Publication
23 June 2020
The impacts of internal displacement on education in sub-Saharan Africa
Internal displacement can interrupt children's education, harm their wellbeing and hinder their development. It can reduce their future livelihood opportunities, creating a poverty trap that endures even after displacement. Failing to provide internally displaced children with quality education can cause long-term damage to them, their families and communities and affect their country's progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). As this paper demonstrates for the first time, however, most internally displaced children are excluded from educational policies.
In this background paper to the Global Education Monitoring Report 2020 of the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), IDMC presents the first estimates of the number of children at risk of being affected or out of school because of internal displacement in sub-Saharan Africa and of the cost of providing them with education. It further analyses the educational impacts of internal displacement in Ethiopia, Somalia, Kenya and Eswatini and proposes options to ensure inclusive education policies do not leave internally displaced children behind.
Also available in French.
