The role of international institutions in higher education development after conflict

Role of International Institutions in the Development of Higher Education in Post-Conflict Situations

The topic of this work is "The role of international institutions in the development of higher education in post-conflict situations." The specific region of focus will be that of Somalia and Somaliland. One devastating aspect of the Somali civil war was the collapse of the entire education system, including all institutions that offered postsecondary education. The work of Mohamed Nur-Awaleh in the work relating to Somalia and Somaliland in the work entitled: "Higher Education in Africa": "The civil war not only destroyed the economic and social fabric of the society, it also created a bleak future thousands of Somali youths, who faced a devastated educational system, a lack of opportunity for higher education, and high unemployment." (p.541) Stated on the UNESCO website is: "...higher education issues are crucial for reconstruction, for long-term economic and social development as well as for peace building." The focus on this work is the higher education system in the counties of Somalia and Somaliland. Discussed will be the roles of the various International Institutions and NGOs that promote and support higher education in Somalia and Somaliland, as well as their contributions, and their effectiveness. Secondly discussed will be the initiatives or lack of initiative in rebuilding Somalia and Somaliland's higher education system. Third will be discussed what funding agencies are involved in the process of rebuilding the higher education system or in other words: "where would the funds for higher education come from? Furthermore, 'which bilateral donors or other multilateral agencies such as UNESCO doing to support post-conflict higher education in Somalia & Somaliland? This work will explore the reasons 'why these international institutions are not doing more to support the reconstruction of the higher education system in Somaliland and Somalia and will answer the questions of 'what obstacles are in the way and what can be done to bring the higher education system in this region back to what it used to be before the civil war and even better.

THE ROLE OF INTERNATIONAL INSTITUTIONS IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF HIGHER EDUCATION IN POST-CONFLICT SITUATIONS

INTRODUCTION

The work of Rose (2006) states that after a country deteriorates declining in capacity and then enters the second stage of arrested development having moderate or high capacity yet lack of will then next stage is that of 'post-conflict' characterized by the high 'risk of conflict' that exists in which the country is either highly charged in terms of will but yet has very low capacity. This is the state of affairs in the country of Somalia and Somaliland.

BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY

Somaliland: The education system was delivered its final blows during the late 1980s and 1990s in Somaliland resulting from the civil war in the country. Over 90% of the existing schools were demolished. (Bekalo, Brophy & Welford, 2006) In fact in the work entitled: "Post-Conflict Education Development in Somaliland" the authors state that:

Almost all formal modern learning systems ceased to function and no formal education took place in Somalia for at least two years (1991-1992) in the aftermath of the civil war (UNICEF, 1998)" (Bekalo, Brophy & Welford, 2006) The former College of Teacher Education is described as: "The low-rise modern looking building of the former College of Education is now a displaced person's camp. The classrooms and dormitories were full of families, the walls were blackened by cooking fires...The library was a world of dust. Books were piled everywhere, on sagging shelves, on toppling heaps. Some were stained and disintegrated, but most were intact. Every title I saw seemed under the circumstances absurdly ironic: The Psychology of Adolescence...The Red Badge of Courage. Sunlight drifted through high windows on the west wall. A cow mooed somewhere. The dust was so deep that it was as though the desert itself was creeping through the walls, burying the books in fine sand." (Finnegan, 1995; as cited by Bekalo, Brophy & Welford, 2006)

Somalia: The youth in Somalia are stated to belong to one of three groups which are those of:

1) Disheartened youth in bad circumstances and a lack of education who worked toward channeling their efforts with "self-study schemes to improve their capacity..."

2) Those on illicit drugs; and 3) The group of youth who were destroying the country through violent uprisings. (Restoration of Hope and Peace: The Amoud Initiative, nd)

LITERATURE REVIEW

The work entitled: "Education in Fragile States: Capturing Lessons and Identifying Good Practice" and written by Dr. Pauline Rose at the Centre for International Education at the University of Sussex states that fragile countries are characterized by: "...countries with poor governance as identified by a 'lack of political commitment and/or weak capacity to develop and implement pro-poor policies; fragile states also experience violent conflict." (2006) In the attempt to understand the role that the higher education institution plays in the post-conflict of a country it is necessary that the characteristics of the period known as 'post-conflict' be understood. Rose (2006) informs the reader that 'fragile' countries are divided into the four following categories:

1) Deterioration

2) Arrested development

3) Post-conflict

4) Early recovery

The work of Rose examines how developmental assistance to a country in these four stages are 'key' in making what she terms a 'turnaround' in the country. Fragile states such as Somalia and Somaliland are characterized by "unschooled youth" and as noted by Rose "education is seen to play an important role in influencing fragility, positively or negatively and schools may be targeted in efforts to undermine government legitimacy." (2006) Further noted by Rose is that: "Agencies working on education recognize that the 'relief-development dichotomy is an artificial one and that as a long-term endeavor, education needs to be planned in that [long-term] way."(2006)

In an extensive survey which the Somaliland government conducted findings state that the student-teacher ratio is thirty one teachers to one student in the country. The conflict has negatively affected building of schools as well as the "functioning of the local education authorities and their ability to provide educational information, curriculum development, teacher training, teacher remuneration and finance for the system." (Bekalo, Brophy & Welford, 2006) The MNPC (1999) and MEDPR (1999/2000) surveys are said to "indicate, teacher numbers and their qualifications are a further problem. Over 50% of the current teachers are reported to be either not trained or under-trained. Only 15% of the teaching force are female, the majority of whom were concentrated in the urban areas." (Ibid)

It is important to note the statement of Bekalo, Brophy & Welford: "...there are few further or higher education and training opportunities. Besides disparity in the various levels of educational development and lack of uniformity, the quality of primary education is poor, commonly characterized by untrained teachers and by the shortage of instructional material and support services." (2006) In surveys of those living in Somaliland results find that the respondents who are uneducated are just as adamant about "wanting education for their children." (Ibid) The programs dealing with education development have "reappraised the training and payment of teachers" by introducing "accelerated, short teacher training program."(Ibid)The teachers do earn less but in the development scheme the teacher work more hours, thereby earning more pay while working double or triple shifts. It is noted in the research of Bekalo, Brophy and Welford that "Promising alternative flexible education programmes" are being used in Somaliland in an attempt to meet the educational needs.

The work of Boyden and Ryder (1996) entitled: "Implementing the Right to Education in Areas of Armed Conflict" state that "Political support for education is gathering momentum internationally." Related is that the 'Convention on the Rights of the Child' adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in 1989 "makes an important rallying point for governments with regard to education policies and interventions." (Ibid) Under the regulations of this adopted instrument "Higher education is to be accessible to all on the basis of capacity." (Ibid) The authors further state that the 'greatest disparities" exist in the "opportunities for higher education" in fragile or poor countries throughout the world. One such report is found in the work entitled: "Rule of Law Through Imperfect Bodies: The Informal Justice Systems of Burundi and Somalia" reveals that the adjudicators in the country are much in need of education that only higher education institutions can provide" revealing how integrally important that education is for the post-conflict development of a country such as Somali and Somaliland.

In the work entitled: "Education and Peacebuilding - A Preliminary Operational Framework" the question is asked: "Why education?" For peace-building focus. The answer is stated as "United Nations actions for peace-building, which embraces a number of conventions and action plans on education for peace, human rights...." (Brown & Isaac, 1999) in other words the UN's actions for peace-building hold 'education' to be on e of the cornerstones of this process. There will be demands for resources to assist in acquiring new knowledge and scholarship, recapturing lost knowledge and skills, and for training and re-training in such areas. The education sector with all its capacities for delivering knowledge and training has an important role to play in the rebuilding process. Finally, because education intersects with almost every sector and theme in peace-building, it warrants its own examination of the competencies, skills and resources needed to make the kinds of contributions demanded of it." (Ibid)

Further stated is that "Formal education covers the knowledge, skills and training obtained through primary, secondary and tertiary institutions such as schools, colleges and universities. Non-formal education is generally of a short-term duration and is geared towards upgrading of skills and introducing new knowledge."(Ibid)

In the work entitled: "Overview of Post-Conflict Recovery and Reconstruction: Experiences and Lessons Learnt" it is related that in the early 1980', "Somalia could boast 'the lowest GNP, the lowest physical quality of life index, the lowest per capital public education expenditure, the higher infant mortality per;1,000 births, and the higher per capita military expenditure' (UNDP, 1998; as cited by: Visman, 1998) Somalia has suffered from dysfunction in the social, political and economic areas. European Aid prior to 1991 was provided or allotted but "there appeared to be little coherence in the response of EU Member States to the evolving situation in Somalia..." with the assistance being raised to the amount of $232.5 million in 1987. Increased political dialogue is cited as well as EU engagement because of the lack of a central government in Somalia. The EU then looked to development of new approaches including sustainable economic and social development for the purpose of "linking relief, rehabilitation and development where different types of aid are required simultaneously within the same country and even in the same district." (Visman, 1998)

The EC has learned in its experience that allocation of aid must be conducted within 'Country-specific Frameworks' (Visman, 1998) Mandates must be peaceably negotiated and rewards go to those who best allocate resources and show best performance. Annex 2: Code of Conduct for International Rehabilitation and Development Assistance eto Somalia, 1995 states that Somalia has, in Annex 3: Final Document, Fourth SACB Meeting, Rome 29-30 May 1997 'three main objectives' that service as guidelines for the strategy to be used by the international aid community relating to humanitarian, rehabilitation and development assistance which are those of:

1) Help prevent the re-occurrence of a massive humanitarian disaster;

2) Assist Somali-led initiatives for good governance and socio-economic recovery at local level; and 3) Contribute to peace and political stability at both local and national levels."

Visman (1998) writes in relation to Education in countries who are in the 'post-conflict' period and that are willing to invest in their own future through social, governance, and economic development should be targeted: "especially at post-primary education, aimed at building conditions for reform to succeed. The motivation for their recommendation is the empirical observation that countries with a higher proportion of their people having attained a secondary school education are more likely to sustain reforms." The statement of Visman (1998) that is most revealing is in the next sentence which states: They estimate that:

raising the proportion of secondary education graduates in a typical "fragile" country by 1 percentage point represents and expected benefits of the order of $10 billion."

This statement alone supports higher education support and development in 'fragile' countries. Visman goes on to state: "...the question then is how much does it cost to raise the proportion of the population with post-primary education."

Visman (1998) next notes that Chauvet and Collier have highlighted "higher education as a factor conducive o successful implementation of reforms, other necessary sectors can be cited as well - notably, improving access to health care, including access to anti-retroviral drugs for long-term treatment of HIV-positive population; investment in basic public infrastructure linking rural areas to urban markets more efficiently; and strengthening law and order and the judiciary. Unfortunately, benchmarks are not available as to the expected benefits of investing in these areas. Ideally, the level of overall assistance preparatory to reforms should be fixed at a level where it is just equal to the expected aggregate benefits." (Visman, 1998)