IIEP Seminar, Paris / January , 2008 Educational attainments of Liberian refugees in Côte d’Ivoire ( ): Reflections on certification, equivalence, and the relevance of informal schooling in a refugee situation Magali Chelpi-den Hamer

IIEP Seminar, Paris / January , 2008 OUTLINE  Main debates related to refugee education, certification and issues of equivalence  Main research questions for this case study  Context  Lessons not learnt  International response and why it went wrong

IIEP Seminar, Paris / January , 2008 THEORY Education Demand * Education Supply * legal framework (Preston, 1994) There are as many forms of refugee education as there are different contexts

IIEP Seminar, Paris / January , 2008 MAIN DEBATES “It is preferred to adopt the curricula of the country of origin to facilitate voluntary repatriation, although this is not always possible or appropriate (…). In longer-term refugee situations, curricula need to ‘face both ways’ and be acceptable in both the country of origin and the host country.” (INEE, 2004:57)  What to choose content wise? Home vs. Host system?

IIEP Seminar, Paris / January , 2008 MAIN DEBATES  How to bridge different systems, given that a certain number of refugees will opt for local integration while others will return in their country of origin (or be resettled)?  At stake, How to preserve refugees’ liberty of choice?

IIEP Seminar, Paris / January , 2008 MAIN QUESTIONS  What types of education have been available to Liberian refugees and how has it changed overtime?  Why was a parallel system of education set-up in the beginning?  What issues of equivalence and certification arised when the decision was made to shift to a formal education system?  To what extent have these issues been tackled?

IIEP Seminar, Paris / January , 2008 CONTEXT

IIEP Seminar, Paris / January , 2008 CONTEXT  From a wide adhesion to a refugee education based on the home country system to a more controversial approach: (home-based) (transition to host-based) (host-based) (home-based) (host-based) Lack of consistency???

IIEP Seminar, Paris / January , 2008 CONTEXT  Equivalence issues when switching from a system to another: - risk of restarting from scratch - risk of being set back a few years  Higher risk for the older students  What happened in practice: - low enrollment in Ivorian schools - Ad hoc equivalence at primary level - Serious certification issues for secondary students

IIEP Seminar, Paris / January , : LESSONS NOT LEARNT… If lessons had been learnt from the 1990s…  Refugee schools would not have been restored  Parents would have been advised to enroll their youngest children in the lower grades in Ivorian schools  Private refugee schools would have been the alternative for parents not comfortable in having their children follow the Ivorian curriculum  UNHCR would have supported secondary schools to avoid serious certification issues for Liberian youngsters and to limit dropouts

IIEP Seminar, Paris / January , 2008 INTERNATIONAL RESPONSE & WHY IT WENT WRONG…  Always favored a single response for refugee education regardless of the multiplicity of educational patterns  Lack of anticipation in planning when switching to local integration: Means did not match Needs  No instrument to bridge the two systems: little pedagogical attention for issues of equivalence  Arbitrary ended support for secondary education after 1999

IIEP Seminar, Paris / January , 2008 WISER MOVES & POSSIBLE SOLUTIONS…  Away from a single standard package to a more individual support, ‘ à la carte ’, that takes into account the multiplicity of trajectories & individual liberties to choose which education system fits one’s best  Recognition of more than one form of refugee educational supply

IIEP Seminar, Paris / January , 2008  Set-up of instruments to bridge home- and host-country educational systems, and also at post-primary levels  More anticipation in planning when responding to a changing context, that takes into account actors’ capacities and resources  Funds released on time to ensure quality programming WISER MOVES & POSSIBLE SOLUTIONS…

IIEP Seminar, Paris / January , 2008 QUESTIONS ???