The relationship between education inequality and violent conflict is clear: Inequitable access to quality education makes the world less safe. Recent research for UNICEF by FHI 360 found that the likelihood of experiencing violent conflict doubles in countries with high education inequality between ethnic and religious groups, and the reverse is also true; violent conflict increases educational inequalities between groups.

How do we ensure that education programs, especially those in conflict-affected environments, aren’t actually contributing to inequality and therefore fueling conflict? Conflict-sensitive education (CSE) refers to the design and delivery of education programs and policies in a way that considers the conflict context and aims to minimize the negative impact (which contributes to conflict) and maximize positive impact (which contributes to peace).

In support of better measurement, the Education Equity Research Initiative is developing guidance on how to measure equitable education access and retention in programs in crisis and conflict settings, going beyond simple disaggregation of numbers towards more sophisticated metrics that can be standardized or customized, depending on the context and the specific equity dynamics.

USAID also developed the Rapid Education Risk Analysis (RERA) guide which includes measures to analyze real and perceived inequity in the education sector. RERAs have been conducted in six USAID programs over the past year, contributing to improved conflict-sensitivity in activity design and implementation plans.

Read the full article about equitable education by Anne Smiley and Nina Weisenhorn at Degrees.