wide Approach
United Nations Development Programme
United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization
United Nations Girls’ Education Initiative
United Nations Children’s Fund
United States Agency for International Development
Violence Against Children
1

© UNICEF/NYHQ2005-1660/Mohan
2
Children participate in class at the Bang Nieng
Learning Centre for Burmese children in the
southern Pang Nga Province, Thailand.

Introduction
This three-part Concept Paper has been written by independent consultant Amanda Seel to
inform the research project ‘Peace-Promoting Education Sector Reform in Southeast Asia and
the South Pacific’, commissioned by UNICEF East Asia and Pacific Regional Office (EAPRO).1 The
research project forms part of EAPRO’s participation in UNICEF’s global Peacebuilding, Education
and Advocacy (PBEA) Programme, funded by the Netherlands Government. Under EAPRO, a
range of regional studies will contribute mainly to Objectives Two and Five of the global PBEA
initiative, which are:
• Objective Two: increase institutional capacities to supply conflict sensitive education.
• Objective Five: contribute to the generation and use of evidence and knowledge in policies
and programming related to education, conflict and peacebuilding.
Other regional studies are exploring varying aspects of peace and conflict in relation to early
childhood development, child protection and youth development. This study has particular
synergies with a cross-country study of ‘Language, Education and Social Cohesion’ (LESC).2
This study explores issues, policies and plans in selected countries3 that are undergoing major
education reform, while at the same time facing significant challenges of peace building, reducing
conflict and/or addressing natural hazards and the effects of climate change. It aims to directly
support what countries (primarily governments but also the wider range of education stakeholders
and partners) are already doing in education, while assisting in deeper analysis to make more
explicit the relationship between education and a range of wider processes linked to conflict and
peace. The research is also intended to help inform the work and approaches of UNICEF in the
participating countries, contribute to UNICEF EAPRO’s strategies for country support and regional
engagement and fulfil the objectives of the UNICEF Global Education Strategy, 2010.4 Additionally,
the research supports wider knowledge development in the fields of education in emergencies
(EiE), disaster risk reduction (DRR) in education and the role of education in peacebuilding.
The study focuses on two regions: Southeast Asia and the South Pacific. Each of these constitutes
a political and geographic region that is sufficiently well defined to make a degree of regional
analysis and comparison feasible and meaningful. Under UNICEF’s organizational structure,
EAPRO covers the larger – and less coherent – area referred to as East Asia and the Pacific.
The label ‘peace-promoting’ has been adopted as an umbrella term, to allow for a flexible response
to the different expectations and priorities of the participating countries and UNICEF Country
Offices. It covers notions of building peaceful, cohesive and inclusive societies and communities,
maintaining and consolidating peace, reducing risk, responding to conflict or environment-related
crisis and mitigating the impacts of the same. Attention is drawn here to the fact that this study,
unusually, integrates considerations of conflict and natural disaster within a single analysis. This
approach was elected for a number of reasons. Firstly, natural disasters (which always have a
human-made element) are significant and increasing concerns across the two regions. Secondly,
Introduction
1
Southeast Asia and the South Pacific sit within the larger geographical area covered by UNICEF EAPRO.
2
The LESC study is led by Professor Joseph Lo Bianco of the University of Melbourne.
3
At the time of preparing this background paper, the Philippines and Vanuatu were confirmed case study countries for
the regional study. Myanmar was originally to join the regional study but has now assumed a country-level participation
in the PBEA, under which a similar study might be undertaken. Others might join in the future.
4
UNICEF’s Global Education Strategy objectives are: (1) To help countries achieve the goal of universal primary
education by 2015, making their education systems inclusive and focused on quality; (2) To help countries achieve
the target of eliminating gender disparity at all educational levels, address other disparities in education and promote
gender equality in society through education; and (3) To help countries restore normalcy to children and adolescents
affected by conflict and natural disasters (emergencies) as part of the process of rebuilding communities, institutions
and systems.
3

there is often an overlap of conflict with natural disaster, in that each can exacerbate the other and
both impact most strongly upon the poorest and most vulnerable people. Thirdly, while educational
approaches to reducing the risks of conflict and the impacts of natural disasters are quite distinct,
responses to these events have many features in common. It is, however, noted that integrating
the two has presented some conceptual challenges in achieving a coherent analysis.
The term ‘education sector reform’ is used to denote a focus on comprehensive policy reform
and programmes of educational development, which are taking place over a number of years, as
opposed to discrete projects or single policies. Developing countries that have not yet attained
universal completion of quality basic education (on which UNICEF and hence the research is
most focused), are often supported through harmonized development assistance in the form
of ‘sector-wide approaches’ (SWAps).5 These various terms are defined and further explored at
relevant points in this paper and fuller definitions are given in Annex A.
The 2011 Education For All Global Monitoring Report, dedicated to the theme of education and
armed conflict, states that “during the post-conflict period, there is a window of opportunity
to address education sector reform in areas related to the conflict, including root causes, and
post conflict needs.” The report also suggests that “SWAps provide donors and government
with an opportunity to initiate a conflict sensitive planning process to address areas such as
policy reforms, new legislation, information systems to monitor equity, educational budgeting
and financing.”
At the same time, the report identifies a “gap in the literature about education sector reform in
post conflict societies from a peace-building perspective.” This study intends to assist in filling
that gap and supporting countries to recognize their ‘windows of opportunity’. The research might
also deepen understanding of what kind of ‘peace-promoting education’ is relevant to countries
that are currently free of violent conflict, but face significant threats, tensions or insecurities in the
context of rapid socio-cultural, economic, geopolitical, environmental and demographic change.
The initial identification of the topic of this study has rested on a number of assumptions, which
are:
• Countries of Southeast Asia and the South Pacific face particular challenges in relation to
preventing or mitigating conflict or emergencies and/or building and sustaining peace;
• Education processes, institutions and systems are part of the dynamics of peace and conflict
and can also play an important role in promoting peace and preventing, reducing or mitigating
conflict; and
• Better understanding of these challenges, linkages and processes is required to inform
education sector reform and planning, in order to maximize the potential contribution to peace
promotion of ‘education’ in its various meanings (a basic service, a process of development of
various human intelligences and abilities and an asset linked to economic, social and political
opportunity).
5
4
The term ‘SWAp’ is now generally used in a broad sense to describe an approach based on national leadership of a
comprehensive sector or sub-sector development programme, supported by harmonized – but not necessarily pooled
– development partner assistance.
Introduction

© UNICEF/NYHQ2006-2547/Pirozzi
(Left-right) Arnold, 9, and Viana, 8, read a book together during class at St. John Primary School in Honiara,
the capital of Solomon Islands.
This Concept Paper explores, critiques and expands upon these assumptions in order to set
the context of the country studies and to identify an appropriate methodology for the countrylevel investigations. Specifically, chapter 1, Regional analysis, expands upon the first assumption,
identifying and exploring the main dynamics of peace and conflict at play in the countries of
the two regions and the key regional and national challenges in preventing and mitigating
conflict and emergencies and building and sustaining peace. This sets the context for chapter 2,
Concepts and themes in the literature, which expands on the second assumption through a
review and critique of the relevant literature regarding (i) the linkages between education, peace
and conflict/insecurity and (ii) the potential role of education in reducing, preventing, mitigating
and responding to conflict, insecurity and ‘natural’ events. On the basis of these two analyses,
chapter 3, Methodology, will outline an appropriate methodological approach for the country case
studies.
Introduction
5

1. Regional analysis
1.1 Introduction
This analysis seeks to examine the main dynamics of peace and conflict at play in the
countries of Southeast Asia and the South Pacific regions, looking in particular at what
the key regional and national challenges are in preventing and mitigating conflict and
emergencies and in building and sustaining peace. Because the issues are very complex,
there has been no attempt to give an exhaustive description but rather to highlight the
main trends and issues that seem most salient to the subsequent exploration of the roles
of education. Sources include two books fully dedicated to exploring conflict in the East
Asia, Southeast Asia and Pacific regions;6 a range of academic treatises on the causes
and dynamics of conflict in general; United Nations documents concerned with conflict
resolution and peacebuilding; studies of specific conflicts and natural disasters affecting
countries within the two focus regions; and reports documenting ‘lessons learned’ from
programming in Education in Emergencies and Disaster Risk Reduction in the context of
peacebuilding through education. The full list of references is given in Annex B.
1.2 Peace, conflict and natural disaster in Southeast Asia and the South Pacific
1.2.1 Peace and conflict
At first glance, neither Southeast Asia nor the South Pacific seems to be an obvious
candidate for a study on conflict mitigation or peacebuilding through education.
For three decades, both regions have had no significant inter-state conflict and,
according to Wainwright (2010), are enjoying their “most peaceful period in modern
history”. This period of relative peace and stability has supported considerable
economic growth and human development, including substantial expansion of
education systems.
Closer examination, however, reveals that a majority of countries in the two regions
are currently experiencing – or are recovering from – some form of intra-state
conflict or serious inter-communal violence. It is not necessary for the purposes
of the study to present a detailed typology of these conflicts; however, it is useful
to make a distinction between three general categories that, although overlapping,
are different in character and hence probably have different linkages with – and
implications for – education.
Insurgencies: These are conflicts in which distinct regions seek to assert, through
violent means, their own identity and greater autonomy within, or independence
from, the nation state. The main conflicts of this type have occurred (or are still
occurring) in:
• Indonesia: A 29-year, religious-based separatist conflict in Aceh came to an end
in 2007 in a settlement that grants the region greater autonomy. Since 1965 a war
of secession has been underway in the ethnic Melanesian region of Papua, with
attacks sometimes launched from militants based within refugee communities
on the border with Papua New Guinea.
6
6
(1) ‘Heijmans, A., N. Simmonds and H. Van de Veen, Searching for Peace in Asia Pacific: An Overview of Conflict
Prevention and Peacebuilding Activities, European Centre for Conflict Prevention, 2004; and (2) Wainwright, E., Conflict
Prevention in Southeast Asia and the South Pacific, New York University, April 2010.
Regional analysis

• Myanmar: The country is slowly emerging from four decades of ethnic
insurgencies that have generated the largest number of international refugees
(within the two regions) in the recent past. Peace agreements – or key
understandings – have recently been achieved with nine insurgency armies.7
The settlements are nevertheless fragile, and violence continues in Kachin State.
The agreement with the Karen National Union marks the end of one of the
world’s longest-running civil conflicts and the start of a process of repatriation of
thousands of refugees from camps in Thailand.
• Papua New Guinea (PNG): A separatist conflict waged for nine years on the
island of Bougainville claimed at least 15,000 lives8 – a significant percentage
of the total population – and displaced many more. The island has had an
autonomous government within the State of PNG since 2005.
• Philippines: Starting in the late 1960s, two complex insurgencies have killed
more than 190,000 people and displaced many thousands more. The first conflict
revolves around the degree of autonomy and self-government for the Muslim
Moro areas of the southern Island of Mindanao. An agreement between the
government and the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) in 1989 paved the
way for the establishment of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao
(ARMM). A Peace Framework Agreement (PFA) between the current government
of President Benigno Aquino and the now-dominant Moro Islamic Liberation Front
(MILF) was signed in 2012 and will support the development of an expanded
autonomous area, ‘Bangsamoro’, to come into being by 2016. The second,
equally protracted, conflict has been the class-based guerrilla warfare waged by
the communist New People’s Army (NPA). Since a peace agreement in 2011,
ongoing skirmishes are largely confined to a few core strongholds.
• Thailand: A separatist insurgency, begun four decades ago, continues in four
predominantly ethnic Malay Muslim provinces of the ‘Patani’ region in the deep
south. After easing in the 1980s and 1990s, the conflict re-ignited in 2004 and has
since claimed over 5,000 lives. The past year has seen progress in peace talks,
but a lasting solution is yet to be found.
• Timor-Leste: Over 100,000 people died during Indonesia’s 25-year occupation,
mostly during the brutal years preceding independence in 2002.
Inter-communal conflict: There are many examples of conflict and violence that
are more locally focused, which occur either between groups (defined by geography
or one or more identity factors such as religion, ethnicity or social class), or where
one particular group is singled out for persecution and attack. Major examples of
this type of conflict in the two regions are:
• Fiji: Ongoing tensions between indigenous and ethnic Indian Fijians erupted into
violent attacks on the ethnic Indian population during political coups in 1987 and
2000.
• Indonesia: In the early 2000s, inter-communal violence (generally between
Muslim migrants relocated under the transmigration policy of successive
governments and local Christian or indigenous communities) broke out in a range
of locations, including Maluku, Sulawesi and Kalimantan. There have also been
attacks on large Chinese communities in major cities.
• Myanmar: Exacerbating already complex political tensions, Myanmar has
recently experienced an upsurge of violence against Rohinga Muslims in Rakhine
State and other Muslim communities across the country.
7
These are the New Mon State Party, the Karenni National Progressive Party, the Shan State Army-South, Shan State
Army-North, the Karen National Liberation Front, the Chin, the Mongla, the United Wa State Army and the Karen
National Union (KNU).
8
Estimates vary considerably. The Australian DFAT website reports 15,000–20,000 deaths while the Australian Army
website suggests 10,000–15,000.
Regional analysis
7

• South Pacific Island States: Civil conflict erupted in Solomon Islands in 1998,
when the Istabu Freedom Movement sought to drive out Guadalcanal migrants
from the neighbouring island of Malatia, which eventually led to a Malatian-led
military coup. The Regional Assistance Mission to Solomon Islands (RAMSI) has
been in place over the past decade and is only now in the process of withdrawal.
Papua New Guinea is affected by frequent inter-community conflicts in multiple
locations. Other Pacific islands, including Vanuatu, have also experienced similar
conflict to a greater or lesser extent.
Other Forms of Political Violence: This can be defined as the “unlawful use, or
threatened use, of force or violence by a person or an organized group against
people or property, with the intention of intimidating or coercing societies or
governments, often for ideological or political reasons.”9 This kind of violence is
often closely associated with the other two forms, and includes:
• Radical Islamist terrorist attacks: Bombings and terror attacks have been
perpetrated in Indonesia (Bali, Jakarta and Aceh) by Jemaah Islamia and other
Jihadist groups. In the southern Philippines the continued actions of Abu Sayyaf
and other terrorist groups with links to Al Qaeda have been responsible for
numerous kidnappings and bombings, deliberately targeting foreigners, aid
workers, journalists, teachers and government officials. A number of attacks in
Thailand’s deep south have also been identified as externally agitated (Melvin,
2007).
• Violence associated with political coups, mass demonstrations and
elections: Politically motivated violence has affected Thailand, most recently in
2010 and again in late 2013 and early 2014. Election-related violence has occurred
in Solomon Islands (2006), Indonesia (Aceh and Maluku) and in Timor-Leste.
Hensengerth (2012) notes that in Cambodia “the end of the civil war in 1991 did
not end the political conflict. Instead, the major civil war parties struggled for
predominance in the post-war political system. Assassinations became a routine
means of dealing with political opponents, including opposition parties, trade
unions, journalists, and social activists.”
• Clan feuding for political advantage: In Mindanao, Philippines, entrenched
practices of inter-clan conflicts known locally as ‘Rido’10 often trigger incidents
that are played out as a part of insurgent group confrontations.
• Political repression: Hensengerth (2012) notes that many countries in Southeast
Asia “have been governed by authoritarian and semi-authoritarian regimes that
applied political violence for the purpose of staying in power.” He identifies
Myanmar, Malaysia, Philippines, Indonesia, Lao PDR and Cambodia as all having
aspects of ‘predatory politics’. Other examples concern government repression
of specific population groups, often those with precarious residency status. The
Hmong have faced persecution in Lao PDR since the end of the ‘hidden war’ of
the 1970s and since 2011 have been forcibly repatriated from Thailand, despite
international expressions of concern at the human rights implications.
As these attempts at classification show, different kinds of conflict overlap and
interact. Indeed the nature of inter-state and identity-related conflicts that now
dominate in Southeast Asia and the South Pacific, as they do globally, make it harder
than ever to classify a conflict. Each situation is complex and context-specific. It
is often difficult to define where ‘community violence’ ends and ‘conflict’ begins,
or identify clear phases of ‘conflict’ and ‘post-conflict’. Modern conflicts tend to
stop and start and what begins as ‘resolution’ can turn out to be only ‘mitigation’.
Conflicts mutate and change in nature as a result of local factors, a natural disaster
(see below), or changes in the wider national or international context.
8
9
Farlex Free Legal Dictionary Online.
10
The Asia Foundation (2007) defines Rido as “a state of recurring hostilities between families and kinship groups,
characterised by a series of retaliatory acts of violence, carried out to avenge a perceived affront or injustice.”
Regional analysis

© UNICEF/NYHQ2005-0273/Pirozzi
A girl draws in a classroom at Huraa School on Huraa Island, 15 kilometres from Male in the Maldives. She is
attending a weekly class in which specially trained teachers supervise art and play activities to help children
traumatized by their experience during the tsunami.
1.2.2 Natural disasters
In addition to the challenges of conflict, Southeast Asia and the South Pacific
experience frequent crises and emergencies that result from natural hazards or
extreme weather events. Most countries in these two regions sit on the ‘Pacific
Ring of Fire’, while northern Myanmar, Lao PDR and Thailand are at the southeastern
boundary of the Himalayan tectonic plate; thus their susceptibility to earthquakes,
volcanic eruptions and – for coastal or insular states – associated tsunamis. The 2004
Indian Ocean Tsunami was a particularly dramatic tectonic-related event, causing
the loss of an estimated 225,000 lives, over half of these in Aceh, Indonesia.
More recently, Typhoon Haiyan (Yolanda) killed more than 6,000 people in the
Philippines, with over one million losing their homes and/or livelihoods. Cyclone
Nargis that struck Myanmar in 2008 is another example of an especially destructive
natural event, claiming over 138,000 lives. Numerous other extreme weather
events have occurred in recent years in both regions, which are vulnerable to natural
hazards, including tropical cyclones (typhoons) and heavy rains, with associated
flooding, mudflows and landsides.
In many of the countries, ‘natural’ disasters that threaten human life, health, livelihoods
and security are as much a cause for concern as ‘man-made’ conflicts and violence.
Indeed there are often linkages between the two. As is discussed further in section
1.3, some of the causes are the same and both tend to hit the poorest and most
vulnerable the hardest. There is also considerable evidence that natural disasters tend
to further exacerbate – or increase the risk of – conflict and inter-communal violence.
Bird (2011) identified displacement, looting, price hikes, the creation of ‘moneymongers’, the politicization of blame for disasters, tensions over land and resources
as being elements of ‘natural’ disasters in Somalia that exacerbated violent conflict;
elements which are quite probably present in other contexts. Waizenegger (2008)
observes that, although the Indian Ocean Tsunami resulted in a political settlement
of the secessionist conflict in Aceh, “the few studies of the political impact of natural
disasters suggest this rarely happens. In fact, rather than reconciliation, studies
suggest that disasters tend to foster conflict.”
Regional analysis
9

1.3 Dynamics of peace and conflict
1.3.1 Inter-related processes
The conflicts and natural disasters explored above do not, of course, take place in
a vacuum. Rather, they need to be seen as a part of a complex and dynamic interrelationship of processes, which have come together to create the conditions in which
conflict becomes more likely, or natural hazards less easy to manage. These processes
are summarized diagrammatically (see Figure 1 below). In the following sections, each
of these processes is unpacked further.
Figure 1: Dynamics of peace, conflict and natural disaster in Southeast Asia and the
South Pacific11
Economic growth,
poverty and inequality
$
PEACE, STABILITY,
MANAGEMENT OF
NATURAL HAZARD
Governance
and capacity
CONFLICT,
FRAGILITY AND
“NATURAL DISASTER”
Environmental
degradation and
climate change
Social, cultural and
demographic change
G
an
Geopolitical and
regional influences
1.3.2 Economic growth, poverty and inequality
As noted above, the two regions, and in particular Southeast Asia, are generally
associated with economic success. Many countries are endowed with rich and
diverse natural and human resources, which have been effectively tapped to support
economic development. Globalization has benefited many and supported the
rapid spread of ideas and technology (Wainwright, 2010). The UNDP 2013 Human
Development Report states that East Asia and the Pacific now account for over half
of the world’s middle-class population.
While not equalling the pace of growth of the Asian Tigers12 in the preceding decades,
many Southeast Asian countries have seen considerable economic development,
with some graduating from low to middle-income status. The ASEAN13 Southeast
Asian Economic Outlook 2012 notes that while not immune from global economic
uncertainty, in contrast to most OECD14 economies the region will enjoy solid growth
10
11
The classification developed for the purposes of this study shares similarities both with the model employed in the
INEE ‘Guidance Note on Conflict Sensitive Education’ (2012), which identifies the five contextual domains in which
education takes place as ‘Governance’, ‘Social’, ‘Security’, ‘Economic’ and ‘Environmental’; and with the framework
used in the IIEP ‘Guidance Notes for Integrating Conflict and Disaster Risk Reduction into Education Sector Planning’,
which explores the ‘environmental, economic, social and political vulnerabilities’ that impact upon and interact with
education.
12
Hong Kong (SAR, China), Singapore, Taiwan and Republic of Korea.
13
Association of Southeast Asian Nations.
14
Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development.
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until 2016. The UN ESCAP15 Economic and Social Survey of Asia and the Pacific
2012 cites examples of growth in many (although not all) South Pacific countries
and identifies East Asia and the Pacific as a “bedrock of global economic stability”.
Human development has accompanied economic growth. The UNDP Human
Development Report 2013 lists Thailand, Indonesia, Lao PDR16 and Viet Nam as
countries that have experienced significantly greater human development gains
since 1990 than might have been predicted on the basis of previous performance.
Many (though not all) countries have invested heavily in their educational systems
as a foundation for national socio-economic development. Almost all of the low
and middle-income countries of the two regions have committed themselves to
reaching the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), as well as the broader set
of the Education For All (EFA) goals. To achieve these, many governments have
embarked on ambitious reform programmes, often supported with substantial
international assistance programmes.
Despite notable progress and great benefits for many, it is well documented that
the impacts of economic development – in Southeast Asia and the South Pacific as
elsewhere – have been uneven both across and within countries (Wainwright, 2010).
With the number of rural-to-urban migrants far exceeding the growth of sustainable
employment and livelihood opportunities, peri-urban areas have joined stagnating
rural communities as major loci of poverty and exclusion. In some cases, disparities
have grown not only because of the rapid rise in prosperity for some, but in actual
reversals in progress for others, as livelihood insecurity has increased. Wainwright
(2010) cites evidence of increased poverty in Lao PDR, Cambodia, Thailand, TimorLeste and Malaysia.
Very often, poverty impacts differently on women and men, and on different social
or geographically located groups. Poverty in terms of income and assets is closely
related to indicators of human development, including health and education. A
number of recent studies suggest that poverty remains the most important variable
determining educational participation.17 This is the case even where it is free of
direct fees because of poverty-associated factors including lack of cash for indirect
costs (e.g. transport, stationery), demands for youth labour contributions to the
household economy, health challenges and the inter-generational effects of illiteracy.
In Cambodia, for example, 28 per cent of 23–27 year olds from the wealthiest 20
per cent of households have completed secondary school. Whereas among the
poorest households only 0.2 per cent have (Chronic Poverty Report 2010).
Poverty itself has a link with fragility and conflict. The World Bank (2011) explores the
ways in which poverty both creates fragility and is a result of it, noting that almost
40 per cent of the world’s poorest live in fragile states. Duffield (2001, quoted in
Smith and Vaux, 2003) is one of many who argue that the prevalence of conflict
today is related more to the rate of change than to the persistence of poverty. The
juxtaposition of wealth and poverty, especially stark in the urban areas of countries
with rapid but uneven growth, not only heightens the sense of grievance and
exclusion on the part of the poor, but also the adoption of exclusionary and selfprotective measures on the part of the newly monied, for whom former poverty
remains vivid in the collective memory. Kanbur and Sumners (2010) shed light
on a “new geography of global poverty”, pointing out that because of the rapid
but very uneven growth of a number of large-population countries (including the
15
United Nations Economic and Social Commission for East Asia and the Pacific.
16
While growth and human development in Lao PDR have exceeded expectations, the country remains poor and donordependent.
17
Socio-economic status appears to remain the most important variable in access to basic education in many developing
countries, even when it is free of direct fees (Lewin et al.). However, that is not to say that how education is delivered
has no effect, as is discussed further in section 1.3.5.
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11

Philippines and Indonesia),18 72 per cent of the world’s poor now live in middleincome countries, a reality which is not yet reflected in aid allocation mechanisms
and assistance modalities. If theories about the risks of sharp inequality being a
driver of conflict are correct, then the risks of grievance-related conflicts in these
countries would seem to be high.
The economically excluded, residing in areas where grievances tend to ferment, are
most likely to live in sub-standard housing, depend on precarious livelihoods and
lack skills and resources for self-protection and adaptation. They are also often the
most vulnerable to the impacts of both conflict and natural disaster. When these
occur, exclusion and vulnerability are often further intensified.
1.3.3 Social, cultural and demographic change
Southeast Asia and the South Pacific are regions of extraordinary human diversity:
ethnic, linguistic, cultural and religious, reflecting long and complex histories of
migration, settlement and inter-group cooperation and conflict. Ethnic and linguistic
diversity is particularly rich in the ‘indigenous belt’19 of the Mekong Basin area,
spanning northern and eastern Myanmar, northern Thailand, most of Lao PDR,
northern and western Viet Nam and northeast Cambodia; as well as across the
Philippines, Indonesia, insular Malaysia and Melanesia.20 Southeast Asia was home
to a number of ancient civilizations: the Khmer, Vietnamese, Thai and Burmese, the
achievements (both cultural and on the battle fields) of which continue to inspire
patriotic nationalism and territorial claims to this day. Within these civilizations, and
more recently in the South Pacific, various forms of the world’s major religions
of Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism and Islam have displaced, overlaid or merged
with traditional cultures in complex ways. Many societies have also developed
complicated and intricate social hierarchies and structures, for example Cambodia
(see Ngarm, 2004), and Java and Bali in Indonesia. From historic times, therefore,
relationships within and across ethnic, linguistic, social and religious groupings and
communities have been complex and in flux, including elements of reciprocity and
cooperation as well as of prejudice, discrimination and conflict.
Colonialism brought further – and more rapid – social and cultural change. ‘Eastern’,
‘Western’, ‘modern’ and ‘traditional’ cultures came into closer contact, but often
on a far from equal footing. In many instances, colonial ‘divide and rule’ policies
exploited existing tensions between groups. In colonial Burma, for example, military
personnel from the peripheral ethnic regions were used to control the predominantly
Burman heartlands. Practices of indentured labour in the Pacific resulted in largescale migrations of Melanesians to Queensland, eventually returning with new
languages and adapted cultures. Similar imperial production policies resulted in the
migration of large numbers of Indian workers to Malaysia and Fiji. In Indonesia, the
Dutch colonists introduced a system of ‘transmigrasi’, the movement of Muslim
residents of densely populated islands (mainly Java) to the indigenous outer islands,
a policy that was continued long into the post-colonial period. While such processes
facilitated some beneficial cultural exchange and transfer, they undoubtedly also
brought profound disruption and fermented resentments to which many presentday conflicts can be traced.
12
18
Indonesia is identified as one of five ‘PICNIC’ middle-income countries (the others are Pakistan, India, Nigeria and
China), which together are home to 854 million poor people.
19
See Nettle, D. and S. Romaine, Vanishing Voices: the Extinction of the World’s Languages, Oxford University Press,
2000.
20
To give some examples, Myanmar has around 135 officially recognized groups speaking approximately 111 languages.
Viet Nam has 106 languages and Lao PDR (at a fraction of the population) at least 84. Indonesia is thought to have as
many as 711 languages, while Papua New Guinea has 830 (Muturzikin.com). Tiny Vanuatu has around the same number
of languages as Myanmar amongst a population of 250,000, making it the most language-dense nation on earth.
Regional analysis

Wars of independence and post-independence conflicts resulted in delineation
of nation states that did not necessarily reflect culturally homogenous –­ or even
cohesive – units. Reilly and Graham in Heijmans et al. (2004) emphasize the historic
evolution of conflicts in East Asia and the Pacific, suggesting that “the bloodiest and
most persistent conflicts in the region over the past decade have all been internal,
intrastate wars that stem, in many cases, from the heterogeneous nature of the
post colonial state.”
More recent globalization, economic migration, the expansion of education and the
creation of the ‘middle class’ and the spread of ideas through modern communications
technology has continued the process of change. While bringing benefits to many,
these changes have also sparked further tensions and contradictions around issues
of ‘traditional’ and ‘modern’ culture and identity. ‘Becoming more alike’ has in many
ways catalyzed the reassertion of difference. As Hesengerth (2012) points out, such
assertion might not only centre on real differences of belief, or even resentments
around economic disparities between groups, but also more symbolic associations,
for example the myth of ‘the Angkor period’ for the modern Cambodian.
Changes in gender constructions and relations have often been a particularly
difficult part of the processes of socio-cultural change. On the one hand, these
have brought greater freedoms and rights for women. On the other, paradoxically,
there is a reassertion of traditional restrictions and even an escalation of genderbased violence in many countries as traditional male ‘breadwinner’ roles become
increasingly obsolete. Young people often face a particularly difficult challenge of
reconciling a traditional and modern identity, especially where there has been an
erosion of supportive family and community structures.
Most analyses of conflict agree that – rather than diversity itself – it is the factors
described above (memory of historic discrimination, population and boundary
movements, rapid social change and insecurity around established beliefs and
traditional identities), which underpin the conflicts in the two regions that manifest
as ‘inter-ethnic’ or ‘inter-religious’. As Lake and Rothchild (1999) summarize: “Where
ethnicity is linked to acute social uncertainty, a history of conflict and fear of what
the future might bring, it emerges as one of the major fault lines along which
societies fracture.”
1.3.4 Environmental degradation and climate change
Human-influenced environmental change in Southeast Asia has taken place over
millennia, with the development of wet rice agriculture supporting large and settled
populations – including towns of significant size and sophistication – from early
times. As an inevitable accompaniment to economic development and population
growth, however, the past 50 years have seen much intensified use of land, water,
forests and other natural resources. In the islands of the South Pacific, smaller and
sparser populations have for centuries lived in harmony with the natural environment
and significant changes wrought by human activity have occurred only relatively
recently. These countries too, however, have experienced very rapid population
growth, urbanization and exploitation, threatening their fragile ecosystems,
biodiversity and habitats; as well as traditional practices of land and natural resource
stewardship. UNICEF (2011) identified for both regions serious problems resulting
from the decreased availability of fresh water and the reduction of crop yields,
with evidence of associated increases in diarrhoeal and nutrition-related illnesses
in children.
Added to these pressing problems, human-induced climate change has now taken
centre stage on the global environmental agenda. The ‘Germanwatch’ Climate Risk
Index (2012) identifies Myanmar, Viet Nam and Thailand as being amongst the top
10 countries globally to be affected by climate change between 1992 and 2011.
Regional analysis
13

© UNICEF/NYHQ2013-1009/Maitem
Children make their way through the ruins of levelled homes, in Tacloban City – the area worst affected by
Super Typhoon Haiyan – on the central island of Leyte, the Philippines. At least 2,500 people have been
killed in the Category-5 storm. Some 11.3 million people, including an estimated 4.7 million children, in nine
regions across the country have been affected, and more than 673,000 people have been displaced.
Thailand, Cambodia, the Philippines and Lao PDR were amongst the 10 most
affected countries in 2011. Sea level change and associated flooding are major and
increasing threats in low-lying areas, especially for the Pacific Islands. Some islands
are at risk of complete submergence; Kiribati, for example, is already planning
population relocations (Wainwright, 2010). UNICEF (2011) identifies many examples
where sea level change is already affecting water supply, agricultural land and
human settlements.
In the context of global climate change, there is evidence that extreme weather
events – to which the regions were already prone – are increasing in frequency and
intensity. Wainwright (2010) reports that the frequency of cyclones in the Philippines
has doubled over a decade. Human-induced climate change, in the context of a
massive growth in the human population, has greatly increased the probability of
natural hazards becoming ‘natural disasters’. Meanwhile the degree of health or
degradation of natural habitats such as coastal mangroves, forested hillsides and
coral reefs, as well as the quality of the built environment, are important factors in
determining the severity of the impact of such events.
Environmental and climate change factors are also clearly implicated in conflict.
While disputes over land and natural resource ownership, use and access are
primarily political in nature and linked to economic growth and social justice (and
are therefore discussed in more detail in 1.3.5), it is nevertheless the case that such
disputes are intensified by the increasing overall demands of the human species on
the earth’s habitats and biodiversity.
14
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1.3.5 Governance and capacity
While all countries within the two regions are affected by the transnational and
global trends described above, the extent to which they are impacted is determined
by their natural endowment, level of development and history (indigenous, colonial
and more recent). It nevertheless seems clear that political and governance factors
have also been key determinants of the degree to which negative processes of
social exclusion, fragmentation, conflict and natural disaster have been able to
take hold. There are differences in the ability and willingness of states to perform
a number of functions that are critical to the maintenance of stability, security and
prosperity. These are discussed in the following paragraphs.
Transparency, participation, accountability and the rule of law: States that are
perceived as broadly even-handed, accountable, responsive to citizens’ concerns
and able to protect them through effective maintenance of law and order are in a
stronger position to maintain peace and cohesion than those where these factors
are absent. As Lukham et al. (2004) observe: “Violent conflict arises when its costs
are reduced and benefits are increased in relation to other forms of collective action,
especially where there are no legitimate channels for peaceful mobilisation or
redress.” Lake and Rothchild (1999) similarly note that “the context for conflict is set
when the state has been unable to maintain the trust and confidence of all of the
major groups of the society” and/or “lost control of significant parts of its territory”.
Some countries have made progress in throwing off extreme forms of oppressive and
authoritarian rule and embracing various forms of democracy and decentralization,
supported by increased media and press freedoms and the development of civic
institutions. Indonesia, whose former practices of central control, neglect of the
periphery and forced transmigration were key triggers of ethnic conflict, has
undergone dramatic changes in governance, with a rapid decentralization process
aiming to bring decision-making closer to the people. This has been accompanied
by a significant decrease in inter-community conflicts. The Philippines, under the
current administration of President Benigno Aquino, has also made progress in
transparency and devolution of powers. Myanmar, up until the present probably the
most oppressive regime of the two regions, is in the early stages of reforms that
have the potential to bring transformative changes.
Nevertheless, there continue to be significant challenges in promoting participation
and transparency and tackling the corruption and crime that encourage violent
conflict. The 2012 Corruption Perceptions Index ranks Papua New Guinea,
Cambodia, Lao PDR and Myanmar 150 or higher in a lowest-to-highest ranking
of 176 countries based on citizens’ perceptions of the level of common forms of
corruption. Corruption, nepotism and non-transparency in government are directly
related to the recent political violence in Thailand. Clan violence known as ‘Rido’
in Mindanao, Philippines, significantly exacerbates conflict and complicates the
current peace process. Cambodia’s protracted decentralization process has to
date achieved neither a notable shift in its rigid, hierarchical and corrupt power
dynamics, nor genuine grassroots participation, as has recently been underscored
by the shooting and violent dispersal of demonstrators in Phnom Penh. Myanmar’s
nebulous and precarious reform process has been considerably challenged by new
outbreaks of criminal violence against Muslim communities, which has its roots in
years of neglect and repression of all communities.
Le Billon (2003) notes that in Southeast Asia a prolific small arms trade has opened
the way for large-scale criminality in which “the rewards of immediate corrupt
gains become more certain than long term benefits of rule of law.” As discussed
by Wainwright (2010), Myanmar, Lao PDR and Cambodia all face challenges in
controlling their border areas, which have become major locations of trafficking,
Regional analysis
15

including human trafficking.21 The South Pacific countries have traditionally been
relatively free of organized and transnational crime. However, the region’s traditional
systems of patronage and client relations have proved difficult to replace with more
open, democratic ones and continue to heavily influence political decision-making,
while at the same time greater exposure to the political systems of other countries
has tended to increase corruption (Heijmans et al., 2004). Vanuatu has had recent
warnings from the OECD regarding the criminal exploitation of its lax taxation
regimes for money laundering purposes.
State responses to diversity and indigenous rights: Fearful of social fragmentation
and the emergence of groups that might be hostile to the state, many Southeast
Asian governments, including those of Thailand, Myanmar, Lao PDR and the
Philippines, have over a long time period taken the view that national unity requires
homogeneity. All aspects of national life, including education, have promoted a
single ideal of what it means to be a good and loyal citizen; an ideal that links very
closely to the culture, language and religion of the dominant population group. This
focus on repression of differences and forced assimilation has proved both risky
and costly, directly contributing to insurgencies around the region. Recognizing this
problem, some countries (e.g. the Philippines) are now reassessing their approach,
responding better to diversity and supporting local divergence from national norms.
This is not without its challenges, however, particularly where cultural practices
within a particular community clash with human rights, for example the increased
restrictions placed on Muslim women as a result of the extension of Sharia law in
Aceh (Hensengerth, 2011).
It has been discussed that many countries across Southeast Asia are home to
large numbers of indigenous and tribal groups. UNDP (2012) identifies factors that
often exclude indigenous and tribal groups as: discriminatory legislation, lack of
participation in decision-making, the weakening of traditional forms of dispute
resolution, violations of indigenous rights (especially in extractive industries), denial
of self-determination and the inferior status of minority languages. In Myanmar,
Viet Nam, Cambodia, Lao PDR,22 Thailand, Indonesia, the Philippines and Malaysia,
there are large populations of tribal and indigenous groups that are not only distinct
from each other, but are also collectively marginalized in relation to the majority
group or groups in many of the ways identified by UNDP. In the South Pacific
countries, by contrast, the majority of the population consists of numerous distinct
tribal and indigenous groups that have tended both to alternatively compete and
cooperate with each other on more equal terms. The challenge that this creates for
governments in developing a sense of national citizenship is somewhat facilitated
by the existence of considerable commonalities across cultures and, in some cases,
the existence of a lingua franca.
Just and sustainable management of the economy, urbanization and the
environment: Countries differ not only in their natural resource endowment but
also in their success in just and sustainable management of, access to, use of,
and benefit from those resources. Ensuring that there is at least reasonable parity
across population groups and that the natural resource base is sustained, often
implies a complex range of measures, including taxation control, land reform,
assiduous environmental management, infrastructure investment and housing and
facilities to respond to urban influx. Some countries, perhaps most notably Viet
Nam, have implemented policies and actions to lift people out of extreme poverty
16
21
Wainwright (2010) further observes that the Wa-controlled areas of Shan and Kachin States in Myanmar are major world
centres of heroin production. Piracy in the Straits of Malacca and South China and Sulu Seas has been successfully
reduced over the past decade, but remains a threat. Cyber crime and the illegal production and trafficking of counterfeit
synthetic drugs are emerging as major problems across Southeast Asia.
22
In Lao PDR, it is not strictly accurate to refer to all non-Lao (Tai Kadai) groups as ‘minorities’ as these in fact
collectively constitute more than half the total population.
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© UNICEF/NYHQ2011-2392/Pirozzi
Elenita and nine people in her extended family, who are indigenous Badajo, began living beneath a bridge
in Urdaneta City, in the province of Pangasinan on the island of Luzon, the Philippines. She and her family
had fled the conflict in their hometown of Jolo, capital of the island of Sulu. Only two of her family members
understand Tagalog, the region’s primary language, making it very difficult for them to make a living and
further compounding their already perilous situation.
and support a reasonable distribution of resources and economic opportunity. By
contrast, Myanmar, while equally well-endowed with natural and human resources,
has been held back by poor governance and mismanagement. Rights of land
ownership, use and access are integral to the Mindanao conflict in the Philippines,
were the central cause of the lawless violence in Solomon Islands in 2002, and have
become major foci of social unrest in Cambodia and Vanuatu. Disputes over rights
to the water and hydroelectric potential of the Mekong river, palm oil plantations
in Borneo, and logging operations in Sarawak, Indonesia and Papua New Guinea
are just a few examples of conflicts that have arisen as a result of aggressive and
insensitive economic policy taking precedence over considerations of ecology and
indigenous rights.
Equitable delivery of basic services: Closely linked to management of economic
development are questions of how far states have helped to share the benefits of
that development by increasing access to basic services, firstly through a reasonable
national reach and secondly, with any degree of equity across population groups
and by gender. The Chronic Poverty Report 2009 notes about Indonesia that “the
mean distance to a health clinic is 4 kilometres in Java, whilst in Papua it is over 32
kilometres; and while 66% of households in Java and Bali have access to improved
drinking water, only 9% do so in Papua. Such disparities are also reflected in the
incidence of chronic poverty.” South Pacific island nations in particular have struggled
to reach significant areas of their territories with even basic services, which has led
to an increasing sense of alienation among residents of the neglected regions.
While the UN ESCAP Economic Survey of Asia and the Pacific 2012 identifies PNG
as dominating the South Pacific’s relatively high economic growth, it warns that
unemployment, especially among youth, could lead to social and political instability.
The Chronic Poverty Report 2009 likewise attributes high levels of inter-communal
violence in PNG to youth unemployment and the “failure to transfer the profits of
resource exploitation into sustainable and equitable development.”
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17

Management of conflict and hazard risk: Countries differ in their capacity
(military, logistical and managerial) to prepare for, mitigate and respond effectively
to outbreaks of conflict or natural disaster. Indonesia provides an example of a
country that has made considerable progress in putting response systems in place.
The World Risk Index ranks eight Southeast Asian and Pacific countries (Vanuatu,
Tonga, Philippines, Solomon Islands, Timor-Leste, Papua New Guinea and Brunei
Darussalam) in its top 15 countries for ‘risk of natural disaster’. These are ranked
not solely on the basis of the absolute numbers, intensity or frequency of natural
hazards but also by the gap between these risks and the level of capacity to deal with
them. Political will is also a factor; Myanmar’s response to Cyclone Nargis in 2008
is a stark example of an unnecessarily high loss of life and level of destruction given
the military regime’s fair level of logistical capacity. The seemingly slow response to
Typhoon Haiyan has raised questions regarding whether political factors, not only
questions of gaps in systems and capacity, might have played a role.
Prohibition and containment of violence: Domestic violence (including genderbased violence23 and violence against children) is common in the countries of
Southeast Asia and the South Pacific, However, the nature and frequency of such
violence varies across and within countries and changes over time. The reasons for
these variations are many and include, for example, traditional cultural and religious
attitudes towards women and perspectives on child rearing and the status of
youth and adolescents. However, there are also governance-related influences on
whether violence is ignored, condoned, or actively disapproved of and discouraged.
These include, for example, the adoption and use of rights frameworks, public
awareness raising and debate around violence issues, systems of identification and
punishment of perpetrators and protection of the vulnerable.
While the promotion of non-violent behaviours in domestic life might not, of itself,
prevent conflicts from arising (when there are other provocative factors), there does
appear to be evidence that it can reduce the propensity of tensions or protests to
spill over into violence. Even more importantly, the acceptability of violence during
peacetime is an important determinant of the degree of violence that is meted
out to vulnerable people (women, children, persons with disabilities) in the event
of a breakdown in the rule of law. The Human Security Report (Vancouver, 2012)
presents evidence to suggest that high levels of abuse by the military in times of
conflict almost always reflects existing high levels of domestic violence, tolerance
of which has created an enabling environment for both combatants and civilians
to take advantage of chaotic situations to act with impunity. Luckham et al. (2006)
explore how masculine identities are often framed in terms that “facilitate the use
of violence in spaces of power”, thus creating highly dangerous situations when
large numbers of teenage and young adult urban males lack education, employment
or opportunity and become alienated from the wider society.
1.3.6 The geopolitical and regional contexts
Finally, there are a number of dynamics in the global and regional contexts that either
support or frustrate countries in the exercise of good governance and maintenance
of security.
New and old powers: Growing wealth and state power in the larger countries of
East Asia have in recent years seen a parallel growth in their ability to project force
and influence further afield. As these new powers (most significantly China but
23
18
A recent United Nations study on the prevalence of non-partner rape in East Asia and the Pacific, which included
case studies in Cambodia, Indonesia and Bougainville (PNG), found a high incidence of three forms of rape in all
countries, in particular in Bougainville, with associated factors including poverty, personal history of victimization
(especially in childhood), low empathy, alcohol misuse, masculinity emphasizing dominance over women, and
participation in gangs and related activities.
Regional analysis

also India) emerge, the former ‘great power’ influences in the region have been in
decline. As Jones (2013) states:
“In August 2013 India launched her first home-built aircraft carrier, China flew
aircraft off the carrier she had fitted-out in 2012 and other countries in the
region began to feel the absence of the former European colonial powers, as
they send fewer military missions to the region and reduce their assistance
budgets. Even the United States, about to base troops in Australia for the first
time, is no longer seen as able or willing to act alone, causing every state in the
region to think of partnerships and alliances in more complex forms. The old
truism that ‘wealth brings warships’ has been underlined by tension between
China, Japan, the Philippines, Vietnam and many other countries in the region
over small island groups claimed by several parties. While not affecting the
daily lives of many, the sparring raises expectations that inter-state violence
might again occur and normalises the idea of conflict by its constant repetition
in patriotic news media, sometimes reiterated in classrooms even where not
in the official curriculum. In many Southeast Asian countries from Thailand to
the Philippines, defence budgets are on the rise and the complexity of the
defence equipment they acquire increases even more. In front of everyone
is the example of North Korea, a paranoid dictatorship convinced of the
imminence of attack, both heavily-armed and politically unstable.”
Further developments at the time of finalizing this report (late 2013) include the
United States of America’s ‘pivot to Asia’ entailing a shift towards India in a counterbalancing of China, and an acceleration to potentially dangerous levels of Chinese
rhetoric against Japan.
Radical Islamism: More insidiously, extremist versions of radical Islamism
encouraging violence and ‘martyrdom’ have spread through Southeast Asia
(including Thailand, Indonesia and the Philippines). As well as bringing murder and
bombings in their wake, these have considerably exacerbated and complicated
existing insurgencies. Modern communications and social media have been
revealed as quite neutral in their political effect, just as able to amplify such extremist
propaganda as to promote progressive and peaceful ideas. States have been slow
to encourage traditional, non-radicalized Muslim clergy and institutions to counter
this new and growing influence through encouragement of debate, discussion and
toleration. At the same time, some analysts have criticized authoritarian governments
of the region for using the United States-led ‘War on Terror’ as a justification to
delay progress on democratic reform and clamp down on legitimate activities and
peaceful protest in ways that can increase the grievances felt by minority Muslim
populations (Wright-Neville, 2004).
Frameworks for transnational and regional cooperation: To some extent
countering trends towards instability and conflict, frameworks for cross-country
cooperation and elements of regional governance have emerged in recent years.
For the South Pacific Island States, the Pacific Islands Forum has long supported
inter-state dialogue and cooperation and some have predicted that communications
technologies will support greater economic integration. Putzel and Di John (2012)
suggest that the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) is important
as a “significant expression of the collective desire for the stability required for
economic growth.” Lo Bianco (2013)24 postulates that the interdependence of
ASEAN Member States will increase with the formation of the ASEAN Economic
Community (AEC) from 2015, through the setting of shared benchmarks and
standards of performance in education, economic affairs and human rights. Lo
Bianco also identifies the ‘Statement of Indigenous Peoples and Ethnic Minorities
24
Lo Bianco, J., ‘Language, Education and Social Cohesion: Malaysia, Myanmar, Thailand’, Final Desk Review,
Conceptual Framework and Workplan, January 2013.
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19

of ASEAN’ as a hopeful indication that the risk of increased homogenization (as a
result of greater integration) can be countered by the opening-up of democratic
spaces for bottom-up and transnational participation.
Transnational initiatives also take the form of diplomacy and development assistance.
Competing for votes at the United Nations, and an improvement in their image
regionally, many powerful states within Asia and the Pacific (especially China and
India) and beyond (including the United States and Australia) have increased their
engagement in both in recent years. This brings the potential for additional resources
and capacity development that can support development and stabilization. However,
international assistance can also be a factor in instability. Jones (2013) suggests
that, when conceived of as ‘charm offensives’, “the competitive nature of these
activities may increase rather than decrease unease for the national governments
that are at the centre of these attentions.”
Cooperation over conflict and national hazard management: Early warning
systems in the Pacific for tsunamis and cyclones have been in existence for some
time. However, inaccurate forecasts over Typhoon Haiyan’s timing have served as
a reminder that there can be no complacency on seeking to further improve these
systems, while avoiding over-reliance on them as a substitute for local responsibility.
For the Indian Ocean, early warning alerts have been much improved since the
devastating December 2004 tsunami, but the same caution applies. Meanwhile,
Wainwright (2010) notes that mechanisms for conflict management in East Asia and
the Pacific are less well developed than in other regions, opining that this is due in
part to the fragmented and localized nature of many of the conflicts, to which the
existing international architecture is not well suited. Wainwright also suggests that
ASEAN’s limited regional coherence and default position of ‘non-interference’ have
also thus far limited its role in peacekeeping and peacebuilding in Southeast Asia.
1.4 Conclusion
In conclusion, Southeast Asia and the South Pacific face a range of critical challenges that
justify their inclusion in a study of ‘peace-promoting’ education reform. Many countries are
currently (or recently) affected by significant intra-state violent conflict, inter-community
violence or environment-related disasters. These not only seriously impact on the lives
and livelihoods of those directly affected and have grave implications for children, they
also create considerable challenges in sustaining and consolidating development gains,
including making further progress in education.
These conflicts and natural disasters have been shown to have complex causes and
dynamics, being influenced by historical factors, natural resource endowment and the
current interplay of geopolitical, economic, environmental, cultural and social change that
will also bring new threats and challenges in the future. It can be postulated that ‘education’
(as both a human right, a service and a scarce and rationed resource at higher levels) is
very likely to be integral to at least some of these dynamics. At the same time, examples
from across both regions of success in managing and responding to these changes while
continuing to make human development gains, suggests that states and citizens are in the
position to make a positive contribution to the promotion of peace and the reduction and
mitigation of conflict. Again, it seems reasonable to hypothesize that both the institutions
and the process of education might have a positive role to play in these peace-promoting
processes. This leads to the topic of the next chapter, which presents, discusses and
critiques the findings of the growing body of literature that sheds more light on the ways in
which education can be integral to the dynamics of conflict and what its potential roles in
peace promotion might be.
20
Regional analysis

A girl smiles during English class at St. John
Primary School in Honiara, the Solomon Islands.
Regional analysis
© UNICEF/NYHQ2006-2551/Pirozzi
21

© UNICEF/NYHQ2006-2531/Pirozzi
22
Colette, 5, sits on a stool and cracks coconuts in
her family’s dirt-floor kitchen in Erakor Bridge, a
suburb of Port Vila, the capital of Vanuatu. Vanuatu
is one of 14 Pacific Island Countries, which
form a group of atolls dispersed over 30 million
square kilometres of the Pacific Ocean. Because
populations are scattered across multiple islands,
efficient delivery of health care, education and
other social services is difficult. The region is
also vulnerable to natural disasters like floods,
typhoons and volcanic eruptions.
Regional analysis

2. Concepts and themes in the literature
2.1 Introduction
The previous chapter identified a range of complex and inter-related social, political,
environmental and economic dynamics at work in Southeast Asia and the South Pacific
that seem to be drivers of violence and conflict. It has been observed that education would
seem to be integral to a number of these processes and over the past decade, there has
been increasing interest in this relationship. The founding of the Inter-Agency Network for
Education in Emergencies (INEE) and the subsequent dedication of the 2011 Education For
All Global Monitoring Report to issues of education and armed conflict25 have sharpened
international attention, in particular, to the provision of education in emergencies and conflictaffected contexts. More recently, there have also been mounting calls from the INEE,
NGOs and United Nations agencies for stronger inclusion of education in the architecture
of peacebuilding, conflict sensitive approaches to programming, and the mainstreaming of
DRR and climate change adaptation into education sector planning.
As a part of this trend, a body of literature has developed – and continues to expand – that
explores the ways in which education might mediate the relationship between peace and
conflict. This literature includes a few attempts at identifying quantitative relationships or
correlations between education indicators and measures of conflict or fragility, treatises
exploring the process linkages of education to peace and conflict, documentation of ‘lessons
learned’ from programmes on the ground and, increasingly, a range of advocacy or practical
‘guidance’ documents containing more generalized exhortations of what ‘needs to be done’.
This chapter seeks to review, summarize and critique the findings and perspectives from
these various writings. The literature review is undertaken both as a useful exercise in its
own right (few critical reviews of this body of literature have been undertaken to date) and
in order to inform a research methodology for unpacking ‘peace-promoting sector reform’
at the country level. The full list of references is given in Annex C.
2.2 Statistical relationships between the development of
education systems and levels of conflict
In the previous chapter it was noted that many countries in Southeast Asia and the South
Pacific are making strong headway to achieve universal primary or basic education, but that
these goals are not yet fully attained. Some studies have sought to identify correlations and
relationships between macro education indicators and quantitative measures of conflict
or fragility. The most comprehensive was probably that of Thyne (2006), who undertook
a statistical regression analysis of 160 countries from 1980 to 1999. He found significant
negative correlation between the incidence of civil war and high levels of intra-state and
anti-government violence and the four factors of investment in education, secondary
enrolment rates, male secondary enrolment rates, and adult literacy rates. Thyne takes
care, however, not to claim any direct causal effect of education upon the levels of conflict
in a society.26 He hypothesizes that the correlations might imply that the educational
process directly reduces motivations for conflict (through a range of mechanisms that are
discussed further in the subsequent sections of this report). However, the correlations
probably reflect the important, but indirect role of education in a complex dynamic of
25
The Education For All Global Monitoring Report 2011: The Hidden crisis: Armed conflict and education, UNESCO, 2011.
26
Thyne’s findings are quoted in some advocacy documents in a way that suggests a clear preventative effect of
education has been established.
Concepts and themes in the literature
23

socio-economic development processes27 (i.e. successfully developing countries can
invest more in education, which in turn promotes further – and more equitable – growth,
which supports further educational expansion in a ‘virtuous cycle’ which reduces the risks
of conflict and fragility). Both of these mechanisms assume that ‘education’ implies more
than just enrolment; that, for example, skills and a certain knowledge are acquired and that
education is of a minimum quality.
Alternatively, the correlations might indicate that conflict negatively impacts on national
educational development rather than the reverse. However, the Human Security Report
Project (Vancouver, 2012) presents evidence to dispute this second assumption, while
somewhat reinforcing the first. Although not denying the devastating impacts of violent
conflict on the regions, the communities and individuals directly affected,28 the Human
Security Report questions the assumption that modern types of conflict have generally
reversed national trends in education indicators. It presents data illustrating that over the
past decade most conflict-affected countries have continued to experience an increase in
their national education indicators, albeit at a somewhat slowed rate of progress. In just
a few of the countries with very severe and widespread conflict did national education
indicators further decline during the conflict period. However, in these cases the indicators
were already low or declining before the conflict occurred. The report therefore cautions
against necessarily viewing conflict as ‘development in reverse’.
Figure 2 (below) summarizes what might be the positive influences of expanding education
systems (that at least deliver basic literacy, numeracy and thinking skills) on processes that
were identified in chapter one as mediators of the relationship between peace and stability,
and conflict, fragility and natural disaster in the Southeast Asia and Pacific regions.
Figure 2: Potential positive influences of general education expansion/universalization on
processes that link to peace, conflict and natural disaster
Processes
Possible long-term effects of development of national education systems
Economic growth,
poverty and inequality
Environmental
degradation and
climate change
•
Early childhood development, primary education, lower secondary education and
girls’ education are widely demonstrated to support socio-economic development
and poverty reduction, which in turn might reduce motivations for conflict.
•
Attainment of basic skills through formal education might increase capacities to
mitigate or respond to environmental change, protect assets and reduce risk.
The education of girls through to at least lower secondary education is shown to
have an impact on family size and thus population growth, potentially reducing
conflicts related to local pressures on natural habitats and resources.
•
Social, cultural and
demographic change
Governance, capacity
and geopolitical
influences
•
Achieving universal basic education tends to support social capital and social
mobility, thus reducing social exclusion that can create conflict.
•
Education and literacy support empowerment, political participation and
development of ‘civil society’, increasing confidence in the state and reducing
motivations for conflict.
Basic education might make young people less vulnerable to the influence of
violent and irrational ideologies.
Expansion of education increases, at least in theory, the available pool of talent
for effective national leadership.
•
•
27
and Natural
Disaster
Peace,
Security
and Hazard
Management
TheseFragility,
are wellConflict
documented
(e.g. see
The World Bank website) and
include
impacts
on economic
growth, health,
family size, the status of women, democratic participation and social capital.
Society
28
24
Education
Education
Society
These local impacts of conflict are discussed in more detail in 2.3.3.
Governance
processes
Significant
Effective education
governance
Poor education
Education services
Governance processes
Concepts and themes in the literature
Governance to maintain
rule of law, protect
vulnerable citizens,

It can be seen that there are many ways in which the provision of education in itself
(irrespective of any attempts to be ‘conflict sensitive’) might have important effects on
reducing the level of conflict in a society. It should be noted, however, that many of
these impacts of improving and expanding education on national indicators of peace
and security are likely to be realized only over the long term and are part of a network
of complex, interacting processes. No direct, linear causation can be claimed. As Davies
(2013) expressed it: “input-output models do not work in social terms, as too many messy
contextual factors and power interests intervene. The attribution gap is too huge. Even
if conflict were to decrease, it is almost impossible to trace this back to something that
happened in education.”
2.3 Three sets of processes that link education to peace,
conflict and natural disaster
Recognizing the limitations of identifying statistical relationships, a range of studies have
sought to understand in more detail the various processes and mechanisms through which
education might mediate the relationship between peace and stability on the one hand,
and conflict and natural disaster on the other. Despite their diversity, these studies would
seem to a great extent to repeat, expand on and elaborate three main sets of associated
concepts. For the purposes of this study these have been given the abbreviated labels of
‘exclusionóinclusion’, ‘fragmentationócohesion’ and ‘vulnerabilityóresilience’. While all
three have relevance to both conflict and natural disaster, the first two in particular are
emphasized in discussions on ‘human-made’ conflict, while discussions on resilience focus
on mitigation, risk-reduction, preparedness and response to all kinds of crises, including
natural disasters. Each of these is further explained and explored below.
2.3.1 Exclusion ó inclusion
The Regional analysis explored how stark economic disparities and social exclusion29
can be drivers of fragility and conflict. There has been considerable exploration of
the idea that education can be an integral part of these processes of exclusion, yet
on the other hand can reduce overt conflict and support peaceful relations through
attention to inclusion, equity and participation. In education, ‘equity’ is understood
to mean that all children, regardless of gender, ethnicity, language, geographic
location, residency status or other identity factor have an equal chance to fulfil their
individual potential through equity of access to education of comparable quality
and duration, resulting in equity of opportunity to avail oneself of the outcomes and
benefits of education. ‘Inclusion’ is a similar concept, but focuses on ensuring that
mainstream educational provision supports full participation in education by being
responsive to those at risk of exclusion, for example working children, migrants or
children with disabilities. In the literature that links exclusion-inclusion in education
to ‘peace promotion’, two main mechanisms are identified:
Inclusion and participation in education reduces the opportunity and
motivation for engagement in conflict on the part of the learners themselves:
Thyne (2006), in the study introduced above, hypothesizes that education might
have a ‘stability’ effect. He postulates that formal education, by constructively
engaging children and young people and giving hope for the future, might reduce
the motivation for armed conflict. In so doing, Thyne is implying an assumption
29
The Australian Government publication ‘The Origins, Meaning, Definition and Economic Implications of the Concept
of Social Inclusion/Exclusion’ (2009) gives a useful definition of social exclusion (from Pierson, 2001) as “a process
that deprives individuals and families, groups and neighbourhoods of the resources required for the participation in
the social, economic and political activities of the society as a whole. It is primarily a consequence of poverty and
low income, but other factors such as discrimination, low educational attainment and depleted living environments
underpin it.” In this definition, access to education is one of the ‘resources required for participation’ while education
outcomes (literacy levels) are seen as underpinning the poverty that lies at the heart of exclusion.
Concepts and themes in the literature
25

that formal education is of sufficient quality and relevance to be able to offer
some kind of reward for perseverance. Thyne, however, cautions against simplistic
interpretations, recognizing that the leaders, agitators and manipulators in most
conflicts are themselves often highly educated.30 Dupuy (2008) cites evidence
that expanding access to secondary education in post-conflict situations is directly
linked to reducing motivations for armed conflict by raising both the social cost and
psychological constraints. The stability link would seem to be strongest for postprimary education (whether formal secondary schooling or non-formal or alternative
learning programmes) in current conflict-affected countries, where it presents a
tangible and immediate alternative to violence for vulnerable youth and adolescents
(especially males). A number of advocacy documents (e.g. INEE, 2010 and Save the
Children, 2011) therefore encourage a greater priority on these programmes, with
some calling for a particular targeting of boys and young men.
Some studies have extended the argument ‘backwards’, emphasizing attention to
targeted early childhood interventions to support more equitable progress through
to post-primary levels of education. This, it has been suggested, will reduce the
probability of conflict by keeping the most vulnerable children in school for longer
(Vargos Baron, 2006). While this adds to the already strong arguments31 for reaching
the most disadvantaged children with ECD support, it should be emphasized that
the causal chain here is very long. In other words, the impact of ECD can be more
easily linked to the achievement of gradual systemic expansion with equity and a
minimum quality of education than to any direct impact on conflict reduction.
Equitable inclusion, transparent and fair resource distribution and structures
for participation in decision-making about education prevent, or reduce,
tensions and grievances over unequal access to resources, opportunities and
power (that education provides), which are common drivers of ethnic and
inter-community conflict: Many studies suggest that inequitable provision of
education at different levels, for instance in teacher distribution and resourcing that
result in inequality of opportunity and/or outcomes of education, might all contribute
to grievances that fuel tensions or actual conflict. This is particularly the case where
these issues are not merely logistical (e.g. difficulties in encouraging good teachers
to work in remote areas), but relate to a lack of commitment to equal opportunities,
weak structures to enable a fair ‘voice’ in educational decision-making, and even
active corruption, for example in school admissions policies or assessment practices.
The grievance argument is essentially about ‘good governance’ in education, based
on the understanding that it is the stark inequalities and injustices (or perceptions
of these) – rather than the size of the ‘overall pot’– that create resentments which
fuel tensions across groups.
Novelli and Smith (for UNICEF, 2011) found that inequitable education systems were
key drivers of conflict in Lebanon, Nepal and Sierra Leone. In a subsequent UNICEF
Conflict Analysis32 undertaken in Sierra Leone it was found that “resentment on
the part of those who can only access sub-standard state education when others
can afford better opportunities in the private sector” is a major grievance. Similar
linkages have been found in Guatemala and Liberia (Save the Children, 2008) and
in Sri Lanka (Lo Bianco, 2011). A 2005 report on Nepal by Human Rights for Global
Justice cited denial of education as integral to caste discrimination in Nepal, which
has made Dalits33 a “ready support base for the insurgency”. Dalit children have
26
30
The Paris-educated progenitors of the Cambodia genocide provide a particularly stark example of how educational
privilege is not always used for the social good.
31
Walker in The Lancet (2011) describes in detail how inadequate support in early childhood sets the stage for inequality,
noting that ‘with cumulative exposure to developmental risks, disparities widen and trajectories become more firmly
established’.
32
For PBEA.
33
Dalits: the group at the bottom of the Hindu caste system, historically known as ‘untouchables’.
Concepts and themes in the literature

© UNICEF/PHIA2008-0004/Alquinto
Children hold up placards bearing their wishes for peace as they greet the arrival of the Special Representative
of the Secretary General for Children and Armed Conflict, Radhika Coomaraswamy, in the community of
Datu Piang, Mindanao region, southern Philippines in 2008.
been denied access to schools and discriminated against within schools in terms
of where they sit in the classroom, the expectations of teachers, attitudes of
classmates and denial of access to school wells and other facilities and resources.
Bush and Salterelli (2011) conclude that there is such a strong relationship between
educational access and inter-communal tensions that they propose that “unequal
access to education should be viewed as an indicator of deteriorating relationships
between groups.”
Given the fundamental role of language in defining identity, the use – or exclusion
– of languages in education is often cited as a factor in social tension and discord.
Lo Bianco (2013) explains that there is a “close but complex relationship between
language and literacy diversity and education with the opportunities for social,
citizenship and economic advancement that societies make available….as a
result, language questions are often implicated in conflict, tension and struggle
within societies, and so a cause of tension is often related to ethnicity differences
when these are represented by language differences.”34 Smith, A. (2011) identifies
language in education as a key dimension of inter-communal conflicts in China
(Xinjiang), India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Kyrgyzstan.
Aware of the grievance factor, advocacy documents for conflict sensitive or
peacebuilding education strongly emphasize measures to support inclusion and
equity. Save the Children International, in its Rewrite the Future (2011) campaign,
states that “commitment to universal access to education sends a signal to the
population that the State is committed to addressing the root causes of conflict
through broadening education opportunity” The document goes on to assert that
inclusion can be achieved through a range of measures, including quantitative
34
Lo Bianco, J., ‘Language, Education and Social Cohesion: Malaysia, Myanmar, Thailand’, Final Desk Review, Conceptual
Framework and Workplan, January 2013.
Concepts and themes in the literature
27

criteria for resource allocation, collection and use of data on enrolment and transition
disaggregated by geographic area and ethnicity and “measures to prevent local
discrimination” in matters of access, scholarship provision or fee waivers.
Addressing linguistic diversity through provision of education in children’s mother
tongues (e.g. through mother tongue-based bilingual education) is also promoted as
an important means by which education can reduce inequality, by attracting children
of minority language groups to school and supporting their improved learning. For
example, IIEP guidance on integrating conflict and DRR into education sector
planning (2012) recommends ‘inclusive language policies’, while Save the Children
(2011) argues for “good practice in multilingual education to support more equitable
inclusion in fragile or conflict affected situations.” Issues of language, education and
peacebuilding are discussed further in the next section on fragmentation-cohesion.
Other studies focus on the role of participatory education governance. Smith, A.
(2010) emphasizes the importance of “governance structures for representation and
participation at national or local levels” to ensure inclusion and support the resolution
of grievances, and identifies transparency in funding and the balance of central and
local authority as being of critical importance in post-conflict situations. Some writers
point out that resolution often requires more than ensuring ‘objective’ fairness since
(as was discussed in Chapter 1) many conflicts are also linked to more subjective
identity and symbolic associations. West (2013), for example, advises that measures
to reduce conflict through education should take account of “perceptions, beliefs and
community stories about education and its delivery”.
It is noted that the arguments for attention to inclusion and equity in education as
a means of ‘peace promotion’ focus in particular on equity across groups (ethnic,
linguistic, social), since it is the divisions (psychological, social and geographical)
between these identity-based groupings that often form the fissures along which
societies fracture. These understandings serve as a useful reinforcement of the
recent broadening of concern beyond the individual and household disparities
related to gender and poverty,35 to embrace other forms of social exclusion.
Unfortunately, however, some of the ‘guidance’ on what needs to be done to achieve
equitable inclusion appears simplistic. For example, it is often advocated to focus on
categorization and disaggregation in order to get a better measure of how different
groups are faring in educational terms and to target those that are disadvantaged,
but without reflection on the problems associated with categorization based on
social or ethnic grouping (compared, for example, with socio-economic status,
gender or geographic location). Such groupings often have a subjective element and
in situations of conflict are often politically manipulated and in rapid flux.36 In such
situations, an over-emphasis on achieving an exact and measurable parity between
social groups might serve to inflame tensions rather than to calm them, as well as
lead to an escalation of new identities and claims.37
28
35
See Faul, 2013.
36
In Nepal, the identity of ‘Madhesi’ has assumed greater significance in recent decades. In the conflicts in Mindanao
and South Thailand, religion (as opposed to culture and ethnicity) has become more strongly emphasized as a factor of
difference. During the break up of former Yugoslavia, many people of mixed descent were forced to align with selected
identities according to what seemed to promise the greatest chance of survival and protection. In the last two decades
of segregation, Serbs and Croats have sought to move their respective dialects of what was formerly ‘Serbo-Croat’
down divergent paths.
37
In Nepal, for example, while some of the resentment against the introduction of a policy of stipends for all children
of Dalit or marginalized indigenous backgrounds might be dismissed as simply an expression of caste discrimination,
there are also genuine grievances on the part of those that are ineligible but face similar levels of poverty. The search
for an acceptable allocation formula continues. Rwanda’s experience provides a stark reminder that ethnic identities
can be both overwhelmingly negative and to a large extent spurious. In these cases, to be inclusive, education needs
to be ‘blind’ to these identities rather than to reinforce them (Rwanda has banned the use of the former Hutu/ Tutsi
classification).
Concepts and themes in the literature

A further limitation of some of the papers discussing inclusion as a conflictprevention measure is that, having identified either general or context-specific
groups in need of attention (e.g. adolescent boys, particular ethnic groups),
they then propose discrete strategies that are specific to these groups, without
reference to how these need to fit into more holistic and rights-based inclusive
education frameworks. In other words, the claims of those who pose a ‘conflict
risk’ are not considered in balance with the equal claims of those facing other kinds
of exclusion and discrimination in education but do not pose such a risk (for example
children with disabilities). Although, as Lynn Davies (2013) points out, there are welldeveloped ‘rights’ frameworks and concepts that could help to work through such
dilemmas and balance different claims, these are surprisingly rarely used in the
considerations of equity/inclusion in relation to peace and conflict, even by agencies
that have developed and used such frameworks in other aspects of their work.
2.3.2 Fragmentation ó cohesion
The Regional analysis discussed how many conflicts in the two regions, while
rooted in complex historic, economic and social processes, often manifest along
ethno-linguistic or religious fault lines. Once such conflicts have taken hold, they
tend to self-perpetuate as each group’s view of ‘the other’ becomes more distorted.
A second recurrent theme of the literature is how the organization, processes and
content of education reinforce the wider societal dynamics of either fragmentation,
discrimination and violence on the one hand, or social cohesion38 and peacebuilding39
on the other. As with the exclusion-inclusion dimension, these processes would
seem to operate directly and indirectly, over a range of time-scales. Some of the
main linkages and mechanisms are highlighted below.
Schools have an important role in either normalizing or challenging violence
in a society: A number of studies focus on the negative role of education in the
acceptance and reinforcement of violent patterns of behaviour. A multi-country
UNICEF40 study, Reducing Violence Against Children in Schools, found that violence
against children was widespread in the case study countries, often including sexual
violence against girls and victimization of children of low social status. It stated that
the frequent use of physical punishment in schools “tends to result in violence
between children and the assumption that violence may be used to coerce a
smaller or weaker person” and that it is often meted out arbitrarily to children based
on identity characteristics rather than actual behaviour. There is strong evidence
that children exposed to violence, especially from a very young age, are at greater
risk of perpetuating violence than those who were not exposed, and that high
levels of pre-existing societal violence increase the vulnerability of civilians in a
situation where law and order, along with normal protective systems, have broken
down.41 These linkages further reinforce human rights-based arguments as well as
38
A simple definition of ‘social cohesion’ is a term to describe the bonds or ‘glue’ that bring people together in
society, particularly in the context of cultural diversity. Forrest and Kearns in Social Cohesion, Social Capital and the
Neighbourhood associate social cohesion with a number of factors: common values and civic culture, social order and
social control, social solidarity and reductions in wealth disparities, social networks and social capital, place attachment
and identity. Social cohesion can be an attribute of communities or of a society as a whole.
39
The United Nations Peacebuilding Support Office website ascribes the concept of peacebuilding to Johan Galtung
(1976), who called for the creation of “peacebuilding structures to promote sustainable peace by addressing the
‘root causes’ of violent conflict and supporting indigenous capacities for peace management and conflict resolution.”
Galtung espoused ‘positive peace’, which actively addresses the “social injustices that may be a cause of violence.”
His ideas were later expanded by Lederach (2009), who advocated for “adaptive processes that address deeper long
term relational and systemic processes that produce violently destructive expressions of conflict”
40
Garner, P., and C. Gittins, Northampton Centre for Learning Behaviour, University of Northampton, UK, Reducing
Violence against Children in Schools, United Nations Children’s Fund
41
See section 1.3.5.
Concepts and themes in the literature
29

educational arguments (related to the affective basis of learning) for implementation
of overall policies and practices that ban all forms of violence in schools and learning
institutions and encourage non-violent ways of instilling discipline and resolving
differences. For these strategies, the need to ‘start young’ through quality ECD and
‘child-friendly’ primary education is often emphasized.
There is also some evidence of a more short-term potential for reducing violent
behaviour through overt teaching of non-violent conflict resolution skills as part of
targeted ‘peace education’ programmes in conflict-affected contexts. Dupuy (2008)
finds that “approaches in education that support gender equality and discourage
use of physical violence (including gender–based violence) in cooperative learning
environments, teach children critical lessons about non-violent conflict resolution.”
Of course, these alone are unlikely to be successful without actions to change other
factors that provoke conflict; nevertheless, they have a role to play.
The ways in which education systems cater for different ethnic, linguistic and
social groups can promote or reduce cohesion, depending on the context:
State education systems respond to heterogeneous populations in different ways.
Some public school systems operate in different languages, some are segregated to
reflect the geographic distribution of different ethnic or linguistic groups, and some
allow a diversity of education providers, including religious schools. By contrast,
others have favoured a more uniform approach in which all children access more
or less the same ‘package’. It would seem that all of these systems could support
either cohesion or fragmentation, depending on the specifics of the context.
Smith, A. (2011) suggests that segregated schooling “can be instrumental in
weakening bonds and understandings between groups and fragmenting the society
as a whole” in situations where these reflect the “ghettoization” of different groups.
He states that “the prevalence of separate schools based on identity factors in conflict
areas such as Bosnia-Herzegovina, Guatemala, Lebanon, Mozambique, Northern
Ireland, Rwanda and Sri Lanka suggests that the linkage is not just a coincidence.”
He observes that segregated schooling is generally not the initial cause of conflict,
but that if conflict takes hold, such schooling systems are vulnerable to polarization
and propaganda. Schools might actively reinforce, or simply be unable to influence
or contain, social processes in which differences are increasingly exaggerated and
distorted, each group’s particular set of values and beliefs promoted as ‘superior’ to
those of others and the opportunity for social mixing curtailed. Sri Lanka provides
an example of where a formerly segregated system (initially seen as a sensible
way to serve the needs of distinct communities)42 became deeply embroiled in the
dynamics of conflict and is now being urgently reformed.
The role of segregated religious or ‘faith-based’ schools is often a focus of
controversy. Such schools have been perceived as creating divisions in cases where
they espouse extremist or violent ideology, or resist the promotion of objective,
critical or scientific thought. Institutions in the North-West Frontier Province of
Pakistan, southern Somalia and elsewhere have been categorized as such. However,
in so far as such ‘schools’ target the very vulnerable in chaotic situations, do very
little in terms of education, fall outside the purview of state education systems
and are often foreign-funded, it is probably more accurate to view them not as
illustrations of how faith-based schooling can go wrong but rather of the risks
incurred by states who fail to provide poor and vulnerable areas with acceptable
basic education services.
42
30
Lo Bianco (2013) reported findings that the long-standing practice of mother tongue instruction in Sri Lanka is a
major reason for higher rates of literacy and better results for girls than in Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh and India. The
reformed system in Sri Lanka will therefore maintain mother tongue-based multilingual education practices within
integrated school settings.
Concepts and themes in the literature

© UNICEF/NYHQ2009-0224/Estey
Students from an indigenous community read in the library in Ban Pho Primary School in Bac Han District
in the remote Lao Cai Province in Viet Nam. This UNICEF-supported school provides education in a safe,
child-friendly learning environment and includes classes taught in the children’s indigenous language.
By contrast, Smith, A. (while recommending integrated schooling as “generally
most likely to support cohesion”) concurs that many faith-based schools (of
different religions) ‘go the extra mile’ to be inclusive, support poor families and
promote inter-faith understanding. One example of this could be the strong role
that Buddhist monastic schools in Myanmar have played for many years in enabling
poor children of different backgrounds to access affordable basic education.
Madrasahs in moderate Islamic states, including Indonesia and Turkey, have had
considerable success in improving access to an all-round education and reducing
threats of extremist distortion. Van Bruinessen (2009) describes the long-standing
achievements of Indonesian madrasahs (Pesantrens) in both moderating religious
self-segregation and improving educational standards, through a 70:30 curriculum
ratio of secular subjects and religious instruction, discouragement of rote learning,
and carefully planned integration of modern teaching methods combined with a
clear government role in oversight. The argument, therefore, seems to be more for a
state role in regulation and oversight of faith-based schools43 rather than necessarily
taking a path of secularization or uniformity.
Approaches to ethnic and linguistic plurality and diversity in the classroom
can promote cohesion or exacerbate tensions and conflict: Distinct from, but
linked to, questions of different kinds of education provision are how curriculum,
pedagogical and language policy and practice respond to the linguistic and cultural
diversity of the population. Many countries, in the name of social cohesion or
national unity, very strongly promote a single national identity, culture, language
and interpretation of history. Joseph and Matthews (2013) note how this is the
43
Interestingly, Van Bruinessen finds that states that have successfully integrated madrasahs as a form of statesupported education have not left these schools entirely under the purview of the ministry of education but given
a prominent role to ministries of religion, whose capacities to scrutinize and supervise in this area are often better
developed.
Concepts and themes in the literature
31

case for the majority of Southeast Asian states, many of which remain strongly
authoritarian. Bush and Salterelli (2000) suggest that this approach to education can
exacerbate tensions or conflict as a “weapon in dominance of minorities through
the suppression of language, traditions, art forms, religious practices and cultural
values” as well as “manipulate history and textbook content for political purposes
or inculcate attitudes of superiority/inferiority.” Wright (2010) finds that education
in Tibetan areas of China supports “modernization and assimilation, giving clear
messages regarding the inferiority of traditional ways of life.”
In other cases, a single language in education is used because it is assumed
this is necessary to complete a fragile process of ‘nation-building’ or because of
fears that using many languages might lead to “uncontrollable empowerment of
minorities” (Kosonen and Young, 2010). Sometimes, also, ideas of a national identity
are manipulated to promote a sense of superiority over neighbouring and foreign
countries to serve geopolitical agendas.
Papers that focus on questions of language in education in relation to social
cohesion and conflict tend to favour bilingual and multilingual approaches. Smith, A.
(2010) argues that, in such contexts, “multilingual policies may provide protections
against conflict resulting from the exclusion of minorities from education or the use
of language to reinforce unequal power relationships between groups.” However,
there is sometimes over-simplification of what is a complex area, since rights to the
mother language and culture need to be balanced with rights to languages for equal
social, economic and political participation and opportunity, within an overall planned
approach that is appropriate and feasible to a particular context. The commissioning
of the UNICEF EAPRO study under the PBEA initiative on Language, Education
and Social Cohesion (Lo Bianco, 2013–2015) was in response to the realization
that current frameworks are not sufficiently nuanced and that more sophisticated
understandings are required.
Similarly, regarding cultural difference and diversity, works concerned with ‘peace
promotion’ tend to favour inter-cultural or multi-cultural approaches. Two closely linked
aspects of these are emphasized: the development of knowledge, understanding
and appreciation of different cultures, beliefs, practices and perspectives and the
development of tolerance and respectful relationships across groups. As was noted
with regards to violence reduction, these approaches are seen as having relevance
over both the short and long term. Over a longer period, the whole educational
process, beginning in the early years and including both the overt and ‘hidden’
curriculum, can support the inculcation of certain attitudes and values, develop
understanding of a range of perspectives and challenge stereotypes, prejudices or
bias that might be commonplace in the world outside the school gate. UNESCO is
currently undertaking a multi-country study on Learning to Live Together, based on
the assumption that specific curriculum content and approaches can make a longterm contribution to peace.
Smith and Vaux advocate that development of inter-cultural understanding and
relational skills can be more easily achieved through an integrated and ‘outcomebased’ curriculum that incorporates special ‘topics’ that overtly address these areas
(e.g. peace education, civics). Clearly, where the mainstream curriculum remains
inflexible and rote-based, the best option might be to introduce these themes
as co-curricular areas that can be taught more appropriately through learnercentred approaches. There certainly seems to be a case in some circumstances
for implementing contextualized programmes that address urgent needs to create,
restore or consolidate peaceful relationships, often as a wider part of peacebuilding
efforts. Some evidence of the positive effects of peace education programmes
on young people’s attitudes to ‘enemy’ groups have been found in Afghanistan
(Sadheed, 2012), Israel-Palestine (Salomon, 2004), Bosnia (Sinclair, 2008) and Nepal
(M. Smith, 2010).
32
Concepts and themes in the literature

Some voices, however, while strongly supporting the need to develop critical
thinking, question the requirement for ‘additional’ content as well as the wisdom of
approaches that overly emphasize issues of difference. Ledda (2010), writing about
the United Kingdom (where there is a reappraisal of approaches to multi-cultural
education that seem to have weakened social cohesion),44 argues that the ‘basics’
of education might be more powerful than curricular ‘add-ons’ in developing skills
most fundamental to the creation of a tolerant and cohesive society. These, he
argues, include the ability to differentiate fact from opinion, understand narrative
and perspective, engage in debate and operate in the public sphere with a degree
of objective detachment from one’s own emotions and beliefs. “Through education,
children begin to access the world that is common to all human beings, regardless
of whether we see it from different standpoints. Learning to read and the study
of grammar and maths are the first steps towards providing us with the abstract
thought necessary for our minds to move across time and space and look at the
world from others’ points of view.” Related to this argument are questions of
whether shifting too far in favour of approaches that emphasize ‘soft’ skills and
attitudes might backfire in terms of building cohesion, if the recipients perceive that
these are reducing time or resources for rigorous academic learning, viewed as a
means of escaping poverty and discrimination.
Values and attitudes are not, of course, only inculcated through direct teaching of
overt curriculum content. Children also pick these up from the ways in which language
and illustrations are used in textbooks and other educational materials. These might
be blatantly biased in favour of a particular group or version of events, reinforce
negative stereotyping or go beyond the promotion of patriotism to that of aggressive
nationalism. Cole and Barsalou (2006) assert that “approaches that expose children
to multiple historical narratives can reinforce democratic and peaceful tendencies
in transitional societies emerging from violent conflict.” Nicolai (2010) stresses the
importance of early attention to the revision of curriculum, including textbooks and
educational materials, as part of the process of peacebuilding in situations where
biases have been identified as contributing to tensions.
In summary, the literature that discusses the relationship between education and
social cohesion identifies some important concerns. In particular, the need to really
understand what is implied by the aphorism ‘do no harm’ is underscored. The
more obvious forms of ‘harm’ to be eliminated in all learning institutions include
all forms of violence, hostility and discrimination against specific groups, as well as
ideological indoctrination or manipulation. Such measures are already human rights
imperatives and indeed recognized as essential for real education and learning
to take place.45 The analysis makes it clear, however, that it is not enough just to
prevent the worst abuses. There is also the potential for education to intervene in
some of the social processes that create fragmentation and conflict and to actively
support peacebuilding. While it is not clear how far a country’s various educational
institutions can be maintained as beacons of peace and tolerance when the wider
community or society is hostile and fragmenting (it might be argued that ‘peacepromoting’ education can be most easily implemented in contexts that are already
peaceful), there are sufficient grounds for trying as hard as possible to support
education to play this role.
Determining what to do, however, is more challenging than identifying what
to avoid. Contrary to what some of the literature seems to suggest, multilingual
and multicultural education, non-violence and development of critical thinking do
44
In the UK, long-established approaches to multicultural education that have in many ways been successful in promoting
inclusion have also been implicated in increasing segregation in many urban areas and the suppression of critical
debate and analysis (that should be at the heart of the educational process) through exaggerated fears of ‘offence’.
45
A minimum level of safety, security and trust is required for children to be able to take the risks (play, exploration,
questioning, making mistakes) that are essential for effective learning.
Concepts and themes in the literature
33

not necessarily fit easily and seamlessly together. Instead, each context is likely
to throw up complexities and contradictions that require careful analysis and a
sensitive, negotiated response. Davies (2013) draws attention to the role that rights
frameworks can play: “The nice thing about rights is that (unlike sacred texts) they
are not a blueprint, they are themselves revisable and discussable, with constant
tensions between, say, minority rights to cultural expression and rights relating to
gender equality, or between rights to freedom of expression and rights to dignity
and freedom from abuse.”
One further observation on the advocacy of strategies for social cohesion is the lack
of reflection on the actual, desirable and feasible role of the state versus schools and
teachers in determining the details of the education process. The Education Above
All guidance, in particular, ascribes solely to ‘ministries of education’ a very strong
hands-on role (going far beyond responsibilities implied in upholding the principle of
‘do no harm’). The guidance espouses a fair degree of screening, proscription and
regulation in order to ensure that schools act in certain ways and seems to have
unrealistic expectations of the feasibility of complete ‘elimination of bias’, as well
as of the efficacy of top-down legalistic controls and bureaucratic measures. This
approach seems to deny the centrality of authentic inter-personal relationships to an
effective learning process. The document also places more faith than the evidence
seems to support in the efficacy of discrete modules of teacher training in changing
teacher behaviours and abilities to address sensitive topics. ‘Political economy’
issues of choice, decentralization and school autonomy are barely touched upon.
2.3.3 Vulnerability ó resilience
While the inclusion and cohesion discussions above focused on links between
education and conflict, the third dimension, resilience, re-introduces the second
concern of this paper, that of natural disaster. The Regional analysis discussed how
countries in Southeast Asia and the South Pacific are vulnerable to natural disasters
and often have insufficient capacity or systems in place to effectively reduce risk
or to respond to varied emergencies. Our third set of concepts relates to children,
schools and education systems as ‘victims’ of conflict or natural disaster, contrasted
with their capacity to develop ‘resilience’ to prevent or reduce risks, mitigate impacts
and/or recover from the effects of such events.
At the individual level, ‘resilience’ is a psychological attribute and has been defined
as the ability to ‘bounce back’. It involves doing well against the odds, coping, and
recovering. Masten et al. (1990) define resilience as “the process of, capacity for, or
outcome of, successful adaptation despite challenging or threatening circumstances.”
Resilience has also been explored in relation to groups, communities, institutions or
ecological systems. In the context of development and conflict it has been defined
by the Department for International Development (DFID, 2011) as “the ability of
countries, communities and households to manage change, by maintaining or
transforming living standards in the face of shocks or stresses – such as earthquakes,
drought or violent conflict – without compromising their long-term prospects.”
Children and education are victims of conflict and natural disaster, especially
when they are already poor and vulnerable: Novelli and Smith (2011) identify
school children, teachers and education systems as all being ‘victims’ of conflict
in which “teachers and students are targeted, schools are politicised, children
recruited to join armed groups and families displaced.” The Inter-Agency Network
for Education in Emergencies reports that the impacts of conflict on children and
their communities include loss of life, physical injury, emotional trauma, loss (for
children) of parents, relatives or other carers, reduced access to food, higher
work responsibilities of women and children (owing to loss of family livelihoods,
labour or incomes), separation, displacement, loss of home or shelter, increased
vulnerability to abuse or neglect, or even direct engagement as child combatants
34
Concepts and themes in the literature

© UNICEF/PHIA2008-0003/Alquinto
2008, Volunteers teach in a child friendly learning space set up by UNICEF for children affected by the
conflict in the community of Datu Piang, Mindanao region in southern Philippines.
(INEE, UNICEF). In such situations, existing disparities are often exacerbated and
the most vulnerable children further marginalized.
Girls are often unable to continue their education owing to security issues or
increased domestic responsibilities, and adolescent girls are a particularly vulnerable
and invisible group (Plan International, 2013). Children with disabilities are often
at greatest risk of fatality in times of conflict and face even greater obstacles in
accessing or continuing education (sic). Walker et al. (in The Lancet, 2011) cite
evidence that high levels of societal violence lead to insecure attachments that
severely mar the healthy psychological and emotional development of young
children, often made worse when violent conflict and displacement disrupt normal
family protection and the quality of parenting.
Schools and education institutions are also vulnerable in times of conflict or disaster.
By the very nature of these institutions as locations in which large numbers of children
of similar age gather together, there is a high risk of significant injury and loss of
young life if the institution is affected by a natural event, or caught in the crossfire of
conflict. Schools in affected areas might become unusable or inaccessible, especially
for girls. Population displacement owing either to conflict or natural emergency can
result in schools in host areas becoming overcrowded and overstretched, creating or
exacerbating tensions between the incoming and host communities. The 2011 EFA
Global Monitoring Report states that the percentage of children aged 7–16 years
in conflict–affected areas of Mindanao who do not attend school is more than four
times the national average for the Philippines. It reports that of 28 million children
out of school globally, 42 per cent are in conflict-affected countries.
Education is increasingly coming under deliberate attack: Disturbingly,
education is also increasingly a target of attack. Often, this is for military purposes,
the dispersed and widespread distribution of schools making them attractive as
base locations. A report by the Global Coalition to Protect Education from Attack
(2012) states that between January 2005 and October 2012, armed groups made
Concepts and themes in the literature
35

use of schools and other educational institutions in at least 24 countries worldwide
and in more than half of the countries affected by armed conflict. In all cases this
included government military use, while in a third of cases it also included the use
of schools by non-state armed groups. Children have been injured and killed and
schools damaged or destroyed as belligerent forces have attacked schools because
military forces were using them. Frequently, the consequences of military use of
schools include high student dropout rates, reduced enrolments and lower rates of
transition to higher education levels, especially for girls. The Mindanao conflict in
the Philippines is an example from Southeast Asia of how schools have been used
quite extensively for military action.
Even more disturbing are violent attacks directly and deliberately targeting schools,
children and teachers, for ideological and political motives. This is the case in
Thailand’s deep south where many schools have been bombed and teachers
murdered. The shooting last year of Malala Yousafzai by the Taliban in Pakistan, as
well as increased attacks on education by Boko Haram46 in Nigeria, have focused
international attention on extremist ideologies that violently oppose modern
education in general, and in particular for girls.
The literature around ‘resilience’ focuses on how education can develop resilient
and knowledgeable children and communities and how education systems can
protect children, reduce risk and prepare for, respond to and bounce back from
emergencies. The main messages are:
The continuity of education during conflict and emergencies can significantly
reduce the negative impacts on children and whole communities and build
resilience and coping skills: The last decade has seen substantial progress in
the understanding and practice of education in emergencies and the importance
of including education (and early childhood development) in the earliest stages of
an emergency response. O’Malley and Smith (2010) and Novelli and Smith (2011)
explore how communities and schools that are conflict-affected can be developed
as centres of protection, normalization and support:
“These interventions protect education institutions, provide continuity between
conflict and peace, help children overcome the psychosocial and traumatic effects
of conflict and help to ensure a protective environment within which children can
develop coping systems” (Novelli and Smith, 2011).
There have been creative developments regarding the establishment of learning
institutions as ‘zones of peace’, which involve negotiations on the part of all
stakeholders for schools to be protected and not utilized for military purposes, as
well as ‘child-friendly’ or ‘safe learning’ spaces where children (of all age groups)
can experience stability, continuity of learning and psychosocial support. Smith, M.
(2010) found that programmes in both Nepal and the Philippines to develop learning
institutions as zones of peace “actively contributed to conflict transformation in that
they improved relationships amongst stakeholders, introduced good governance
into local education decision-making and reduced violence at the local level.”
There has also been learning around how the rapid establishment of targeted
programmes combining ‘catch-up’ with livelihoods-related skills for youth and
adolescents affected by conflict (including those involved as combatants) can help
to consolidate peace and reduce risks of lapse back into conflict.47 However, the
evidence on the long-term impact of such programmes remains unclear, probably in
part because of the difficult conditions in which they are undertaken. Smith, A. (2010)
36
46
The very name meaning ‘Western education is forbidden’.
47
Interestingly, although this point is emphasized in the 2011 GMR on armed conflict and education, it is minimally
explored in the subsequent 2012 GMR on youth and skills.
Concepts and themes in the literature

cautions that in post-conflict situations, “because aid agencies are under pressure
to deliver education services for a quick impact, it is very difficult to demonstrate
either correlations or causality between programming and peacebuilding.”
Conflict and emergency mitigation and response depend on risk reduction,
preparedness and child protection strategies:
Finally, it is increasingly
recognized that the education sector has a critical role to play in risk reduction,
mitigation and response. This is both because of the national reach48 of educational
institutions (especially primary schools) and also their obvious potential as centres
for community outreach, coordination and communication. There is also increased
understanding that a full range of strategies, resources and capacities are required in
order to support both humanitarian response and continuity of education, including
planning for teachers, locations, modalities of educational delivery and systems for
rapid dispatch of emergency resources and materials.
The Education Cluster Thematic Group on DRR is now promoting a Global
Framework for Comprehensive School Safety. The framework aims to “protect
children in schools, plan for educational continuity, safeguard investments and
strengthen a disaster resilient citizenry through education.” It is based on the three
pillars of: 1) Safe School Facilities (including sites, building standards, safe access,
water and sanitation, climate-smart features and maintenance); 2) School Disaster
Management (policies, operating procedures, evacuation, reunification strategies,
contingency plans for education continuity); and 3) Risk Reduction Education
(culture of safety, resilient communities and problem solving for risk reduction).
Overall, the evidence of vulnerability-resilience linkages is strong, both for the
negative impacts of conflict or environment-related emergency on children, their
communities and schools, and for the positive effects of mitigating such impacts
and seeking to maintain educational continuity at all stages of a conflict or crisis. As
has been shown to be the case for the inclusion and cohesion linkages, the longterm effects on levels of peace and stability of conscious efforts to make children
and education resilient are impossible to prove, but the logic is convincing.
A few gaps can be identified in the discourse on resilience in education as it has
developed to date. Firstly, although ‘resilience’ was originally a psychological term
applied at the individual level and is often considered in relation to psychosocial
support for conflict-affected children, there is less said about how all children’s
individual resilience and coping skills might be developed more comprehensively
throughout the ‘mainstream’ educational process. Such a discussion might throw up
some interesting paradoxes around creating appropriate learning environments for
children (of different ages) that are protective and child-friendly, while also avoiding
over-protection of children in a way that denies them agency or responsibility and
reduces their capacity to operate in the very ‘child-unfriendly’ environments that
they encounter daily beyond the school gate.
Secondly, given the role of environmental degradation in many conflicts, it is
surprising that education’s role in supporting environmental knowledge and practical
conservation skills is given only scant mention in much of the conflict-focused
literature.49 While there is a strong international movement to promote ‘ecological
literacy’, for the moment debates about the forms and content of environmental
education seem to be taking place in parallel to discussions on educational
responses to conflict.
48
Although not all children are yet attending primary school, the goal of universal primary education, sometimes
supported by legislation making it compulsory, has catalyzed progress towards achieving a nationwide reach of schools
in many countries, often with the assistance of GPS mapping and other technologies.
49
Bird (2010) identifies neglect of environmental education as a possible contributory factor to a number of conflicts in
Sub-Saharan Africa, but evidence of positive impacts of such education is harder to pin down.
Concepts and themes in the literature
37

2.4 The opportunity of education sector reform
A number of studies on education, fragility and conflict have highlighted the opportunity
of education sector reform and planning, especially at a transitional phase (e.g. postconflict reform or following a significant change of government), to address problems in
education that exacerbate tensions and conflict, harness education to promote peace and
create a ‘peace dividend’. Smith, A. (2010) stresses the importance of “a systemic conflict
analysis, resulting in a set of inter-related initiatives through sector planning, governance
reform, curriculum reform and increased funding to broaden access.” Winthrop et al. (2011)
encourage governments and development partners to aim for national-level and sectorwide plans as soon as possible, through flexible modalities, to balance the urgency of
service delivery with long-term capacity building. Nicolai et al. (UNESCO, 2009) identify
from 11 country case studies a range of common priority areas, including urgent expansion
of access (Cambodia), addressing peace through the curriculum (Rwanda, Sri Lanka) and
reintegration of children and youth directly involved in the perpetration of violence (Angola).
In recognition of the need to go beyond project-level or piecemeal interventions towards
a holistic conflict sensitive or peace-promoting approach to education sector planning
and reform, there have been a number of attempts to develop guidance to support the
stakeholders in these processes:
IIEP (UNESCO), UNICEF and the Global Education Cluster: Integrating conflict and
disaster risk reduction into education sector planning: This was developed primarily for
use in conflict-affected countries in West and Central Africa and it therefore has a strong
focus on education in emergencies and risk reduction. It aims to support education sector
planning processes (i.e. three-five year cycles). The four core actions that are advocated
reflect the ‘inclusion-cohesion-resilience’ themes: (a) ensure equitable distribution of
resources; (b) reverse biased curriculum; (c) train school committees in conflict prevention;
and (d) develop mitigation policies. There is a strong focus on how to use analytical tools in
order to fully understand the context and therefore identify locally appropriate strategies.
The need for conflict sensitive approaches to be tailored and prioritized according to a
country’s most urgent needs, developmental stage and available resources, as well as
for alignment with other agendas and commitments in a context of coordinated external
assistance, is also recognized.
Education Above All, Conflict Sensitive Education Policy: A Preliminary Review: This
document seeks to give more generic policy advice. Like the IIEP guidance, it broadly follows
the inclusion-cohesion-resilience model, being focused around the four main themes of: 1)
mobilizing political will; 2) promoting equitable access to all levels of education; 3) making
curriculum, teaching and language conflict sensitive; and 4) strengthening emergency
preparedness, including protecting education from attack. In comparison with the IIEP
guidance, however, this review seems to offer little in the way of analytical tools and in a
number of places the attempts to be relevant to all situations and cover all bases seems
to have resulted in statements that are rather vague. As noted previously, there appears to
be a strong preference for top-down control of education, and such a heavy emphasis on
the political and social goals of schooling that its primary learning goals seem downplayed.
Guidance or toolkits on gender/equity mainstreaming in education sector planning
and sector-wide approaches: A number of guidance documents that do not focus primarily
or exclusively on conflict nevertheless offer some relevant insights. UNICEF’s publication,
Developing Rights-Based Education SWAps in South Asia, focuses on the mainstreaming
of gender, equity and social inclusion in education sector plans and SWAp processes. The
report recognizes that children who are in any way conflict-affected often constitute an
excluded group in their own right. It explores how conflict exacerbates existing processes of
inequality and social exclusion and highlights the gap in knowledge regarding how children
with disabilities are affected by conflict. A chapter on ‘education in emergencies’ examines
how preparedness can be integrated into sector planning and budgeting processes. The
38
Concepts and themes in the literature

© UNICEF/NYHQ2006-2544/Pirozzi
Sarisha Pai, 12, points at equations on a blackboard during a mathematics class at St. John Primary School
in Honiara, the Solomon Islands.
FTI/UNGEI50 guidelines for plan preparation and appraisal, Equity and Inclusion in Education,
also give some coverage of planning to ensure inclusion of children affected by conflict or
natural disaster.
Programming guidelines: The INEE and agencies that do substantial work in the area of
education in emergencies or education and peacebuilding have also developed a range
of guidelines and checklists on conflict sensitivity which, although they focus on discrete
programming, have some relevance to sector-wide planning and policy. The INEE Tools for
Conflict Sensitive Education (guidance note, programme tool and donor principles) support
programming in conflict-affected contexts. The education section of UNICEF’s Technical
Note on Conflict Sensitive Programming supports analysis, inclusion, curriculum, diversity,
language policy, alternative learning and post-primary NFE, governance and community
involvement.
2.5 Summary: Possible roles of education in peace, conflict and
natural disaster in Southeast Asia and the South Pacific
The review of the literature revealed that there are multifold ways in which education might
reinforce conflict, or have the potential to promote peace and reduce the risks and impacts
of natural disaster, as summarized below.
General expansion and universalization of education: Even without special measures
to make education conflict sensitive, education would seem to have a peace-promoting
effect in its own right because of its centrality to socio-economic development and the
correlations between this and the level of conflict. However, while the more general
effects of the whole process of education probably have a profound impact on the level of
50
UNGEI stands for United Nations Girls’ Education Initiative; FTI stands for Fast Track Initiative on EFA, now known as
the Global Partnership for Education (GPE).
Concepts and themes in the literature
39

peace and conflict in a society, these effects emerge as part of a complex, dynamic and
non-linear network of factors operating over a long time period. For our consideration of
education sector reform in Southeast Asia and the South Pacific, awareness of these longterm impacts serves to reinforce the urgency of MDG 2,51 both in its own right and as a
necessary pre-cursor of secondary expansion and universal literacy. Also reinforced is the
recognition in recent discussions on the post-2015 international agenda of the need for
a greater priority on expansion towards a universal nine years of basic education and for
continuing to focus on equity, inclusion and gender equality (in all its complexity).
Inclusion, cohesion and resilience: The literature review has shed light on a range of
processes that link to peace, conflict and natural disaster. Regarding conflict, education
can reinforce, or sometimes even be a key driver of, the processes of economic or social
exclusion or inequality and social fragmentation along ethnic or religious lines that were
shown in the Regional analysis to be key instigators of conflict across the Southeast Asia
and South Pacific regions. However, there is encouraging evidence that education can
also play a role in turning these around and supporting social cohesion and peacebuilding.
These findings emphasize the importance of identifying and addressing where education
is actually doing ‘harm’ and exacerbating tensions and conflict, and also show the need to
identify and support actions that actively promote inclusion and cohesion based on a clear
contextualized understanding of the local dynamics and drivers of conflict.
Regarding natural disasters – of equal concern in the two regions – the processes and roles
of education are a little different. Education cannot be accurately termed a ‘driver’ of natural
disasters or of associated climate change or environmental degradation. However, there is
significant potential for education to make a positive contribution to reducing environmentrelated hazards, risks and vulnerabilities, which in some instances are also linked to conflict.
Education, moreover, has a critical role to play in response and recovery. A failure to harness
education to play these potential roles is certainly a grave missed opportunity.
Good governance: A further link that has emerged from the literature is how the overall
management and governance of education can also contribute to conflict, especially when
these are part of wider political processes that are weak and ineffective, or actively corrupt,
inequitable, repressive or exclusionary. These challenges, present in different forms across
many countries of the two regions, cannot be fully addressed through education. However,
in some circumstances, measures to reduce stark inequalities in educational provision and
resourcing, fight corruption or enable the marginalized to have a greater ‘voice’ in education,
have had a marked effect on reducing grievances that have underpinned conflict. Effective
education management at different levels is also critical to how far education can play its
role in disaster risk reduction and in responding to conflicts and emergencies when they do
arise. Again, the detailed dynamics and priorities are very context-specific.
The roles of education in the processes of peace, conflict and natural disaster identified in
the Regional analysis are summarized diagrammatically overleaf (see Figure 3). It is again
emphasized that conceptualizing ‘peace versus conflict’ as a polarity is a considerable oversimplification. In reality there can be simultaneous processes that pull in opposing directions.
Also, in highlighting the roles of education it is neither being implied that education is the
only – or even usually the primary – driver of conflict, nor that education alone can achieve
peace and stability.
51
40
Ensure that by 2015 all children will be able to complete a full course of primary schooling.
Concepts and themes in the literature
and geopolitical
influences
•
•
Basic education might make young people less vulnerable to the influence of

violent and irrational ideologies.
Expansion of education increases, at least in theory, the available pool of talent
for effective national leadership.
Figure 3. Education’s roles in the dynamics of peace, conflict and natural disaster
Fragility, Conflict and Natural Disaster
Society
Education
Governance
processes
Significant
weaknesses in
governance and
capacity
Poverty and
economic
exclusion
Socio-cultural
processes
Poor relationships
between identity
groups, tensions
between traditional
and modern
identities, gender
discrimination;
violence as a norm
Education
Effective education
governance
Poor education
governance
Education governance
displays corruption,
nepotism, inefficiency and
lack of popular participation
Exclusion
Economic
processes
Peace, Security and Hazard Management
Educational exclusion and
inequity by gender,
economic status, ethnicity,
language or other factor –
in terms of access,
relevance, duration and
opportunity
Fragmentation
Educational processes
re-enforce prejudice,
passive acceptance, bigotry
or violence; or promote a
single culture and language
while downgrading others
Vulnerability
Education fails to protect
vulnerable children, schools
do not develop coping skills
or relevant knowledge,
schools and education
systems unable to reduce
risks or respond to
emergencies
Education services
delivered efficiently and
fairly, corruption curtailed,
effective mechanisms for
broad participation,
education sector linked with
wider poverty reduction,
social development and
disaster management
frameworks
Inclusion
Educational inclusion and
equity, with measures to
ensure gender equality and
serve poor, vulnerable and
marginalized individuals and
groups, including those
affected by current conflicts
or natural disasters
Society
Governance processes
Governance to maintain
rule of law, protect
vulnerable citizens,
manage conflict and natural
hazards, support
participation and deliver
basic services
Economic
processes
Broad-based, equitable
and sustainable
economic
development
Cohesion
Educational processes
promote critical thinking,
accurate information,
respectful inter-relationships,
a sense of citizenship and
non-violent behaviours;
language policy and
planning supports access
both to the mother
language and culture and to
languages of power and
opportunity
Socio-cultural
processes
Strong social cohesion,
rights to enjoy one’s own
language, culture and
traditions enjoyed in a
context of shared values of
national citizenship,
violence discouraged
and contained
Resilience
Environmental
processes
Environmental
degradation,
climate change and
increasing natural
disaster risks
Concepts and themes in the literature
Child protection,
social-emotional support,
DRR, emergency
preparedness and response
systems and
environmental education
Environmental
processes
Environmental
protection,
sustainable
resource use,
management of
natural hazards
41

© UNICEF/FJIA2006-00710/Pirozzi
42
Chloe, 7, a primary student at Imanaka
primary school in Tanna Island of Vanuatu’s
Lenakel Area. Imanaka primary school is a
child friendly school supported by UNICEF.
Concepts and themes in the literature

3. Working model and outline methodology
for exploring ‘peace-promoting’ education
sector reform at the country level
3.1 A working model of a ‘peace-promoting’ education system
Chapter one presented a situational analysis of the main dynamics of peace, conflict and
natural disaster in the Southeast Asian and South Pacific regions. Chapter two reviewed the
findings from the literature that shed light on education’s possible roles in these dynamics,
both positive and negative. It was concluded that education (in its many meanings) might
support peace promotion in a number of direct and indirect ways and over different
timescales. There are macro-level correlations between education and peace indicators,
probably because of education’s complex and dynamic relationships with poverty reduction,
economic growth, human development, the advancement of women and good governance.
There are also ‘process linkages’: education promotes peace through the mechanism of
its support for social inclusion and equity, social cohesion and resilience-building. This is
most effective when measures are also taken to ensure that education management and
governance are effective, transparent, responsive and participatory.
From the two analyses, it has been possible to develop a generalized ‘working model’
of such a system (see Figure 4 overleaf). Given that the findings of the literature review
revealed that the various linkages of education to peace, conflict and natural disaster are
both complex and highly contextualized, it is re-emphasized here that the model is not
intended to be rigidly applied but used as a tool to frame analysis and stimulate questioning
and discussion.
© UNICEF/UKLA2013-04478/Lane
December 2013. 5 year old Diane Claire Daga, inside a school building partly damaged by typhoon Haiyan in
coastal village of Cogon, Palo, Leyte, the Philippines.
Working model and outline methodology for exploring ‘peace-promoting’ education sector reform at the country level
43
environmental education
climate change and
increasing natural
disaster risks
sustainable
resource use,
management of
natural hazards

Figure 4: A working model of ‘peace-promoting education’ for Southeast Asia and the
South Pacific
UNIVERSALIZATION:
Basic education system is being expanded and universalized, with a minimum level of
quality that leads to measurable basic skills outcomes
+ PEACE PROMOTION:
Analysis of the economic, social, environmental and governance/geopolitical factors that might
drive conflict or promote peace, and
Attention to education’s role in peace-promoting processes:
•
•
•
•
INCLUSION e.g.:
Mainstreaming educational
equity and gender equality;
Measures to serve poor and
vulnerable individuals and
groups, including those affected
by current conflicts or natural
disasters;
Measures to ensure equity of
access, duration and opportunity
across different ethnic, religious
or other identity groups;
Strategies to reach those who
have never entered or dropped
out of formal education.
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
COHESION e.g.:
Reason, critical thinking,accurate
information, diverse perspectives;
Access to heritage languages and
cultures and to languages of
power/opportunity;
Respectful inter-relationships,
shared values of common
citizenship;
Promotion and practice of
non-violence.
•
•
•
RESILIENCE e.g.:
Sector and school-level DRR,
emergency preparedness and
response systems;
Child protection and appropriate
social-emotional support;
Relevant environmental and
livelihoods education and skills.
Underpinned by GOOD GOVERNANCE:
Education services delivered efficiently, transparently and fairly;
Effective mechanisms for broad participation in education;
Education sector linked with wider poverty reduction, social development and rights frameworks;
Education part of national frameworks for disaster risk reduction and management and climate change.
(Note that this model relates to the third column of the diagram in Figure 3).
3.2 A framework for unpacking education sector reform
1. Reform Design, Goals and Wider Linkages
Reform programmes do not, of course, organize around the abstract concepts of inclusion,
• Linkages of education sector reform to wider frameworks linked to inclusion, cohesion and resilience themes, e.g.
cohesion, resilience or good governance but around more concrete policy areas that can be
language, inclusion, human rights, poverty reduction, social development, DRR, climate change etc.
a basis for planning and investment. Very often, these are centred around the three main
• Exploration of inclusion, cohesion and resilience themes in the analyses that inform the education reform
pillars of ‘equitable access’, ‘quality’ and ‘management’ (or variations of these). There is an
programme
additional
challenge
in that the
research
needs to look not only at the content of reform
• Goals
and policies
for universalization
of quality
basic education
programmes
(policies,
• Policies
and objectives
for equitystrategies
and inclusion and their implementation) but also at the processes
through
which education
reform
programmes
designed, monitored and supported. One
(e.g.
free education,
gender equality,
reaching
disadvantaged are
groups)
• Policies
objectives related
to cohesion
themes
furtherand
approach,
therefore,
in identifying
a framework for exploring education sector reform
(e.g.
violence in schools,
curriculum, responses
to linguistic and culturalconcepts
diversity)
programmes
is a marrying
of our peace-promoting
(universalization, inclusion,
• Goals,
objectives
and
policies
related
to
DRR,
education
in
emergencies
or elements
climate change
(resilience)
cohesion, resilience and good governance) with the key
and
stages of education
• Goals and objectives to improve the management of education in areas related to
sector reform and planning (see Figure 5 overleaf).
inclusion, cohesion and resilience themes
• Mechanisms for transparency, accountability, consultation and participation (good governance)
• Mechanisms for equitable and pro-poor targeting of resources and teacher allocation (good governance)
2.Access Policies and Strategies
• Equitable access and inclusion for poor and disadvantaged communities
(availability, accessibility, affordability), with gender equality
• Equitable access and inclusion of different social, linguistic and religious groups
• Equitable access and inclusion for girls and boys affected by conflict and emergency
• Inclusion in learning of youth at risk of alienation
44
3. Quality Policies
Strategies
Workingand
model
and outline methodology for exploring ‘peace-promoting’ education sector reform at the country level
•
•
Approaches to addressing violence (inclusion, cohesion, resilience)
Approaches to language and culture (inclusion, cohesion)
•
•
•
•
Education services delivered efficiently, transparently and fairly;
Effective mechanisms for broad participation in education;

Education sector linked with wider poverty reduction, social development and rights frameworks;
Education part of national frameworks for disaster risk reduction and management and climate change.
Figure 5: Applying the ‘peace-promoting’ model to education sector reform
1. Reform Design, Goals and Wider Linkages
• Linkages of education sector reform to wider frameworks linked to inclusion, cohesion and resilience themes, e.g.
language, inclusion, human rights, poverty reduction, social development, DRR, climate change etc.
• Exploration of inclusion, cohesion and resilience themes in the analyses that inform the education reform
programme
• Goals and policies for universalization of quality basic education
• Policies and objectives for equity and inclusion
(e.g. free education, gender equality, reaching disadvantaged groups)
• Policies and objectives related to cohesion themes
(e.g. violence in schools, curriculum, responses to linguistic and cultural diversity)
• Goals, objectives and policies related to DRR, education in emergencies or climate change (resilience)
• Goals and objectives to improve the management of education in areas related to
inclusion, cohesion and resilience themes
• Mechanisms for transparency, accountability, consultation and participation (good governance)
• Mechanisms for equitable and pro-poor targeting of resources and teacher allocation (good governance)
2.Access Policies and Strategies
• Equitable access and inclusion for poor and disadvantaged communities
(availability, accessibility, affordability), with gender equality
• Equitable access and inclusion of different social, linguistic and religious groups
• Equitable access and inclusion for girls and boys affected by conflict and emergency
• Inclusion in learning of youth at risk of alienation
3. Quality Policies and Strategies
•
•
•
•
•
Approaches to addressing violence (inclusion, cohesion, resilience)
Approaches to language and culture (inclusion, cohesion)
Critical thinking skills (cohesion)
Accurate information, non-bias, non-discrimination (cohesion)
Environmental and livelihoods education and skills (resilience)
4. Management and Governance
•
•
•
•
Child protection as a part of school management (inclusion, resilience)
Community participation in education (inclusion, cohesion, resilience)
Strategies for DRR and EiE (resilience)
Mechanisms for transparency, equity and accountability (inclusion, cohesion, good governance)
5. Partnerships for Education Reform
•
•
Mechanisms for broad stakeholder consultation and participation at different stages of reform: policy-making,
design, implementation, monitoring (inclusion, good governance)
Mechanisms for policy dialogue and harmonized development partners support to sector reform
(good governance)
3.3 Outline methodology and stages of research
In order to ‘unpack’ a country’s programme of education reform guided by the frameworks
outlined above and taking account of the available time and resources, two key methodologies
are identified, namely:
• Document review and analysis using a systematic approach to identify different kinds
of documentation (including virtual documentation) that supports the different elements
of the case study and analysis, triangulation and synthesis of information.
• In-country qualitative research taking an ‘appreciative enquiry’ approach, which
assumes that the participants in the research are holders of valuable knowledge and
experience, have reasons for electing certain courses of action and strengths on which to
Working model and outline methodology for exploring ‘peace-promoting’ education sector reform at the country level
45

build. Research explores why certain issues (and perhaps not others) have been prioritized
and framed in certain ways, what the different perspectives on key issues are, what the
processes of change have been and what the facilitative or constraining factors were.
For each case study, the two approaches are mutually reinforcing across four overlapping
stages of the research, which are explained below.
Desk analysis of the country context. The analysis in each country case study should
begin with an identification of the level and incidence of conflict and natural hazard risk.
This needs to be followed by an examination of the major dynamics of peace, tensions
and natural hazard risk, using as a basis the themes identified in the Regional analysis
(economic, social, environmental, governance and geopolitical). While it may not be possible
to undertake a first-hand conflict analysis, the aim is to achieve a sufficient understanding of
the context to be able to make an assessment as to how far the programme of education
sector reform is interacting with these contextual factors. Such analysis will make use of
existing reports, databases and analyses undertaken by government, development partners
and academics. From the country analysis, the particular ‘inclusion-cohesion-resilience’
themes most pertinent to the country context – and therefore to be prioritized as questions
for qualitative research investigation – can be identified.
Desk analysis of documents pertinent to the reform context, design, strategies and
partnerships. This will comprise a systematic perusal of education policy, programme,
evaluative and partnership documents, reports and databases. The analysis might include
(but not be limited to):
• National policy and rights frameworks that set the context for education sector
reform (e.g. rights commitments, policies on language, frameworks for poverty reduction,
national risk management and emergency preparedness strategies).
• The core ‘definitive’ documents of the education sector reform programme. These
might include policy frameworks and more time-bound education sector development
plans.
Reports and reviews of specific strategies or programmes. These are anticipated to be
clustered around the themes of access, quality and management:
• Access: Strategies to reduce educational costs; target ECD opportunities; measure,
monitor and reduce disparities at different levels; universalize education to a specified level;
or target hard-to-reach groups including those currently affected by conflict or other crises.
• Quality: Strategies for languages in education; curriculum reform and teacher training
related to critical thinking, resilience-building, inter-cultural understanding, peace
education and environmental education; child-friendly/non-violent learning environments.
• Management: Strategies to build institutional systems and capacity at different levels
for enabling wide and fair participation in educational decision-making and accountability;
analysing and addressing equity and cross-cutting issues and for risk reduction,
emergency preparedness, mitigation and response. Strategies to build school and
community systems for dialogue and accountability, inclusion, child protection, risk
reduction and response.
It is not expected that every strategy will be relevant in every case. It is recognized that
strategies might be framed in different ways and that in practice comprehensive approaches
(for example inclusive education, child-friendly schools or school-based management)
might address a range of issues and strategies under a single umbrella. It is also noted
that many of these areas of education (e.g. language, curriculum development, school
management) are topics in their own right, some of which have their own associated
concepts, literature and shared (or contended) international understandings, review of
which was beyond the scope of this Concept Paper. This wider body of knowledge would
be drawn upon and expounded further as necessary in the individual case studies.
46
Working model and outline methodology for exploring ‘peace-promoting’ education sector reform at the country level

© UNICEF/NYHQ2006-1458/Pirozzi
A Filipino boy sits in a window looking at a performance about a loss of a family member through AIDS. In the
Philippines, among the various factors impeding the health systems are the twin issues of natural disaster
and conflict. On Mindanao Island, a decades-long conflict between Christians and Muslims has killed, injured
or displaced thousands of children, and left others vulnerable to abduction, trafficking and abuse.
• Documents defining partnership agreements or mechanisms. This analysis will be
concerned with underlying assumptions, perceptions, priorities of key stakeholders and
the processes and dynamics of partnership and participation in the reform programme.
This includes questions of what concepts and priorities different partners ‘bring to the
table’, the degree to which stakeholder dialogue mechanisms are themselves inclusive
and participatory, how far the themes prioritized are locally owned and the involvement
of civil society. The analysis will also provide information on how ‘inclusion-cohesionresilience’ themes are addressed, overtly or indirectly, in education policy and what
strategies are being implemented in practice. It will also provide a basis for identifying
the key study informants for interviews and for sharpening key research questions that
can be used to identify relevant questions and appropriate tools of enquiry for these
various informants.
Qualitative research with study informants. Qualitative research will likely utilize the
tools of semi-structured interviews and focus group discussions, using tailored question
prompts designed to encourage a relaxed but structured discussion on key themes. Key
informants will likely include – but not be limited to – government officials, headteachers,
teachers, students, school management committee representatives, parents, academics,
civil society representatives and development partners. Questions around the national and
sector contexts, reform design issues, the details of specific strategies and programmes
and the mechanisms and processes of partnership will be explored with the relevant
stakeholders as appropriate.
Further analysis and identification of issues, conclusions and recommendations.
Analysis of findings will take place throughout the research. If possible, there will be
opportunities for feedback to stakeholders on the initial findings for their further inputs.
From the analysis, conclusions and recommendations will be drawn. Indicatively, country
reports will begin with the country-level analysis of the incidence and dynamics of peace
and conflict and be followed by chapters broadly corresponding to the headings in Figure
5 (reform design, access strategies, quality strategies, management strategies and
partnership arrangements).
Working model and outline methodology for exploring ‘peace-promoting’ education sector reform at the country level
47

© UNICEF/NYHQ2012-2058/Dean
48
Students wait for their teacher’s arrival,
in a classroom at No.3 Basic Education
Primary School in Pantanaw Township
in Ayeyarwaddy Region in Myanmar.
Despite ongoing policy reforms, including
in education, children and women in poor,
rural and remote households, especially
in ethnic minority areas, continue to have
limited access to basic social services.

Annex A: Definitions
The conceptual terms used in this study are defined below. Given that such concepts may
not translate well into different languages and will be re-interpreted in different contexts, the
definitions were selected on the basis of their helpfulness and usability, and are not necessarily
the most precise or ‘scientific’ available.
Conflict analysis: The “systematic study of the profile, causes, actors and dynamics of a conflict”
(UNICEF, 2013).
Equity in education: “Children, regardless of economic status, gender, ethnicity, geographical
location, residency status, disability or other factor have an equal chance to reach their potential”
(UNICEF, 2008). This implies equity of access at all levels of education, with different kinds of
provision being of comparable quality and duration, leading to equity in opportunity and benefits
of education. Achieving equity does not necessarily imply equal treatment for all, but might imply
differential treatment in terms of resource allocation in order to redress injustice and achieve
equality of opportunity. For example, it might cost more per capita to deliver quality education
in a small, remote multi-grade school serving a poor, minority-language community than in a
school located in a prosperous urban area. Indicators of equity might include parity in enrolment,
completion and transition rates by gender, socio-economic status, ethnicity, district, etc.
However, equity implies more than numerical parity in access, thus other important measures
are learning outcomes by gender and across different groups and how education translates into
socio-economic benefits later in life.
Fragile states: OECD-DAC (2008) characterizes fragile states as “unable to meet their population’s
expectations or manage changes in expectations and capacity through the political process.”
Gender mainstreaming: “Gender mainstreaming means the consistent use of a gender
perspective at all stages of the development and implementation of policies, plans, programmes
and projects. In the education sector, this would include not only the activities of governments, but
also those of schools, colleges, education institutions and, where appropriate, of NGOs and the
private sectors as well. Rather than adding on a women’s component to existing policies, plans,
programmes and projects, a gender perspective informs these at all stages, and in every aspect
of the decision-making process.” This definition is taken from The Commonwealth Secretariat
publication Gender Mainstreaming in Education: A Reference Manual for Governments and Other
Stakeholders (Leo-Rhynie, E., 1999).
Inclusion in education: The concept of ‘inclusive education’ focused originally on inclusion of
children with disability and special needs but has now broadened to describe educational processes
and management strategies that, in recognition of the inter-linkages and reinforcements between
different dynamics of inequality and social exclusion, respond to the diversity of backgrounds
and needs among all learners in an integrated way. The focus shifts from a categorization based
on gender, ethnicity, etc. to addressing the needs of children according to where they stand in
relation to the education system (e.g. disadvantaged pre-school-aged children not reached by
early childhood education services, never enrolled, in school but not learning, etc.).52
Peacebuilding: The Report of the Secretary-General on peacebuilding in the immediate aftermath
of conflict (2009) describes peacebuilding as a “multi-dimensional range of interventions that aim
to solidify peace and prevent the lapse or relapse into conflict.” The UN Peacebuilding Support
Office website ascribes the concept of peacebuilding to Johan Galtung (1976), who called for
the creation of “peacebuilding structures to promote sustainable peace by addressing the ‘root
causes’ of violent conflict and supporting indigenous capacities for peace management and conflict
resolution.” Galtung espoused ‘positive peace’, which actively addresses the “social injustices that
may be a cause of violence”. His ideas were later expanded by Lederach (2009), who advocated
for “adaptive processes that address deeper long term relational and systemic processes that
produce violently destructive expressions of conflict.”
52
E.g. see CREATE Consortium for Access and Equity in Education.
49

Peace dividends: The Report of the Secretary-General on peacebuilding in the immediate aftermath of conflict identifies peace dividends as “the tangible results of peace, which help create
incentives for non-violent behaviours, reduce fear and begin to instil confidence of affected populations in their communities and in the legitimacy of their institutions.”
Resilience: Resilience at the individual, psychological level is defined by Masten et al. (1990) as
“the process of, capacity for, or outcome of successful adaptation despite challenging or threatening circumstances.” In the context of development and conflict it has been defined by DFID
(2011) as “the ability of countries, communities and households to manage change, by maintaining or transforming living standards in the face of shocks or stresses – such as earthquakes,
drought or violent conflict – without compromising their long-term prospects.” UNICEF (2013) has
adopted a similar definition of resilience as: “The ability of countries, communities and households to anticipate, adapt to and recover from the effects of potentially hazardous occurrences
(natural disasters, economic instability, conflict) in a manner that reduces vulnerability, protects
livelihoods, accelerates and sustains recovery and supports economic and social development.”
Sector-wide approach: Although SWAps were originally conceptualized as ‘sector investment
programmes’ that entailed pooled funding, the term is now applied to a wide range of programmebased approaches at the sector or sub-sector levels. One helpful description of the characteristics
of a SWAp is from the Overseas Development Institute (UK), 2007:
“A SWAp includes support that:
• Is sector wide in scope;
• Is based on a clear sector and strategy framework;
• Is based on long-term plans;
• Includes host country ownership and strong coordinated partnership with external agencies;
• Is developed and implemented with the involvement of, and partnership with, all local
stakeholders;
• Includes the involvement of all main external agencies;
• Is based on common implementation arrangements and effective donor coordination;
• Relies on local capacity; and
• Includes provision for results-based monitoring.”
Social cohesion: A simple definition of social cohesion is “the bonds or ‘glue’ that bring people
together in society, particularly in the context of cultural diversity” (Forrest and Kearns in Social
Cohesion, Social Capital and the Neighbourhood). Forrest and Kearns associate social cohesion
with a number of factors: common values and civic culture, social order and social control, social
solidarity and reductions in wealth disparities, social networks and social capital, place attachment
and identity. Social cohesion can be an attribute of communities or of a society as a whole.
Social exclusion: “A process that deprives individuals and families, groups and neighbourhoods
of the resources required for the participation in the social, economic and political activities of the
society as a whole. It is primarily a consequence of poverty and low income, but other factors
such as discrimination, low educational attainment and depleted living environments underpin it,”
Pierson, 2001, quoted in the Australian Government publication The Origins, Meaning, Definition
and Economic Implications of the Concept of Social Inclusion/Exclusion (2009). In this definition,
access to education is one of the ‘resources required for participation’ while education outcomes
(literacy levels) are seen as underpinning the poverty that is at the heart of exclusion.
50

Annex B: References for chapter 1 –
Regional analysis
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The Chronic Poverty Research Centre, ‘Ending Violent Conflict and Building a Social Compact’,
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Department for International Development, ‘Emerging Policy Paper: Building the State and
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Department for International Development, ‘Reducing Poverty by Tackling Social Exclusion’, DFID
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Department for International Development and The World Bank, Unequal Citizens: Gender, Caste
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Heijmans, A., N. Simmonds and H. Van de Veen, Searching for Peace in Asia Pacific, An Overview
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Jensen, Jane, Defining and Measuring Social Cohesion, United Nations Research Institution for
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51

Lo Bianco, J., ‘Language, Education and Social Cohesion: Malaysia, Myanmar, Thailand’, Final
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52

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a Rare Success, Says New Report by APFC’, press release, Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada
(website), 2008.
Walker, S. P., et al., ‘Inequality in Early Childhood: Risk and Protective Factors in Early Child
Development’, in The Lancet, vol. 378, 8 October 2011.
Woodrow, Peter and Diana Chigas, ‘A Distinction with a Difference: Conflict Sensitivity and
Peacebuilding’, CDA Collaborative Learning Projects, 2009.
The World Bank, World Development Report 2011: Conflict, Security and Development, The World
Bank, Washington D.C., 2011.
Wright-Neville, D., ‘East Asia and the War on Terror: Why Human Rights Matter’, ch. 4 in Searching
for Peace in Asia Pacific, An Overview of Conflict Prevention and Peacebuilding Activities, edited
by A. Heijmans, N. Simmonds and H. Van de Veen, European Centre for Conflict Prevention, The
Hague, 2004.
53

Annex C: References for chapter 2 –
Concepts and themes in the literature
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the Education For All Targets by 2015, ASPBAE, 2013. Bajaj, M., and E. J. Brantmeier, ‘The Politics, Praxis, and Possibilities of Critical Peace Education’,
in Journal of Peace Education, vol. 8, no. 3, 2011.
Barakat, Bilai and Henrik Urdal, Breaking the Waves: Does Education Mediate the Relationship
Between Youth Bulges and Political Violence? Policy Research Working Papers, November 2009.
Barakat, Sultan and Frank Hardman, Programme Review and Evaluability Study, UNICEF’s
Education in Emergencies and Post-Crisis Transition Programme, Post-War Reconstruction and
Evaluation Unit, University of York, UK, May 2010.
Bird, L., ‘Promoting Resilience: Developing Capacity in Education Systems Affected by Conflict’,
Paper commissioned by the EFA Global Monitoring Report 2011.
Bird, L., S. Choudhuri and L. MacEwan, ‘Education Sector Planning: Working to Mitigate the Risk
of Violent Conflict’, Paper commissioned by the EFA Global Monitoring Report 2011.
Bush, K., and D. Salterelli, eds, The Two Faces of Education in Ethnic Conflict, UNICEF Innocenti
Research Centre, Florence, 2000.
Cole, E., and J. Barsalou, Unite or Divide? The Challenges of Teaching History in Societies
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Columbia Group for Children in Adversity, Progress Evaluation of UNICEF’s Education in
Emergencies and Post-Crisis Transition Programme, UNICEF, New York, 2010.
Davies, Lynn, ‘Education, Change and Peacebuilding’, Working Group on Peace and Development,
FriEnt Publication, Bonn, 2013.
Davies, Lynn, ‘Teaching About Violent Extremism and Religion’, Inter-Agency Network for
Education in Emergencies Website discussion, 2013.
Department for International Development, ‘Defining Disaster Resilience’, a DFID Approach
Paper, 2011.
Dupuy, K. E., ‘Education in Peace Agreements, 1989–2005’, in Conflict Resolution Quarterly, vol. 26,
no. 2, 2008, pp. 149–166.
Dupuy, K. E., Education for Peace: Building Peace and Transforming Armed Conflict Through
Education Systems, International Peace Research Institute, Oslo, 2008.
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Faul, Moira, ‘Future-perfect/Present-imperfect: Contemporary Global Constraints on the
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Fountain, S., ‘Peace Education in UNICEF’, Working Paper, United Nations Children’s Fund, 1999.
54

Galtung, Johan, ‘Cultural Violence’, in Journal of Peace Research, vol. 27, no. 3, 1990, pp. 291–305.
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children in schools, April 2012.
• Reducing Violence Against Children in Schools: Report and commentary on the analysis of a
sample of UNICEF Country Programmes, April 2012.
• ‘Reducing Violence against Children in Schools’: Technical Note for UNICEF Country Offices:
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Global Coalition to Protect Education From Attack, Lessons in War: Military Use of Schools and
Education Institutions During Conflict, GCPEA, November 2012.
Global Coalition to Protect Education From Attack, Draft Lucens Guidelines for Protecting Schools
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N. Simmonds and H. Van de Veen, European Centre for Conflict Prevention, The Hague, 2004.
Hensengerth, O., ‘Violence Research in Northeast and Southeast Asia: Main Themes and
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of Politics and International Relations, University of Southampton, UK, vol. 5. no. 1, 2011, pp.
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Inter-Agency Network for Education in Emergencies Working Group on Education and Fragility,
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Inter-Agency Network for Education in Emergencies and International Institute for Educational
Planning, Understanding Education’s Role in Fragility: Synthesis of Four Situational Analyses of
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International Institute For Educational Planning, United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural
Organization and United Nations Children’s Fund, Integrating Conflict and Disaster Risk Reduction
into Education Sector Planning, Guidance Notes for Education Sector Planners, IIEP, 2011.
55

International Save the Children Alliance, Rewrite the Future: Education for children in conflictaffected countries, International Save the Children Alliance, London, 2006.
International Save the Children Alliance, Where Peace Begins: Education’s Role in Conflict
Prevention and Peacebuilding, International Save the Children Alliance, London, 2008.
International Save the Children Alliance, The Future is Now, International Save the Children
Alliance, London, 2010.
International Save the Children Alliance, Breaking the Cycle of Crisis, Learning from Save the
Children’s delivery of education in conflict-affected fragile states, Rewrite the Future Global
Evaluation Final Report, International Save the Children Alliance, London, 2011.
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in Southeast Asian Countries: Policies, Strategies and Advocacy, Southeast Asian Ministers of
Education Organisation, 2010.
Ledda, Michele, ‘A Liberal Education Policy’, A Manifesto Club Think-piece, UK, 2010.
Lewin, K., and Consortium for Research on Education, Access, Transitions and Equity, Making
Rights Realities: Researching Education Access, Transitions and Equity, CREATE Consortium,
University of Sussex Centre for International Education, Brighton, UK, 2011.
Lo Bianco, J., ‘Language, Education and Social Cohesion: Malaysia, Myanmar, Thailand’, Final
Desk Review, Conceptual Framework and Workplan, January 2013.
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Study of Children who Overcome Adversity’ in Development and Psychopathology, vol. 2, no. 4,
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Nicolai, S., ed., Opportunities for Change: Education Innovation and Reform During and after
Conflict, UNESCO International Institute for Educational Planning, Paris, 2009.
Novelli, M., and A. Smith, The Role of Education in Peacebuilding: A Synthesis Report of Findings
from Lebanon, Nepal and Sierra Leone, United Nations Children’s Fund, New York, 2011.
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Plan International, Because I am a Girl. In Double Jeopardy: Adolescent Girls and Disasters. Plan
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Save the Children’s Education Global Initiative, Ending the Hidden Exclusion: Learning and Equity
in Education Post-2015, Save the Children, London, April 2013.
Save the Children UK, Breaking the Cycle of Crisis: Learning from Save the Children’s Delivery of
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Seel, Amanda, Language and the Right to Quality Education: An Overview of Issues for Tribal and
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Seel, Amanda, Social Inclusion: Gender and Equity in Education SWAps in South Asia: Synthesis
Report, United Nations Children’s Fund Office for South Asia, Kathmandu, 2007.
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57

United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, EFA Global Monitoring Report
2011, The hidden crisis: Armed conflict and education, UNESCO, Paris, 2011.
United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, EFA Global Monitoring Report
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58
Annex C: References for chapter 2 – Concepts and themes in the literature

© UNICEF/NYHQ2012-2061/Dean

Students play outdoors during a
recreation period, at No.3 Basic
Education Primary School in Pantanaw
Township in Ayeyarwaddy Region in
Myanmar. Despite ongoing policy
reforms, including in education, children
and women in poor, rural and remote
households, especially in ethnic
minority areas, continue to have limited
access to basic social services.
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UNICEF East Asia and Pacific Regional Office (EAPRO)
19 Phra Atit Road
Chanasongkram, Phra Nakorn
Bangkok 10200, Thailand
E-mail: [email protected]
Website: www.unicef.org/eapro
Tel: +662-356-9499 Fax: +662-280-3563
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