81140 ED U C AT I ON RE SILIE N CE APPROAC H ES Field Notes Issue No. 2 April 2013 Fundamental principles of applying resilience theory and concepts to Frequently Asked Questions on our work include: “Resilience” • To believe and commit to the potential of every child “Resilience” is a word increasingly used in the field of humanitarian to succeed despite (or even response and international development. But what exactly is because of ) the difficulties resilience? What does it mean for education systems operating in they face. contexts of violence, conflict or prone to natural disaster? • To understand risks and assets from the perception This FAQ seeks to clarify the conceptual underpinnings of resilience of those who live them: this and provide some concrete illustrations of what it means to apply means contextualizing the resilience to work on education in contexts of adversity. understanding from the level of the Ministry to the level of 1 What is resilience? the child in the classroom. • To make explicit the strengths Resilience has been studied extensively for over 40 years—including in relation to that exist across an education education. Broadly defined resilience is the ability to recover, perform and even system in adversity (both grow or transform in contexts of adversity. This leads to three foundational premises long-standing strengths of resilience: i) it necessarily starts from a point of adversity, ii) it seeks to explain and strengths that have an outcome of interest in spite of adversity ; and iii) it is especially interested in the manifested as a result of the process that fosters strengths, opportunities and the relations between individuals, adversity in hand). communities and institutions. Initially, resilience research focused on people’s personal traits and innate capacities that allowed them to continue to perform and overcome • To actively and explicitly difficulties in their lives. Today the definition of resilience has expanded to include engage these strengths an understanding of the relevant opportunities and services within institutions and in our long-term services systems to foster resilience. and emergency response strategies. In education systems, resilience relates not only to the assets and strengths of education Photo (left): Students study in communities but also to the relevant policies and programs that can support at-risk the library of the World Bank- individuals to overcome adversity and have positive learning outcomes. supported Female Experimental High School in Herat, Afghanistan; Specific definitions of resilience can differ between institutions, programs or (right) a local researcher outside researchers. Nonetheless, operationally, an understanding of resilience in each context Bamako, Mali, conducts a focus considers a locally defined outcome of interest and the set of risks, strengths and group on risks and resilience with opportunities associated with it. parents. © Graham Crouch, Jo April 2013 - The ERA Program Field Notes 1 2 How does resilience support learning in contexts of adversity? Outcomes of interest in a context of the range of risks and to foster existing adversity can include learning, relevant strengths in the long-term. skills acquisition and/or students’ well- Essentially, education systems can being in a context of adversity. Their provide both relevant emergency achievement requires adopting a support and improve themselves resilience approach and necessitates beyond crisis response by incorporating strategies to actively uncover the innovative and flexible approaches to different perceptions of risks, strengths foster resilience into the system’s formal and relevant services among the key institutions, strategic plans, programs, education actors (students, school and resources for long-term, sustainable staff, community members and transformation. policy makers). Especially, a resilience approach calls for the identification Given the resilience approach’s critical of the assets and protective processes emphasis on local capacities and (strengths, opportunities and services) support processes, assessments and that are already present in individuals, interventions must be locally-led, communities and systems facing high must utilize existing institutional and levels of risk. These assets may be intellectual resources (at whatever level Students at Boulkassounbougou tangible (such as human capital or they may exist), and must purposefully public school in Mali fill out community services) or intangible (such capture the differing perceptions of risks surveys for a Resilience Rapid as high motivation to attend school or Assessment. and assets that exist among individuals, community solidarity). © Jo Kelcey / World Bank communities, and national actors within the education system itself. Education Resilience Approaches Education systems can align their services to these assets to better address 3 Isn’t “resilience” just a new buzzword for what we have The World Bank The ERA Program is a World Bank program already been doing? that offers a systematic process to collect evidence that can support local efforts to improve education services in violence As outlined above, resilience is much operational examples of positive coping and conflict affected contexts. more than semantics: applying and peacebuilding attempts in schools, Field Notes Series resilience theory and evidence to communities and local stakeholders. The Field Notes series is produced to education work explicitly connects the Adopting a resilience approach does share lessons around this process in an effort to disseminate ERA’s support for the emergency response for the immediate not preclude applying relevant conflict collection of global evidence on resilience needs of learners, with the longer-term analysis activities and tools, but rather in contexts of adversity. development agenda of education can support aligning conflict-sensitive systems. guidance to contextually relevant assets By embedding a focus on protective within a given system. processes and assets in spite of In violence and/or conflict affected contexts, a resilience approach can Moreover, resilience is not simply adversity within education systems, complement existing conflict-focused the opposite of fragility. A resilience resilience also provides an important approaches. When conflict assessments approach is not only concerned with bridge between immediate emergency include a resilience perspective, they reversing the impact of fragility, but responses to a crisis and the can identify examples of existing assets, with mobilizing assets, strengths and development of longer-term policies opportunities or services to reduce capacities towards the protection and and plans to address such occurrences conflict sensitivities within education engagement of at-risk individuals for (see also question 6). services. A resilience approach can draw longer-term personal, institutional and on relevant, indigenous and already social transformative change. 2 April 2013 - The ERA Program Field Notes 4 Isn’t talking about assets just shifting responsibility to at-risk individuals? Early resilience studies that focused strengths, opportunities and Finally, applying a resilience approach solely on human aspects of resilience available services. does not and should not negate were criticized for this reason. the need to address the sources of Moreover, the process-based nature Today, however, resilience research adversity. It is one part of the puzzle of resilience means that we do not considers individual resilience in that can help construct a more talk about “resilient students” but light of institutional supports— effective roadmap for education rather a “resilience process” that those systems, policies, programs systems to identify priorities and considers how the education system and resources that can help at-risk entry points around the provision of can build on local assets to help individuals. It is also concerned with immediate, medium and longer-term education communities overcome the supportive opportunities to support for vulnerable children and sources of adversity. address the risks and social injustices youth. that individuals face, while fostering 5 Then, what should be the outcomes of a resilience process? Because resilience is a complex outcome of interest may include school; in yet others it could concern and contextualized process, each improving net enrolment rates in the the ability of the education system to resilience-focused institution, aftermath of an acute emergency; in promote social cohesion and respect program, or research study develops others, it may refer to the ability of for diversity in the aftermath of a its own operational definition of young people affected by high levels divisive and protracted conflict. resilience and its outcomes of of gang violence in their communities interest. For some contexts, the to continue to attend and do well in A resilience approach IS... A resilience approach does NOT... A way of addressing and improving education Analyze in depth the drivers of conflict within a policy and institutions even in times of crisis. given country. A valorizing way of engaging in difficult contexts and Provide a structured focus on historical, a positive counterweight to the often intractable institutional, social, environmental and economic perceptions of hopelessness that can dominate issues related to adversity. conflict and fragility discourses. Address the issues better addressed within broader Ways to uncover innovations, positive deviance, conflict mitigation analysis. or critical cases which provide evidence that Offer a global set of independent interventions indigenous and context-based assets exist and for promoting resilience (rather, it proposes illustrate how adversity is being managed and that assets, opportunities and strengths of at- overcome. risks populations be incorporated into existing Ideas for how education systems can make their education or other social services). services more relevant and effective within contexts Analyze strengths, competencies and abilities of adversity. outside of adversity (resilience approaches start A bridge to consciously improve the system’s from a context of adversity). short and long-term response to crisis, among the Consider how risks or assets are perceived only objectives and support structures of humanitarian by actors in contexts of privilege or power (but and development phases. rather by vulnerable populations in difficult living contexts). To both mitigate future emergencies and improve core education functions (such as access, learning, completion, etc.). April 2013 - The ERA Program Field Notes 3 Photo (left): Students participate in a Resililence survey in Honduras; (below) A teacher explains a lesson to a Palestine refugee student in West Bank/ Gaza; (opposite) Palestine refugee students in West Bank/Gaza line up for school. © Joel Reyes / World Bank and UNRWA. 6 How can a resilience approach support educa- tion authorities working in crisis contexts? Through the identification of strengths, Foster institutional used in the early stages of a crisis to: i) opportunities and individual, transformations that can occur ensure that the varying perceptions of community and organizational assets precisely by incorporating the education community members are within an education system, we can innovative and flexible ways heard; ii) allow for the identification of better: education communities respond assets that can be mobilized during the to emergencies, into the system’s response; and iii) highlight important Pinpoint locally relevant policy formal institutions, strategic institutional linkages and connections options and associated entry plans, programs and resources. to longer-term more sustainable points to mobilize for longer- interventions. term institutional change. Of note is the way this can help us better bridge the short-term Support and protect positive humanitarian response and longer-term indigenous practices to development. In the education sector, better align emergency and resilience focused assessments can be development responses. 7 How is data about resilience collected? At least three types of resilience data on identifying existing assets and are needed to provide useful resilience protective processes in contexts of evidence for education systems: i) data adversity. Existing tools from risks, about the context of adversity and risks, vulnerability, coping and adaptation ii) about the outcomes of interest in the can contribute to a resilience approach face of such adversity, and iii) about the (see box on the next page). protective processes and assets that Finally, a mixed-methods resilience contribute to such outcomes. assessment can contribute to the Other fields of study have collected discovery of assets, exploration of data about risks (e.g., risk assessments), protective processes and explicative coping (strengths or capabilities evidence regarding their relations,. studies), or results (impact evaluations). These data and analysis must be useful However, a resilience approach requires for resilience-based education policies all three assessment approaches and programs. together, with strong emphasis 4 April 2013 - The ERA Program Field Notes Existing tools to measure risk, vulnerability, coping and adaptation While the application of resilience theory to international development work is relatively new, assessments of risk, vulnerability and assets are not and offer several well established quantitative and qualitative approaches and tools that can inform resilience work. Examples of relevant assessment resources that can contribute to resilience research include: “Living through Crises” (Heltberg, Hossain and Reva 2012) which uses qualitative methods to understand how large-scale economic crises affect people’s lives and coping mechanisms. The Positive Deviance Approach which is an assets-based approach to uncover successful behaviors and strategies and extract key lessons for broader application. Quantitative surveys have been providing crucial evidence for policies for over two decades through household surveys on exposure to shocks (conflict or natural disaster), the associated vulnerability of individuals and households to these shocks and the strategies used by households to cope and adapt (see for example Kozel, Fallavier and Badiani 2008). However, it is crucial that an assessment based on resilience theory address risks, outcomes of interest and protective processes/assets together, with strong emphasis on the latter. Resources: Heltberg, R., N. Hossain, and A. Reva. 2012. Living through Crises: How the Food, Fuel, and Financial Shocks Affect the Poor. Washington, DC: The World Bank. http://www.positivedeviance.org/ Kozel, V., P. Fallavier, and R. Badiani. 2008. “Risk and Vulnerability Analysis in World Bank Analytic Work: FY2000-FY2007”. The World Bank Social Protection Discussion Paper No. 0812. 8 What does resilience “look Workshop in practice? like”evaluation on impact Since its inception in 2010, the Education Resilience Approaches for risk and resilience This vision was then consolidated contexts source of support for these students is the use of peer-to-peer learning with more system level interventions (ERA) Program at The World Bank over the longer term. techniques, which help manage large has collected several examples of class sizes with different attainment In UNRWA refugee schools in resilience from around the world, levels, makes lessons more accessible, the West Bank, Gaza and Jordan, at the school and system level (also and valorizes interpersonal support, students have been known to score see www.worldbank.org/education/ solidarity between students and higher than their peers at public resilience): teamwork. schools on international tests. ERA In Rwanda, ERA undertook a case research shows that this is partly a In Honduras, ERA’s critical case study study that looked back at how result of support in the classroom of a school situated amidst high institutional resilience was built by teachers who understand the urban violence found that a major in the aftermath of the genocide adversities they face, maintain high risk factor for students was the through a firm focus on promoting a expectations for all students, and maladaptive ways of seeking a sense unified Rwandan identity. Rwandan explicitly relate education to the policy makers made explicit in context within which the students education policies and laws the role live and study. Data collected from of the education system in promoting Palestine refugee students also values of justice, human rights and highlights the importance of a well- social cohesion, and institutionalized structured school environment. existing indigenous mechanisms Students appreciate rules, discipline to manage schools and ensure and routine, which they say allows accountability. In the emergency them to learn better and creates phase this was underscored by a a sense of belonging to a school strong focus on getting all students community and a greater educational back into school as soon as possible. project and purpose. Another crucial April 2013 - The ERA Program Field Notes 5 of belonging in a protective group, In Mali preliminary data from ERA’s structures (albeit under-resourced ones) through membership in violent youth ongoing work highlights the solidarity exist. Better coordination with NGOs gangs. Consequently, one of the greatest between displaced persons and host and other agencies could help the risks there is unsafe access routes to and communities in the south, such as Government and other support partners from schools—times when students specific support for ensuring displaced address the need for flexible education feel vulnerable for recruitment or being children continue to go to school. strategies and psychosocial support, and targeted by violence. Yet, they reported Teachers—both local and displaced— institutionalize these approaches in the feeling supported by the mothers of are also providing remedial courses longer-term. students who came to the schools and after-school activities in this time In each case the resilience response when violent incidents happened in of need. These assets could be better stems from the specific context, which the neighborhoods and organized institutionalized at the system level for in turn is defined through national and safe journeys home. This is an example greater access and regularity of schooling. local priorities. It entails better aligning where system level policies, programs Particular community needs that have national policies and programs to and strategies could build upon parental been identified could be met through these priorities, and makes the system participation in schools to help foster existing national policies such as school more relevant for its most vulnerable resilience and relevant community feeding and school based management beneficiaries. interventions. committees, for which strong national 9 Where can I read more? Academic research on resilience: The Resilience Research Centre based at Dalhousie University, Halifax Canada http://resilienceresearch.org/ The Institute of Child Development at the University of Minnesota http://www.cehd.umn.edu/icd/people/faculty/cpsy/Masten.html The ResilienceNet virtual library hosted by The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign http://resilnet.uiuc.edu/library.html Published papers by humanitarian and development agencies: World Bank Education Resilience Approaches Program Includes links to the education resilience framework paper, education case reports and education resilience assessment tools http://www.worldbank.org/education/resilience USAID: Resilience Strategy (2012) http://ethiopia.usaid.gov/sites/default/files/images/USAID%20Building%20Resilience%20to%20Recurrent%20Crisis.pdf UNICEF: Humanitarian Action for Children, Building Resilience (2011) http://www.unicef.org/media/files/HAC2011_EN_PDA_web.pdf Save the Children and World Vision: Ending the Everyday Emergency, Resilience and Children in the Sahel (2012) http://www.savethechildren.org.uk/resources/online-library/ ending-everyday-emergency-resilience-and-children-sahel UNESCO-IIEP newsletter: Rebuilding Resilience, the Education Challenge (2009) http://www.iiep.unesco.org/fileadmin/user_upload/Info_ Services_Newsletter/pdf/eng/2009/2009_1En.pdf UNICEF: Building a Culture of Resilience (2012) http://www.ineesite.org/uploads/files/resources/UNICEF_Final_ Report_-_Building_a_Culture_of_Resilience.pdf INEE Minimum Standards for Education: Preparedness, Response, Recovery (2010) http://www.ineesite.org/en/minimum-standards IRIN Humanitarian News and Analysis: Understanding resilience A PTA meeting takes place in Um Deresaya, North Kordofan, Sudan. © Salahaldeen Nadir / World Bank http://www.irinnews.org/report/97584/ 6 April 2013 - The ERA Program Field Notes