Education Action International

www.education-action.org

Education Action International was established in England in 1923 as Student Relief. The original mission of the organisation was to assist refugees from central European nationalism in continuing their education and careers. In the 1950s the organisation evolved into World University Service (UK). In June 2003 the name Education Action International was adopted as the operating name to reflect more closely the current goals and activities.

We see education as the key to tackling the root causes of poverty, building self-reliant communities not dependent on aid. Our experience shows that investment in education is essential to the reconstruction of fragile communities emerging from years of war.

We believe in working with others to increase the impact of our work. We work with small grass roots organisations, skilled professionals and experienced practitioners so that we are always learning and we stay in touch with the needs of the people we serve, We use this knowledge constantly to review and improve our work and that of our partners.

Education Action international supports people affected by conflict to realise their right to education. Members, trustees and staff believe that education is a fundamental human right and an essential factor in enabling individuals and societies to develop. We also believe that education and skills are amongst the most important (and portable) assets for people forced by conflict and oppression to move, often repeatedly. Accordingly, Education Action works internationally with indigenous organisations to help refugees, internally displaced people and societies affected by conflict, gain access to, and expand, education. We generally work with southern NGOs and, where conditions permit, local education authorities, which focus on equitably improving access to education and quality of teaching and governance. We also work with refugees in the UK to help them realise their rights to continue/complete their education, or training and gain employment.

Our particular concern is the long-term impact of conflict and displacement on the education rights, aspirations and expectations of displaced people (particularly in the poorest communities). Outside of externally monitored settlements people often accept any provision, rather than attempting to improve that provision. We support educators from affected communities who are working to fill some of the most serious gaps in education services.

We currently work with educationalists in Sudan, Uganda, Egypt, Peru and Palestine on medium to long-term projects in organisational development, national educational policy development, adult literacy, curriculum development, teacher training, child rights awareness and improving access to education for poor and marginalized groups. Internationally, our approach is to work with partners to help identity strategies for contributing towards the Education For All (EFA) goals. We also hope to ameliorate some of the negative effects of national Education For All planning on access for girls and disabled pupils.

Our international programme

Our overseas programme covers Africa, the Middle East and Latin America. Wherever we work, our programme falls naturally into three main areas:

• Developing good quality, basic education

• Improving literacy amongst women and within marginalised communities

• Using education to bring about positive change

Our UK Programme

Our UK Programme provides specialist training for employment for refugees as well as services to health

professionals hoping to re-train or adapt existing qualifications. We run regular job search courses an innovative mentoring scheme and business start up courses. We also run an outreach service taking advice and guidance out to colleges, refugee community groups and into people’s homes making sure that women, refugees with disabilities and younger people are not excluded. We offer a range of grant schemes to help meet the costs of study and retraining.