ASAP: EDUCATION IN EMERGENCIES
Public, online course for 3 Continuing Education Units
SYLLABUS
INSTRUCTOR
Fred Mednick, Ed.D
Founder, Teachers Without Borders
Assistant Professor, Johns Hopkins University School of Education
206-356-4731
fred@twb.org or fred.mednick@jhu.edu
FALL: November 4th – December 21st 2013
SPRING: March 10th – April 25th 2014
PLEASE NOTE: In its present form, ASAP: Education in Emergencies is designed to
work only as a an online survey course for the public at large, in order to introduce
teachers and interested persons to the work of INEE and the field of education in
emergencies. It is neither a training or skill-building program.
Students who successfully meet course requirements will earn three (3) Johns Hopkins
University School of Education Continuing Education Units (CEUs). These CEUs are not
eligible for Johns Hopkins University School of Education academic credit, nor can JHU
guarantee that course participants can meet professional development requirements of
those seeking such credits from other universities. For more information about policies
associated with CEUs, please visit Johns Hopkins University’s FAQ page.
ASAP: Education in Emergencies | Johns Hopkins University School of Education & Teachers Without
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Table of Contents
Course Overview .............................................................................................................. 2
Credits and Grading Criteria ............................................................................................. 4
Technology and Public Blog Posting Requirements ......................................................... 4
Essential Course Policies ................................................................................................. 5
Course Readings and Media ............................................................................................ 6
Online Public Events/Webinars: Conversations with Colleagues ..................................... 6
MODULES ....................................................................................................................... 7
Getting Organized | Getting Acquainted ..................................................................... 7
The Wrong Place at the Right Time: Introducing INEE .............................................. 9
If Only: Gaps and Connections Between International Development and Global Aid 11
Drilling Down, Digging Out, Delivering Education: The INEE Toolkit ........................ 13
Momaland: Case Study and Assessment Strategies ................................................ 20
Support from Viewers Like You: Emergency Education Public Appeals................... 21
Key Links to Share with Colleagues ............................................................................... 24
Background: Teachers Without Borders and Education in Emergencies ....................... 24
Course Overview
The news about large-scale emergencies is
inescapable and all-too familiar. ASAP: Education in
Emergencies was designed to help the public explore
the complex issues of education in emergencies. We
will explore “national” and “natural” disasters, as well
as the space in between, and evaluate the relationship
between education, international development, and
global aid. The Inter-Agency Network for Education in
Emergencies (INEE) shall serve as our guide.
This course is devoted to — and
is based upon —the work of the
Inter-Agency Network for
Education in Emergencies
(INEE).
It is this instructor’s opinion that
INEE represents our greatest
hope for children and the
capacity for educators to ensure
their safe future.
This course will cover (1) a review of basic elements
surrounding the vast field of education in emergencies
(2) the work of INEE, along with examples of INEE’s Toolkit in action (3) an exploration of a
case study designed by practitioners, global agencies, and stakeholders, and (3) how the
global community of development personnel, aid workers, and donors intersect with education
in emergencies.
The subject of education in emergencies is not for the faint of heart. Most likely, this course will
challenge, exasperate, anger, and raise more questions than provide answers. For example,
many claim that it is near impossible for schools to function adequately or establish any
semblance of normalcy. NGOs, well-resourced individuals, and global agencies attempt to
address these gaps, but some states have been known to rely on foreign aid rather take on the
chief responsibility of protecting and educating their people. In an alarming number of cases,
schools have served as havens for criminals, warehouses for arms, and targets of attack.
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More specifically, let’s say that an earthquake has just struck a seismically vulnerable country.
Thousands are crushed by their homes. In many under-resourced, densely populated
communities living atop shallow fault lines, close to 50% of the children who die in these
earthquakes perish in their schools. When is a “natural” disaster a truly preventable “national”
disaster? How have poor or unenforced building codes and policies, a lack of transparency,
wholesale neglect, misinformation, or a lack of preparedness and planning contributed to the
catastrophe? Have the tyrannies of the urgent plaguing that country made it such that disaster
risk reduction is unaffordable or a secondary priority?
On the positive side, how have countries prepared themselves and their people to address
these crises? What can we learn from them? Are their practices portable, replicable, and
sustainable?
We hope you will raise several such questions. I hope we can all agree on this: in
emergencies, children are especially vulnerable to the ravages of human trafficking, disease,
and recruitment into paramilitary gangs.
At the onset of a crisis, human necessities must be addressed ASAP, triage style: stop the
bleeding; protect, feed, clothe, and house the people; seek more aid; rinse and repeat. One
may assume that education in emergencies is less urgent. This is where the Inter-Agency
Network for Education in Emergencies (INEE) comes in.
About the Inter-Agency Network for Education in Emergencies
INEE has pioneered the notion that education is a basic necessity and cannot wait, and that
education is an indispensible and parallel component of relief. Even more, INEE stresses the
importance of prevention and planning, as well as coordinating and connecting those working
in response, recovery, and reconstruction.
INEE gathers and supports global stakeholders to build and maintain Minimum Standards for
Education in Emergencies. Thanks to INEE, educators are now part of first-responder teams.
Education clusters coordinate activities, assess needs, accelerate normalcy, and make it
possible for other emergency work to continue. INEE has made it clear that education is the
currency that drives communities and simply cannot be separated, sheltered, or subsumed
during an emergency. In short, INEE is an extraordinary example of collaboration.
Collaboration is essential in this course as well. We shall emphasize learning from and with
one’s new online colleagues and with organizations working in the field.
Finally, I cannot stress this enough: this course is an introduction to the field of education in
emergencies, not a comprehensive training program. It is impossible to do justice to these
issues in a single course. All emergencies do not look, feel, or act alike, requiring a complex
interplay of culture, history, power, language, local assets, global resources, obstacles, and
opportunities.
Expertise in the field of education in emergencies requires in-depth training, mentorship, and
professional development – impossible to achieve in the short time we have together. But you
have to start somewhere, and I say we must do so ASAP.
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Credits and Grading Criteria
CREDITS: This non-credit course professional development course is available for Continuing
Education Units (CEUs).
To receive CEU credit, all assignments must be completed. The professor may require that
students make edits before determining the completion of any assignment. In addition to the
written assignments, students are required to respond to the readings and to each other
throughout each week by posing or responding to issues or comments. This cannot be saved
up until the end. Should there be any issue about making deadlines, please contact me in
advance.
“Attendance” is determined by student engagement with the classroom content and tools, with
other students, and with the instructor.
GRADING: We’re going to be using a point system. You’ll get feedback on discussions and
assignments.
Please know that your work will NOT be judged based upon the style or grammar of your
writing, especially because a significant number of colleagues will not be writing in your first
language. That would not be fair. Students’ submissions for assignments shall be evaluated
based upon the following criteria:
[6]: Exemplary: Clear incorporation of research, an extra effort to learn more, proper
acknowledgment of material other than your own, creativity, and clarity. All of this would be
worthy of sharing to educators around the world and makes a contribution to our knowledge
of teaching and learning. Mentor status.
[4-5]: Meets Requirements: Satisfies the expectations of the assignment with professional
use of sources. Core competency
[3]: Needs Work: Basic treatment of the ideas, but needs to dig deeper in order to show
core competence. To get credit, I would be asking for a revision
[0-2]: No Credit: (a) Student uses others’ ideas as her/his own without attribution, and/or
(b) does not address or respect the assignment.
Technology and Public Blog Posting Requirements
You will need to get technologically organized so that you can know where to go for information
and what to do to access required technologies. Once I receive your email address from the
registration office at Johns Hopkins University School of Education, I will send more information
about these required technologies, including invitations to various sites you’ll need to access
(or form accounts on) so that you can meet course requirements.

Course Platform (ELC): This is where you will go to access course content, get
assignments, hold discussions, and receive comments/grades on papers.

Blog (Required). All students are required to have a blog so that your writing can be
made available and accessible publicly. You can use any blog service that you like:
WordPress. Blogger, Tumblr are all good examples. If you’re new to blogging, there
are plenty of great tutorials and great advice to help you get started. Each assignment
description will clarify whether to post it to your blog as well as to the ELC Gradebook.
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Essential Course Policies
Policies on Sharing Intellectual Property
The Internet represents a new, intellectual social contract. Today, learning requires the sharing
of ideas, but it must be done honorably. You might write something that someone, somewhere
needs. Post it and share it.1 You might also find the perfect article to address an issue you wish
to explore for an assignment. Go ahead, post it, but you must cite it and give credit to the
author — direct us to the URL so that we can all benefit. The assignments are not roadblocks
to conquer, but opportunities for growth. An article you may have just found is a means, not an
end, to a point you want to make. Use it to reinforce your point, not in place of your
point. Plagiarism (copying and pasting the work of others without appropriate attribution or
credit to the author) is theft, plain and simple.
Plagiarism: Your Reputation is at Stake
On occasion, I will spot-check for plagiarism, but I don’t want to chase after you. That’s not
learning — it’s policing. At the same time, your blog posts will be public. If you copy and paste
others’ work without proper attribution, someone will notice. Your reputation, even your job,
could be at stake. As U.S. Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis famously observed, “sunlight
is said to be the best of disinfectants.”2 Your reputation should be the driving motivator for doing
one’s best in this course.
Official Language from Johns Hopkins University on Academic Integrity
“Violations of academic integrity and ethical conduct include, but are not limited to, cheating,
plagiarism, unapproved multiple submissions, knowingly furnishing false or incomplete
information to any agent of the University for inclusion in academic records…” For full policy and
misconduct proceedings, see the Academic Policy section of School of Education.
Late Work Policy
Educators are some of the busiest people in the world. I understand how the tyranny of the
urgent can play havoc with deadlines. At the same time, many assignments require
collaboration, and group work entails obligations to each other. Whether it is an individual
assignment or a collaborative project, please be reasonable, and I will be as well. Whatever the
circumstance, please inform me (and others you may be working with) so that no one is caught
off guard. Excessive lateness could result in notification of no-credit for the assignment and/or
the course.
Religious Observance Accommodation Policy
While this is an online course, religious holidays are valid reasons for exceptions to deadlines. I
simply ask that you let me know as early in the term as possible in order to ensure there is
adequate time to make up and respond to the work.
1
The majority of our policies about the creation, use, and reuse of content are adapted from the work of
our colleague, David Wiley, PhD of Brigham Young University — a pioneer in the field of Open
Educational Resources (OER). To learn more about the transformative power of OER, please look
up: www.davidwiley.org and, in particular, his course: Introduction to Openness in Education.
2
Louis D. Brandeis, cited on the Louis D. Brandeis School of Law, University of Louisville website, in
Other People’s Money – Chapter V: http://bit.ly/9vfrYh
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Participation
Participation and discussions are included in student grading and evaluation. The instructor will
clearly communicate expectations and grading policy in the course syllabus. Students who are
unable to participate in the online sessions for personal, professional, religious, or other reasons
are encouraged to contact me to discuss alternatives.
Statement of Academic Continuity
For any of us, things happen. In the event of issues (serious personal matters, no access to the
internet, or other extraordinary circumstances) preventing active participation in, and/or the
delivery of this online course, we’ll do our best to make accommodations. If it happens to your
course instructors or the School of Education’s platform goes down, for example, we may have
to change the normal academic schedule and/or make appropriate changes to course structure,
format, and delivery.
Accommodations for Students with Disabilities
If you are a student with a documented disability who requires an academic adjustment,
auxiliary aid or other similar accommodations, please contact the Disability Services Office at
410-516-9734 or via email at soe.disabilityservices@jhu.edu.
Statement of Diversity and Inclusion
Johns Hopkins University is a community committed to sharing values of diversity and inclusion
in order to achieve and sustain excellence. We believe excellence is best promoted by being a
diverse group of students, faculty, and staff who are committed to creating a climate of mutual
respect that is supportive of one another’s success. Through its curricula and clinical
experiences, the School of Education purposefully supports the University’s goal of diversity,
and, in particular, works toward an ultimate outcome of best serving the needs of all students
and the community members. All of us (faculty, mentors, organizations, students) are expected
to demonstrate a commitment to diversity as a measure of our mutual strength.
Course Readings and Media
There are no required textbooks or materials. All readings have been selected from available
sources freely available on the Internet and are listed here in the syllabus.
Online Public Events/Webinars: Conversations with Colleagues
This course will likely include students from around the globe. We all share a passion for the
subject, but will rarely share the same time zone. Therefore, my courses stay away from
bandwidth-heavy, real-time teaching and focus. Instead, they focus on individual scholarship,
local action, and group collaboration.
Nevertheless, I still do miss live discussions, so we’re going to attempt some here and do our
best to offer them during reasonable hours. We will record these webinar-like conversations, of
course, should you not be able to participate. We will provide you with all the technology you’ll
need to participate.
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Public Conversation/Webinar: (Dates TBD) “Global Tragedies: Local and
Global Solutions”
A short presentation a seasoned professional in the field, followed by a conversation. For
example, I am presently discussing a date for such a webinar with my colleague, Sharon
Ravitch, PhD, a professor of Education at the University of Pennsylvania and the Senior Advisor
to the Minister of Education of Haiti. I hope Sharon will be able to join us to address the
challenges and opportunities of working in Port- au-Prince following the 2010 Earthquake, along
with her particular contributions in community assessment and countrywide educational capacity
building. There will be plenty of time for questions and conversation.
Public Conversation/Webinar: (Dates TBD) “Humanitarianism Without
Humanitarians?”
The title of this webinar examines a reading from the digital activist, Patrick Meier, PhD., a
pioneer in the role of technology and emergency relief, global transparency, and mapping in
crises. His blog is worth reading: http://irevolution.net/. I will do my best to attract Patrick to
participate in this week’s session and webinar.
Public Conversation/Webinar: (Dates TBD): “Earthquakes, Floods, and
Education: A Conversation with Colleagues in Pakistan and Tajikistan”
I am arranging short presentation by Teachers Without Borders colleagues: (1) Sameena Nazir,
Founder of PODA (Potohar Organization of Development Assistance), an NGO devoted to the
education of girls, crafts, and human rights in Pakistan, and (2) Solmaz Mohadjer, Founder of
PARSQUAKE (an organization for earthquake education in the Persian-speaking community).
Here, too, we’ll follow the presentations with ample time for questions and comments.
MODULES
Getting Organized | Getting Acquainted
Session 1
Getting Organized

Once you are enrolled, you’ll receive instructions on how to access course

Please sign up for a blog and fill out the Google Doc with the name and URL. For more
information, please see our Technology and Blog Posting Requirements, as well as
course policies, which include specifics about intellectual property

Please fill out the survey
Discussion #1: A Response to a Poem
Most online courses ask students to introduce themselves. Fair enough. I often take a less
direct approach by asking variations of this provocative question: “What do you see outside
your window, and how does this shape your view of education today?” Sometimes I ask for a
personal response to an image, or a short video to represent the window metaphor.
This time, however, I want to take a different response. Please respond to a poem by Nobel
Prize winner, Wisława Szymborska, entitled “Psalm.”
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I have not chosen her poem to elicit a conversation about religion (as its title may connote), but
rather to ask you to describe your interpretation of, and thoughts about, the poem in light of
what might lie ahead in a course about education in emergencies. It’s best to let the poem
percolate by sitting quietly after you read it, rather than rushing to the keyboard.
Structure:

Please include your name in the title of your post. Ex: Fred Mednick: Borderless
Conflicts

When you read this, what does your heart or your head bring forth? Quote lines.

Please also comment on at least two other colleague’s posts.
Central Questions3
1. How would you define the field of “education in emergencies”?
2. Why has education been left out of standard humanitarian response until recently?
3. What is an educational intervention?
4. What are the international legal foundations, obstacles, and challenges that underpin
education in emergencies?
5. How might the growing awareness surrounding the needs of children in emergencies
(establishing “normalcy,” “child protection,” and “psychosocial well-being”) affect the
strategy of humanitarian response?
6. What role might culture, religion, and class play in emergency education?
7. Who and what are the key players, structures and institutions for education in
emergencies and how do they work together?
8. What are the reliable methods for evaluating the impact of education in emergencies?
Readings

Multiple Faces of Education in Conflict-Affected and Fragile Contexts: Inter-Agency
Network for Education in Emergencies (INEE) Working Group on Education and
Fragility

Education Under Attack: UNESCO

Schools as Battlegrounds: Human Rights Watch
Discussion #2: Response to Central Questions
Read the Central Questions again, then choose one that inspires to pursue? Your choice might
reflect personal experience. If, indeed, you experienced any of the issues presented personally,
you may use that as a powerful way of contextualizing your choice. If it’s too early to open up
(the issue may be too raw), please do not feel compelled to do so. You may, instead, choose to
These questions are derived from Teachers Without Borders’ experience in the field and from the
excellent syllabi posted on the Inter-Agency Network for Education in Emergencies website’s Academic
Space.
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Borders
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focus on what you’ve learned, what you noticed, what you believe is missing, what you would
like to pursue.
Please also comment on at least two responses to your colleagues.
The Wrong Place at the Right Time: Introducing INEE
Session 2
Overview
“The Inter-Agency Network for Education in Emergencies (INEE) is a global network of
individual and organizational members (as of June 2006) who are working together within a
humanitarian and development framework to ensure the right to education in emergencies and
post-crisis reconstruction. INEE works to improve communication and coordination by
cultivating and facilitating collaboration and constructive relationships among its members and
partners.
The INEE Steering Group provides overall leadership and direction for the network; current
Steering Group members include CARE, Christian Children’s Fund, the International Rescue
Committee, the International Save the Children Alliance, the Norwegian Refugee Council,
UNESCO, UNHCR, UNICEF and the World Bank. INEE’s Working Group on Minimum
Standards facilitates the global implementation of the INEE Minimum Standards for Education
in Emergencies, Chronic Crises and Early Reconstruction.”4
Objectives

To explore issues faced by those working in the Education in Emergencies field

To recognize and articulate the structure of INEE and apply principles to case studies
and further activities/exercises

To enable students to demonstrate how educational systems prepare for and react to
various sorts of emergencies, from the general sense that educational systems
themselves are in crisis to natural disasters such as earthquakes to manmade
disasters such as wars
Readings
4

Education and Emergencies: Humanitarian Coalition

INEE: Minimum Standards: Preparedness, Response, Recovery: INEE

Protecting Education: media clips

Education Strategy 2012-2016 and UNHCR Where We Work: United Nations High
Commissioner for Refugees

The Sphere Project: The Humanitarian Charter
Frequently Asked Questions about INEE and the INEE Minimum Standards | http://bit.ly/1bfYKkK
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
Learning is Their Future: Darfuri Refugees in Eastern Chad: INEE and Sphere Project
(to serve as a model for the assignment)
It is impossible to digest these hefty readings in such a short time. The intention here is to give
you a sense of the enormity of the subjects faced by researchers, networks, and practitioners
working on education in emergencies. As we continue with the course, I am certain you will
return to these documents and to consult the networks and resources to which they refer.
Activity
The UNHCR report (see link to “Education Strategy 2012-2016,” above) identifies 13 priority
focus countries: Bangladesh, Chad, Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Kenya, Malaysia, Pakistan, South
Sudan, Sudan, Syria, Uganda and Yemen. On page 12, please read the UNHCR criteria for
their choice of priority focus countries, each of which will be supported in “developing multi-year,
multi-sectoral education strategies based on the local context and existing education
programmes.” (Unfortunately, the link to the country fact sheets is restricted to UNHCR staff)
For now, we shall focus on the crisis of Darfuri refugees in Eastern Chad to illustrate how the
INEE Minimum Standards can guide strategic planning, policy, and programs.5 Special
appreciation is in order for Ariana Sloat for her design of a Case Study (from which our activities
are drawn). Ms. Sloat is Deputy Coordinator for Minimum Standards and Network Tools.
What follows is a self-paced module to be pursued in the following order, beginning with an
Overview and ending with Feedback. To truly absorb the depth of the issue, it is essential to
make the effort to read the documents to which it refers.









Overview
Foundational Standards
Access and Learning Environment
Teaching and Learning
Teachers and Other Educational
Personnel
Education Policy
Conclusion
Resources and Acknowledgments
Feedback
You can click inside the circle (on
each of the pages you see to the
left) for more information.
Discussion:
Share your feedback (last item on the Activity list) with your colleagues by posting it as a
discussion topic.
TBA: Public Conversation/Webinar 1: “Global Tragedies: Local and Global
Solutions”
A short presentation by Sharon Ravitch, PhD, a professor at the School of Education at the
University of Pennsylvania and the Senior Advisor to the Minister of Education of Haiti. Sharon
will address the challenges and opportunities of working in Port- au-Prince following the 2010
5
Special appreciation and acknowledgments are in order for Ariana Sloat, Deputy Coordinator for Minimum
Standards and Network Tools: arianna@ineesite.org
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Earthquake, along with her particular contributions in community assessment and countrywide
educational capacity building. There will be plenty of time for questions and conversation.
If Only: Gaps and Connections Between International Development and
Global Aid
Session 3
Overview
We began this course by diving right in and looking at the gravity of education in emergencies.
I’d like to pull back the lens even further in order to evaluate how the field fits into the overall
global development agenda and to identify areas of study, particularly now that the post
Millennium Development Goal era quickly approaches. All of this is intended to deepen one’s
understanding of the connections, best practices, and gaps in the space between development
and global aid, with a particular emphasis on how INEE seeks to bridge the gap.
The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) were conceived at the Millennium Summit in
September 2000 after world leaders in history adopted the UN Millennium Declaration outlining
a set of 8 goals, with particular targets for 2015. These 8 MDGs address issues of “poverty,
hunger, disease, lack of adequate shelter, and exclusion-while promoting gender equality,
education, and environmental sustainability. They are also basic human rights-the rights of
each person on the planet to health, education, shelter, and security.”6
According to the United Nations, the eight Millennium Development Goals “…form a blueprint
agreed to by all the world’s countries and all the world’s leading development institutions. They
have galvanized unprecedented efforts to meet the needs of the world’s poorest.” Access to
high-quality education is widely recognized as a universal human right. MDGs focus on
national self-reliance, sound policy, sustainability, educational access, and global
transparency.
It’s an optimistic vision and proponents do make a compelling case — more children than ever
are attending school; MOOCs (massive open online courses) are not only free, but inclusive,
watchdog agencies are exposing abuses. While global diseases have become more difficult to
identify and treat, public health successes in areas such as hygiene and immunization
campaigns have benefited from public-private partnerships and individual philanthropy (Bono,
Gates).
The picture of development through education is not altogether rosy. In many poor countries, a
quality basic education is hardly universal. And the voice of those critical of development and
aid are growing louder. The firestorm of criticism directed toward the development world is
particularly scorching. If, as H.G. Wells once said, "education is a race between civilization and
catastrophe," then many claim catastrophe is winning. More sub-Saharan Africans have cellphones than access to clean drinking water. Poverty pornographers descended upon Haiti
after the earthquake in order to raise money, yet today, three years later, there is enough
rubble in the streets of Port-au-Prince streets to build a four-lane highway to Los Angeles and
back again.
6
U.N. Millennium Project: http://undevelopmentproject.org
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Bookshelves are filled with this topic, and their titles speak volumes: The Road to
Hell: Ravaging Effects of Foreign Aid and International Charity;” “The Lords of Poverty: The
Power, Prestige, and Corruption of the International Aid Business;” “White Man’s Burden: Why
the West’s Efforts to Aid the Rest Have Done so Much Ill and so Little Good;” “Famine
Crimes: Politics and the Disaster Relief Industry in Africa;” “Condemned to Repeat?: The
Paradox of Humanitarian Action;” “The Crisis Caravan: What’s Wrong with International Aid?”
Depressing, indeed.
Palagunmi Sainath’s Everybody Loves a Good Drought; Stories from India’s Poorest
Districts paints a nightmarish, “development-is-its-own-disaster” picture of dogooders: “Development is the strategy of evasion. When you can’t give people land reform,
give them hybrid cows. When you can’t send children to school, try non-formal education.
When you can’t provide basic health to people, talk of health insurance. Can’t give them
jobs? Not to worry, just redefine the words “employment opportunities." Don’t want to do
away with using children as a form of slave labor? Never mind. Talk of ‘improving the
conditions of child labor!’ It sounds good. You can even make money out of it.”7
The key takeaway is for you to decide. In the meantime, many would agree that we must
bridge the gap between international development strategies and the world of global aid
following a disaster. It’s akin to the adage that an ounce of prevention is worth a pound a
cure.
If only, many say. This is a key opportunity to think about the connection between
development and aid, about integrating these perspectives into teaching practice, whether in
our own backyard or around the world. It is particularly important here to review the INEE
Toolkit and other INEE documents to learn more about the strategy of mobilizing networks
of high-quality development and humanitarian organizations and agencies.
Readings and Review




Millennium Development Goals: (United Nations)
MDG Monitor: Tracking the MDGs: (Global Governance Watch)
One: powerful infographics about the Millennium Development Goals
Education in Emergencies - Critical Factor in Achieving the MDGs: (International
Rescue Committee)
Discussion Post
Whether you are unfamiliar with the MDGs, a well-seasoned practitioner in the trenches, a head
of an NGO, or a donor, what would you do to affect one of the MDGs in an area of education in
emergencies? Why? How? Would you work in the policy area for maternal-child health?
Associate yourself with a particular NGO in a region you know about or you know is suffering?
Although it may be hard to contain yourself, do not focus on what has been done poorly by
others, but what you can see yourself doing.
NOTE: We’ll form working groups to connect a particular MDG with a particular
emergency and a toolkit used in the field
7 Sainath,
P. (1996). Everybody loves a good drought; stories from India’s poorest districts. Penguin Books., p. 421
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Drilling Down, Digging Out, Delivering Education: The INEE Toolkit
Sessions 4-6
Objective: Purpose, Groups, and Project
These next three sessions are meaty and complex. I have provided a great deal of detail for
each step of the way, so reading this syllabus carefully is absolutely essential.
These sessions involve lots of communication in a global collaboration within groups formed
around each of the Millennium Development Goals (2) The production a 1.5 page briefing
paper and group slide show, available to the public, to connect the MDG you have chosen with
an emergency in a particular region. We will:

Dig deeper into the MDGs and work with a group based upon one you choose

Collaborate on a project within your MDG group

Review research and activities that address your MDG in a particular country


Choose an acute or protracted emergency taking place in that country
Identify and interview practitioners working on that emergency

Make connections between Millennium Development Goals and INEE thematic areas

Create the briefing paper and assemble the public, online slide presentation based upon
what you have learned
Even more, it takes place in the middle of the class, rather than as a culminating assignment. I
know this all sounds a bit crazy, but there is a method to the madness. If you train yourself to
think big picture, even amidst acute or protracted emergency, you’ll be better off. In the world of
development, if one digs in the trenches only, one cannot see where it’s going. If one flies
overhead, one cannot even recognize the trench. This is about leadership and about the
complex relationship between compass and map, development and aid. Besides, this work
always requires that one bite off more than one can chew. Patience required. Hopefully, three
weeks will be enough time to accomplish it all.
Overview
A high-ranking United Nations section leader once gave me a working definition of a teacher:
“From my experience in the field, a teacher is anyone with valuable information to share.” It is
interesting to note that, whether you are a student envisioning your future, a seasoned
professional, or a donor, you’re an educator. Even more, relief agencies have made the mistake of
not conducting an assessment of community assets, alongside of their characteristic deficit
assessments. Should that be standard practice (again, part of INEE protocols), services not only
can be enhanced, but also sustained. Doctors and community health workers can be refugees,
too, with many of the same intellectual resources and more credibility than those flown in.
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This session is designed to introduce you to well-crafted handbooks developed by INEE and
partners, in very close communication with community leaders.
It is now time to start drawing threads together: your passion, the MDGs, and now the INEE
Toolkit, by choosing a thematic area you would like to discuss further, in groups. Focus on the
INEE Toolkit Thematic Issues. Keep in mind your passion for a particular issue the earlier
readings (INEE, Education Under Attack, the Millennium Development Goals), and our class
discussions. All of this will lead to joining ONE MDG group, discussing your views there, and
preparing a project presentation that will connect MDGs and INEE Toolkit Thematic Areas.
Think of it this way: One Column is an MDG; another column is an INEE Thematic Theme.
Your job is to draw vital connections between them.
STEP 1: Required Readings
INEE Toolkit Key Thematic Issues/Resource Packs (required: centerpiece for what follows)
INEE Standards Integrated Toolkit: Integrated Humanitarian Response (support document)
Millennium Development Goals (website)
Recommended Readings

Education in Emergencies: Toolkit - Prevention Web (worth scanning)

Disaster Risk Reduction: UNICEF – South Asia (for your reference)

Millennium Development Goals (individual pages)








Eradicating extreme poverty and hunger
Achieving universal primary education
Promoting gender equality and empowering women
Reducing child mortality rates
Improving maternal health
Combating HIV/AIDS, malaria, and other diseases
Ensuring environmental sustainability
Developing a global partnership for development
STEP 2: Join and Work in a Millennium Development Goal (MDG) Group
After you’ve done some reading, join a group that reflects your interest. Choose wisely, as this
will be a working group for the next three weeks. Instructions for Joining an MDG Group: (to be
provided)
2a: Post to the Discussion Space in your MDG Group
Post a reflection to the discussion (personally or professionally) about why you have chosen
this group. Describe the thematic area you have chosen as well. Is it something you are
simply curious about or that strikes you as entirely new? Is it a personal or professional
experience that drives you to learn more or to express yourself? Are you suspicious about,
or inspired by, current efforts in this area?
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2b: Inside Your Group: Get Organized
Here is where the moving parts start kicking in, so being organized really matters. The
group space on the Hopkins courseware site includes these components: Updates,
News/Blog, Discussion, Chat, Resources, and a Calendar. Make certain you use the
Resource tab for listing your organizations and contacts used in your research. (We’ll
download everyone’s resources at the end of the course and make certain that all have a
copy). This should be enough to keep you organized. If not, you can communicate via
email, Google Groups, or whatever the “organizers” amongst you feel is best.
Your group will depend upon each person’s effort in order to accomplish the following:






To learn more about your chosen MDG
To choose an acute or protracted emergency and learn more about it
To discover the players working on your chosen MDG and chosen emergency
To share interviews with those players
To investigate how the INEE Toolkit is being used (or can be used) there
To create a briefing paper (1.5 pages) and public slide presentation
ADVICE ABOUT GROUPS: Groups can be really frustrating because of lack of
communication or clarity. After you have introduced yourselves, talk frankly about protocols.
I’ll post more links to guidelines for group-work to help you along the way. In the meantime,
here’s what I have learned over the years: in groups, some colleagues emerge as leaders,
while others like to play a supporting role. Some wish to focus on numbers; others on
stories. Many groups take on these roles:





Organizers: People valued for their ability to manage
Creators: People who create content (numbers, stories, and pictures)
Distillers: People who transform complex ideas into forms we can all understand
Presenters: People who put it all together for public presentation
Technologists: People who get technology and can solve problems for everyone
STEP 3: Group Decision: A Particular Emergency and Research
Your MDG group needs to choose either a (1) recent or acute emergency this or last year, like
ethnic cleansing in Burma, or (2) an ongoing emergency, like the protracted reconstruction
efforts in Haiti following the 2010 earthquake. So, at this point, you’ve gathered as an MDG
group and now you’re deciding on WHAT emergency and WHERE.
Explore BOTH the MDG and the emergency in that country. Keep in mind that your group
presentation will focus on the questions raised at the beginning of this course.

What types of interventions are happening to address the emergency?

Who are the key players, structures and institutions? How do they work together?

How has the INEE Toolkit (and others like it) been used to address the issue?

What are the challenges? (Examples: government obstruction, lack of resources,
corruption)

How might the growing awareness surrounding the needs of this emergency affect
the strategy of humanitarian response?

What role might culture, religion, and class play in this emergency?
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
What methods are being used to evaluate the impact of education in this
emergency?
Look at research, data sets, media reports, voices from the field, blogs, images, video, and
watchdog networks. In short, what is going on? Think about this from the development
perspective (MDGs) and the emergency perspective (INEE: relief and aid).
On the next page, please find a chart that can give you a more visual sense of what I would like
you to do.
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CHART: Matching the MDG with the INEE Thematic Area/Toolkit – At a Glance
MDGs INEE Toolkit 
Conflict
Mitigatio
n
Disaster
Risk
Reduction
Early
Childhood
Gende
r
HIVAIDS
Human
Rights
Inclusive
Education
Protectio
n
Psychosoci
al Support
Youth
MDG 1: Eradicate Extreme Poverty &
Hunger
MDG 2: Achieve Universal Primary
Education
MDG 3: Gender Equality, Empowerment
MDG 4: Reduce Child Mortality Rates
MDG 5: Improve Maternal Health
MDG 6: Combat HIV/AIDS, Malaria
MDG 7: Ensure Environmental
Sustainability
MDG 8: Develop Global Partnerships for
Dev.
Let’s say that you have chosen MDG 3: Gender Equality, Empowerment. Now you have a group devoted to the issue. Next, your
group debates the various INEE Toolkits and decides to focus on Human Rights. Next, someone suggests places to go for research.
Another person learns that there is an extraordinary NGO, Potohar Organization for Development Advocacy (PODA), in Rawalpindi,
Pakistan that focuses on gender equality and empowerment through training in education and human rights. They have been working
on this issue for quite some time, and have become increasingly vocal about Pakistan’s status on scales measuring progress toward
the MDGs. You’d clearly place them on the development, versus aid and relief side. They educate girls, gain support from men for
women’s empowerment, teach crafts, and every room displays a poster of the UN Declaration of Human Rights. Lately, however, they
have stepped up their efforts to identify the issue as an emergency, especially in light of the news about how a girl, Malala Yousafzai,
was shot for promoting education for girls. The head of that organization, Sameena Nazir, is available for a Skype or email interview.
Others choose to interview field workers at international agencies or NGOs. At this point, you’re in great shape:
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You’ve chosen an MDG, an INEE Thematic Area, and a region where an ongoing emergency is taking place. Next, interviews.
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STEP 4: Individual Interviews
EACH member of the group needs to: (1) identify an organization working in the field, and
(2) interview someone there who has had direct experience with the emergency. (2 pages,
maximum). Your best sources will come from INEE and other websites you’ve come across
thus far. Find someone there to interview for a maximum of 45 minutes to gain the
perspective of someone working in the field.
Interview Approach/Tone: Introduce yourself and this course. Reassure the interviewee
that you’re not collecting evaluative data, but rather simply gathering insights; the tone of
the interview should be informational and appreciative. That’s why I decided not to script
the questions for you; what matters most is your interaction and experience of learning from
and with those in the field. You might ask about her/his motivations for tackling this issue
(whether or not s/he associates it with a particular MDG). You might follow that up with
questions about activities and programs, challenges, successes, setbacks, and surprises.
Your conversation may lead to issues about funding, leadership, coordination, community
outreach, or their experience with evaluation. If possible, ask her/him to tell you a story. For
instance, you might ask: “Ten years from now, what image or experience do you think will
stand out for you?” Although somewhat clinical, here’s a UN questionnaire conducted by
the Special Reapporteur of the U.N., addressed to NGOs, regarding human rights
4a. Post your full interview on your blog. Please include the name of the
organization and its website
4b. Write a one-paragraph summary for your group discussion space. Your
group will be consulting these in order to highlight three for the online, public
presentation
STEP 5: Create a Group 2-page Briefing Report. The audience for such a report is a
high-ranking UN official. Add a list of references (websites), substantiating your claims, to
the 1.5-page Briefing Report.
Here’s what you need to do:

Title Page: Include the name of the MDG and a descriptive subtitle, such as
Advancing MDG 3: Gender Equality and Empowerment — Employing the INEE
Toolkit in Pakistan. List each team member, along with a few words about each
person’s contribution. You’ll see how the online public presentation (coming up) will
reflect these categories.

One Page: Describe the nature of the emergency as objectively as possible.
Establish your credibility with the facts. If news reports conflict, note that. Though it
will be hard to do, avoid making recommendations. Just make your case for the
emergency itself.

Second Page: Hardly comprehensive, make a concise case for taking one specific
action, such as launching an official United Nations public campaign; initiating a
resolution or policy discussion. This is where your earlier research on MDGs and
actors in the emergency you’ve chosen can be distilled and made available to
STEP 6: Create an online slideshow about your work. I have created an online
Google Presentation template (which you can copy to customize for your own group)
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1. Here’s a link to a template for your slideshow: http://bit.ly/12nN7Ev. It is a Google
Presentation application, so someone in the group needs to have a Google account.
2. Rename the Google Presentation with the same title as your Briefing Paper.
Example: MDG 3: Gender Equality and Empowerment — Employing the INEE
Toolkit in Pakistan.
If you all have a Google account, then you’re in business. If only some of you do, I suggest
that one member of your group should make it available to other by downloading the
renamed version to PowerPoint or PDF and share it. Somehow, as it goes through
revisions within your group, you’ll need to stay in touch about the latest versions.
JUST ONE LAST STEP! Super Important Requirement: Sharing
Once you have completed your Briefing Paper and Google Presentation, all you need to do
is share it with the world. Here’s how:

Everyone should POST A COPY of the Briefing Paper to your individual blogs. After
all, you collaborated on this and you are all authors

ADD THE WEBSITE OF YOUR GOOGLE PRESENTATION to the bottom of your
briefing paper
You did it! This was a huge undertaking. Congratulations!
NOTE: Depending upon the size and vitality of the groups, this is where we’ll
decide whether to create new groups (for discussions) or reconvene for
discussions with all colleagues taking this course
Momaland: Case Study and Assessment Strategies
Session 7
Overview
Thanks to INEE and its network, there are excellent and actionable models for assessment:
technical briefs; disaster-specific summary sheets, checklists, and best practices; quick
impact analyses; instructions for determining needs for child-friendly spaces; qualitative
and quantitative research techniques; mobile phone data-gathering applications; how-to
videos; joint and coordinated assessment matrices; and much more. Between INEE’s
Monitoring and Evaluation manuals and those of The Assessment Capabilities Project
(ACAPS), you’ll have all the invaluable resources one would need.
One of the best ways to understand these assessment resources is to dive into a fictional,
yet realistic, case study. Momaland: Education Following an Emergency was developed by
UNICEF, INEE, and Save the Children (with a great deal of input from field workers) to
support concentrated or extended trainings that provide a likely scenario requiring attention
to the multiple, intersecting components and complexities of education in emergencies.
Momaland can help us learn more about the various components of assessment and
evaluation for education in emergencies. The readings include a slide-deck offered in
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trainings, along with a comprehensive Facilitator’s Guide (worth reviewing) that
incorporates much of what we’ve studied, thus far. Both are included in the readings.
The Facilitator’s Guide, even just the Momaland session, can compris an entire course.
Even so, just a cursory reading will reveal how the INEE Minimum Standards and other
protocols play themselves out, and how essential they are.
Reading

Momaland: Slides

Education in Emergencies Training: Facilitator’s Guide (INEE, UNICEF, Save the
Children). Pay close attention to Session 6.
Additional Reference Material (For Your Files)

More INEE Case Studies: Afghanistan, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Cambodia, and
Liberia, as well as a Synthesis Report

Real Time Evaluation of Humanitarian Action (Bibliography)

Assessment and Evaluation: documents curated by Teachers Without Borders
Discussions (Suggestions below)
What stands out? What do you wish this course had addressed? How might such a
training program affect your career path, knowing that you might face a scenario very much
like this one? Conduct an additional search to determine who has used the program and
how. I am asking you to think about your original motivation for taking the course and what
you’ve learned so far, mixed in with a picture of what things might look like for you.
Support from Viewers Like You: Emergency Education Public
Appeals
Session 8
Overview
Girl Rising, a new film highlighting the extraordinary stories of 9 girls and 9 issues they face,
worldwide, has drawn much-needed attention to the subject of girls education. Films like
Girl Rising and the Internet put the world of images, data, and compelling news in our
pockets. Movie stars, billionaires, and citizen journalists have entered the picture, too.
Tweets from Tahir Square flash across our screens, along with YouTube postings direct
from Homs, Syria. Appeal apps enable micro-donations via text.
Unfortunately, the ubiquity of “disaster du jour” appeals can lead to donor fatigue.
Tragically, despite a dramatic increase in the visibility of appeals for assistance for
emergencies, funding by governments remains stagnant. According to INEE, only 2% of
funds in humanitarian aid goes to education.
Here, too, INEE and partners have also developed extensive communication protocols and
best practices for successful appeals. The appeal process involves a complicated supply
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chain of transparency, communication, impact analysis, and accountability. This course
does not all us the time to give the appeal process the attention it deserves. Again, the
INEE site’s resources are specific, clear, and essential for anyone in the position to
coordinate this process. I have listed several INEE resources in this syllabus.
For now, I am asking only that you familiarize yourselves with these protocols in order to
post a discussion topic and to participate in an upcoming Online Public Conversation
/Webinar.
Discussion
A couple of choices here (a few paragraphs, plus please comment on others’ posts)
1. Point to a specific disaster (within the last three years) for which a successful
appeal was made. What made it so? A concise paragraph with a list of your
references is all that’s needed
2. Please identify a failed public appeal for support following a disaster (within the last
three years) due to the following:

Not enough money or resources could be raised to make a difference

So much money and resources were raised, that they could not be
deployed

There was no capacity for receiving, distributing, or securing relief, resulting
in a coordination disaster

Coordination was mishandled or missing entirely
Here’s some advice for those who wish to discuss the second option: there is a growing
genre of books about failed development projects. Try to avoid these, especially after just
having explored so many tragic issues. Just focus on the mechanics or the missing
elements of the appeal process. An earthquake has taken place or a civil disturbance has
broken out. Clearly, communities have been devastated or are in danger. What
happened…or didn’t happen?
Reading to Prepare for Public Conversation/Webinar




Does the Humanitarian Industry Have a Future in The Digital Age?: (required)
Ushahidi: plus crowdmapping tool available for public use: www.crowdmap.com
Education First’s Education Can’t Wait
INEE: Promotion and Advocacy
Online Public Conversation/Webinar 2: “Humanitarianism Without
Humanitarians?” (Date TBD)
The title of this public conversation/webinar was coined in this week’s reading by digital
activist, Patrick Meier, PhD., a pioneer in the role technology plays in emergency relief,
global transparency, and mapping in crises. His blog is worth reading: http://irevolution.net/.
I will do my best to attract Patrick to participate in this week’s session and webinar. We
hope to discuss diverse points of view on the subject of the impact of individual efforts and
the technology-enabled wisdom of crowds in disaster relief.
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Key Links to Share with Colleagues

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Education Under Attack
Schools as Battlegrounds: Human Rights Watch
The Sphere Project
Inter-Agency Network for Education in Emergencies
INEE: Minimum Standards English
INEE Toolkit
UNICEF: Education in Emergencies: A Resource Toolkit
Emergency Education for Children
Education and Conflict Mitigation
Education Protection
Annotated Bibliography: Teacher Professional Development in Crisis
This is a small fraction of the links to organizations, networks, documents, news, and
resources. Please join INEE and search their website for a far more complete list
Background: Teachers Without Borders and Education in
Emergencies
In 2000, Teachers Without Borders (TWB) was launched in order to connect teachers to
information and each other in order to help local leaders make a difference in their local
communities—on a global scale. At 59 million, teachers represent the largest professionally
trained group in the world—the catalysts of change and the glue that holds society
together. They know who is sick, missing, or orphaned by AIDS. Yet teacher professional
development is often irrelevant, spotty, or missing entirely—compounded by ill conceived or
poorly implemented policies, a precarious world economy, and both national and natural
disasters.
Teachers Without Borders did not enter the field of teacher professional development with
the idea that we would be involved in Education in Emergencies, but—upon reflection—EiE
has been what we’ve been about all along. Our first project took place in a Bedouin village
within the Occupied Territories. Subsequent projects gathered teachers from regions in
conflict (Rwanda, Nigeria, Pakistan, Afghanistan) to discuss teaching and learning, despite
the obstacles of civil unrest and we assisted with relief efforts for the earthquake in Pakistan
(2005).
We weren’t thinking about earthquakes when we were working in China, having focused our
efforts on the teaching of science inquiry methods in Sichuan. The May 12th, 2008 Sichuan
earthquake hit at 2:28 pm. Its epicenter was a few miles away from Dujiangyan, China. We
lost teachers. We lost students. We lost schools.
But we didn’t lose hope. Rather, we focused on earthquake science and safety — learning
from below the ground and up. We also learned that some buildings sway and others sink,
that not all earthquakes act in the same way, and that prevention and planning can save
lives.
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Today our Earthquake Science and Safety program teaches students and teachers about
the science of earthquakes. Solmaz Mohadjer, a Teachers Without Borders member and
geologist from Iran, saw from her work in Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Tajikistan that
there is little the way of accurate science and safety content for teachers. Emergencies
happen, but they don’t have to be disasters. We launched our program in China
immediately following the Sichuan earthquake, with an eye toward scientific validity for
adaptation to particular regions, and cultural portability. Form there, it has been
implemented in China, Haiti, Mexico, and back to Central Asia. It has also been translated
into 6 languages.
Short Videos

TWB’s Solmaz Mohadjer, Director of Teachers Without Borders’ Emergency
Education program on the power of earthquake science education to save lives

“Defeating Earthquakes.” Ross Stein, PhD – geologist with the United States
Geological Survey (and TWB partner): TEDx talk about earthquake science and
safety
To Read More about the Girls Quake Science and Safety Initiative

Girls Quake Science and Safety Initiative: Teachers Without Borders and USGS
Proposal to reach 100,000 girls

A Framework for Evaluating the Effect of Earthquake Science Education: Graduatestudent project at George Washington University based upon the TWB Proposal

Brochure about Girls Quake Science and Safety Initiative: TWB and USGS effort to
attract attention, awareness, and funding for the project
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