A roadmap for education that will spell out a five-year plan for South Sudan is nearing completion. The Ministry of General Education and Instruction, with support from a broad spectrum of international partners, is finalizing an education sector plan that will take the country through to 2021 and beyond. Called the General Education Strategic Plan (GESP), it will define the country’s major educational priorities and targets.
Starting with early childhood education through to secondary education and including technical and vocational education and adult literacy, the plan covers all learners in the country, including internally displaced persons and refugees.
In the short term, the plan is focusing on providing educational opportunities throughout all parts of the country. This means ensuring that teacher salaries are paid and teachers are trained, that schools receive school grants and that teaching and learning materials are distributed equitably.
Educational planning for a stronger South Sudan
South Sudan’s education plan is born out of the country’s complex history, marked by nearly four decades of civil war. After gaining independence from Sudan in July 2011, the new country faced massive challenges.
The then Ministry of Education, Science, and Technology began the process of developing the education sector despite the country’s struggling economy, extreme poverty, lack of infrastructure and basic services.
The renewal of conflict in December 2013 further exacerbated the challenges. A peace deal was brokered in August 2015 between the government and opposition groups; however, stability and peace remain elusive in many parts of the country.
Accordingly, the ministry is tasked with creating and managing an education system that can mitigate the risk of conflict and respond to crises.
Five lessons learned on planning for resilience in South Sudan
1. Bridging the humanitarian-development divide through crisis-sensitive planning requires management of different stakeholder expectations, approaches, and agendas
An essential aspect of the crisis-sensitive planning process is the development of partnerships and collaboration with humanitarian partners, such as the Education Cluster, NGO representatives, the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs and Disaster Management, and the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.
In the case of South Sudan, their participation throughout the process was key to ensuring that ongoing humanitarian work in the country is aligned with government priorities and long-term objectives.
It is also critical that the GESP clearly articulates the humanitarian and development priorities of the education sector, so that all external funding – whether development or humanitarian – is used in pursuit of agreed education priorities.
This will help maintain the education system and children’s right to education, and allow for development of the sector as the situation stabilizes.
2. Government leadership and the strong participation of national authorities reinforce ownership and alignment of partners’ efforts
It is vital to ensure that national authorities lead the planning process.
Strong government leadership helps to align partners’ initiatives with national priorities and can ultimately facilitate implementation of the plan.
Working with national staff in hands-on workshops, de-mystifying technical work, and facilitating ministry discussions around the choice of priorities contribute to ensuring government leadership.
3. There is a need to build upon the complementarity of different organizations and ensure strong coordination to effectively support ministries of education in developing plans that are crisis-sensitive
Working with different ministries at both central and state levels, and with international partners, is vital to the planning process to ensure a holistic understanding of the situation.
Bringing together actors that do not typically work together is an occasion to build on the complementarity of perspectives between, for example, humanitarian and development actors and across various ministries (education, finance, and labor and public service).
4. Developing capacities for crisis-sensitive education sector planning is a long process that may ultimately be undermined by the crisis itself
When supporting ministries of education to develop crisis-sensitive education sector analyses and plans, it is important to address individual, organizational, and institutional capacities for planning.
However, economic fragility and political instability can pose challenges, as they limit the predictability of financing and programming both for the government and its partners.
Uncertain prospects for a lasting peace in the country can also mean that investment in capacity development may not bear fruit as desired.
Development funding may be diverted to humanitarian programming, and if the situation worsens, individuals participating in capacity-development initiatives may seek opportunities elsewhere.
5. The planning process can contribute to fostering social cohesion
The participatory nature of education sector planning, and in particular crisis-sensitive planning, provides an opportunity for education actors to work together to determine priorities and set the agenda for the sector.
Similarly, there is great value to ensuring all education actors (national authorities, technical and financial partners, and civil society representatives) are on board from the outset. This increases consensus building, facilitates ownership, and ensures a shared understanding of government priorities.
It is hoped that this roadmap will contribute to paving the way towards peace in South Sudan.
Visit education4resilience.iiep.unesco.org for resources related to education for safety, resilience and social cohesion.
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