September Newsletter: Cross-Cutting Issues Support

Cash and Voucher Assistance

In April 2020, the Global Education Cluster issued a note on COVID-19 Implications for Programming of Cash and Voucher Assistance for Education in Emergencies. It provided guidance on how to include Cash and Vouchers Assistance (CVA) in Humanitarian Response Plans and education cluster strategies, on opportunities of using CVA in the pandemic context, and on using CVA instead of school feeding. An extensive Desk-based Review on Cash and Voucher Assistance in Education in Emergencies was prepared for publication, bringing to light a big number of examples of successful use of CVA in the sector. The Synthesis and Guidelines on CVA for EiE, the Checklist on Considerations for CVA for EiE Needs Assessments and the GEC training module on CVA for EiE were translated into French, Spanish and Arabic and will be soon available.

Additionally, the GEC supported the Somalia Education Cluster to adapt global guidelines on CVA for EiE in COVID-19 to the country context, resulting in a webinar and a note for Somalia partners. The GEC also supported Columbia education partners to integrate CVA considerations in the ECW proposal.

The GEC Cash Task Team met in March 2020 to discuss work in progress on CVA for EiE by UNICEF and Plan International, and a proposal for research by World Vision International on the role of CVA for EiE to increase equity and inclusion of marginalized children. The proposal was further reviewed during the year to be adapted to the COVID-19 pandemic context, with research scheduled to begin in Q3. The GEC Cash Task Team will meet again in Q3 of 2020.

Localization

As part of its COVID-19 response, the Global Education Cluster Rapid Response Team supported country clusters and working groups in adjusting response plans to include the critical role of national and local capacities in responding to emergencies. Several Education Response Plans, including those of Afghanistan, Myanmar, Bangladesh, Cox’s Bazaar, Nigeria, and Yemen highlight both the capacity needs of national/local education partners to improve quality and accountability of humanitarian response, and inclusion of local actors in assessing needs, and planning and delivering the response. Additionally, in collaboration with the Child Protection Area of Responsibility, the Global Education Cluster held a webinar on June 17th with the topic of Localizing Covid-19 response. Four representatives of national/local NGOs from Nigeria, Yemen, Colombia, and Iraq presented local experiences and lessons learned, which can be reached here.

Including localization in country-specific plans during the 2021 HNO/HRP processes is important. To support this, the Global Education Cluster and Child Protection Area of Responsibility developed a Tipsheet on Localization to support country teams during the HNO and HRP processes.

At the global level, seven National NGOs were included as members of the GEC Strategic Advisory Group, strengthening the local perspective of the SAG’s strategic advisory function. The GEC has also set up an inter-agency Localisation Task Team within its SAG to provide a platform for discussion, exchange of information, harmonization and maximizing localization efforts in education in emergencies response.

Child Participation and Safeguarding

The Global Education Cluster has in recent months increased its dedicated support for child participation and safeguarding, with following support provided:

• Democratic Republic of Congo: supporting the DRC Education Cluster develop a survey to assess partner practices and knowledge on child participation and safeguarding to identify gaps for capacity strengthening
• Yemen and Burkina Faso: supporting design of child-friendly data collection tools and plan child consultations meeting ethical and accountability requirements in support of Education Needs Assessments
• Ukraine: supporting design of pilot project to generate credible evidence and learning on safely and meaningful engagement of children in the response for monitoring purposes
• Afghanistan: supporting the Afghanistan Education Cluster garner interest and support among partners for strengthening child safeguarding practices