Search

This paper investigates the short and long-term pernicious impact of armed conflicts on education and educational agents (students, teachers and students' parents), using a multivocal review by means of the integration and qualitative analysis of 60 research reports (voices) found in two databases: Web of Science and PROQUEST in the period between 1995 -date of the first founding paper- until 2014. Through the analysis of source data (voices) and taking the "multivocal review" as a method, the voices have been combined in nine categories, namely: a) Refusal and impediments to a return to education; b) Educational infrastructure damaged or destroyed; c) Cuts in or withdrawal of spending on education; d) Loss of the educational and protective functions of the family; e) Loss of the academic community; f) Non-qualified teaching staff; g) Drastic loss of skills; h) Abandoning school (population movements, destruction of networks and social environment); i) Behavioural problems: traumas, pedagogical roles and self-victimization. These categories have highlighted the serious consequences arising from conflicts, infringing as they do the most basic human rights and in particular the right to a sound education during childhood.

Meeting the needs of children in refugee communities is a growing concern. Supporting their physical and emotional well-being is a challenge, as is protecting their right to quality education. Innovations are necessary to meet these challenges. Given the circumstances that have contributed to refugee crises around the world, education innovations that promote a culture of peace and empathy are particularly important.

The arrival of substantial cohorts of English language learners from Africa with little, no or severely interrupted schooling is requiring new pedagogic responses from teachers in Australia and other Western countries of refugee re-settlement. If the students are to have optimal educational and life chances, it is crucial for them to acquire resources for conceptually deep and critical literacy tasks while still learning basic reading and writing skills. This requires teachers to extend their pedagogic repertoires: subject area teachers must teach language and literacy alongside content; high school teachers must teach what has been thought of as primary school curriculum. The aim of this article is to describe some teacher responses to these challenges. Data are drawn from a study involving an intensive language school and three high schools, and also from the author's experience as a homework tutor for refugees. Stand-alone basic skills programs are described, as are modifications of long-established ESL programs. It is also argued that teachers need to find ways of linking with the conceptual knowledge of students who arrive with content area backgrounds different from others in their class. Everyday life experiences prior to, and after re-settlement in the West, are rich with potential in this regard.

Interrupted formal education is a barrier that makes learning English as an adult an extremely challenging commitment. Besides the many work and family responsibilities that most adult English as a second language (ESL) learners face, students with interrupted formal education (SIFE) often lack familiarity with school-based skills and typical classroom activities that develop over years of formal schooling (Florez & Burt, 2001; Wrigley, 2004). Their limited reading skills also effectively shut off a major source of input for learning, especially learning in school. This article describes how an ESL family literacy program serving refugee SIFE in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, uses learner narratives to create an engaging, productive classroom experience. (Contains 1 footnote.)

Background: Large-scale psychosocial interventions in complex emergencies call for a screening procedure to identify individuals at risk. To date there are no screening instruments that are developed within low- and middle-income countries and validated for that purpose. The present study assesses the cross-cultural validity of the brief, multi-informant and multi-indicator Child Psychosocial Distress Screener (CPDS). Methods: The CPDS data of total samples in targeted catchment areas of a psychosocial care program in four conflict-affected countries (Burundi n = 4193; Sri Lanka n = 2573; Indonesia n = 1624; Sudan n = 1629) were studied to examine the cross-cultural construct validity of the CPDS across settings. First, confirmatory factor analyses were done to determine the likelihood of pre-determined theory-based factor structures in each country sample. Second, multi-sample confirmatory factor analyses were done within each country sample to test measurement equivalence of the factor structure as a measure of construct validity. Results: A 3-factor structure reflecting the theoretical premises of the instrument (e.g., child distress, child resilience and contextual factors) was found in the samples from Burundi, Sri Lanka and Indonesia, albeit with context specific deviations. The robustness of the 3-factor structure as an indicator of construct validity was confirmed within these three samples by means of multi-sample confirmatory factor-analyses. A 3-factor structure was not found in the Sudan sample. Conclusions: This study demonstrates the comparability of the assessment by the CPDS of the construct "non-specific psychosocial distress" across three out of four countries. Robustness of the factor structure of the CPDS within different samples refers to the construct validity of the instrument. However, owing to context-specific deviations of inter-item relationships, the CPDS scores cannot be compared cross-culturally, a finding that confirms the need for attention to contextual factors when screening for non-specific psychosocial distress.

Although there are compelling examples of stress put upon refugee families, there is little systematic attention placed upon how the refugee women themselves view child‐rearing. In this exploratory research, refugee women's narratives concerning their understanding and perceptions of child‐rearing in the United States are studied. Seventeen refugee women raising children living in the Greater Portland region in Maine were interviewed. While resettling in the United States, the participants shared being overburdened by the loss of social structures that supported their parenting beliefs and strategies back home. They perpetually encounter cultural conflicts in the United States that result in a continuous process of contradictory interpretations and negotiations while rearing and disciplining children. Recommendations are provided for service providers working with this population. Professionals have to be cognizant of the hierarchical decision‐making and retributive strategies used by refugee families when disciplining children. Tools, that is, explaining, teaching, and rewarding children for coping with parenting challenges without resorting to punitive discipline methods can be introduced to refugee families. Professionals need to focus on providing refugee families with basic needs and addressing social and emotional challenges so that they can better integrate with the new communities as they rebuild their lives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With 1.36 million refugees, Uganda has witnessed Africa's highest refugee crisis and is confronted with subsequent protection and assistance demands. The Government of Uganda and its partners are trying to support refugees to overcome the associated debilitating health conditions, and it recently shot to prominence in refuge management. Despite this, there are still gaps in health service provision for refugees. This article discusses the health situation of refugee women and children living in Uganda's refugee settlements, explores the existing health service gaps, and argues that there is a need to extend the role of social work in health services for refugees. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on the Internally displaced persons and refugees of Burundi and Sudan, their successful return, political and economic reintegration into their countries of origin. The article also discusses the complications and experiences which the refugees face while returning back to their country.

The article offers news briefs related to national security in African countries. Unidentified rebels from Democratic Republic of Congo attacked the rebels of Burundi and the Burundian army intervened to contain the cross border raid. Nigeria based Islamist group Boko Haram continue violence and kidnapping in Cameroon to expand its territorial hold. Villages in Darfur, Sudan have been evacuated due to violence by rebels called Rapid Support Force based in Khartoum, Sudan.

Psychosocial and mental health service delivery frameworks for children in low-income countries are scarce. This paper presents a practice-driven evaluation of a multi-layered community-based care package in Burundi, Indonesia, Sri Lanka and Sudan, through a set of indicators; (a) perceived treatment gains; (b) treatment satisfaction; (c) therapist burden; (d) access to care; (e) care package costs. Across four settings ( n = 29,292 children), beneficiaries reported high levels of client satisfaction and moderate post-treatment problem reductions. Service providers reported significant levels of distress related to service delivery. Cost analyses demonstrated mean cost per service user to vary from 3.46 to 17.32 € depending on country and specification of costs. The results suggest a multi-layered psychosocial care package appears feasible and satisfactory in reaching out to substantial populations of distressed children through different levels of care. Future replication should address therapist burden, cost reductions to increase sustainability and increase evidence for treatment efficacy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The African Union (AU) was officially inaugurated on July 2002, and a year later it had already deployed its first peace operation in Burundi. The AU subsequently deployed peacekeeping missions in Darfur, in 2004, and in Somalia, in 2007. This article will examine the AU's foray into peacekeeping which appears to have been hasty, erratic, and not carefully planned. The article will also assess the extent to which what the AU has been doing can be defined as peacekeeping using the Brahimi Criterion for the deployment of operations. The article will briefly assess the AU's operations in Burundi and Somalia before focusing on the joint AU-United Nations (UN) hybrid mission in Darfur. The article examine whether the hybrid mission represents a paradigm shift in peacekeeping, based on the way that it was launched and how it is currently operated. The article examines whether the hybrid mission fulfils the Brahimi Criterion, and whether it can serve as a model for future peacekeeping operations in Africa. The article concludes that the AU has a better chance of success when it undertakes a concise and focused operation with a clear mandate and the modicum of logistics to ensure its effective implementation, as demonstrated by its experiences in Burundi. The AU?s efforts in Somalia has left it mired in an open-ended complex emergency with no easy remedy. The organisation's joint effort with the UN in Darfur is similarly constrained by the absence of a peace to keep. The hybrid mission therefore falls short of the Brahimi Criterion and suggest that UN intervention following an initial AU peace operation is not necessarily a panacea to the continent?s peacekeeping challenges. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses how to stop genocide and the only means is to call on the United Nations (UN) Security Council for only the UN has the legitimacy, expertise and agencies in maintaining a long-term presence in a troubled zone. It mentions that the UN Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide does not give the US or any other member state the right to invade a country in order to stop massacres, thus making human interventions illegal. It points out the opposing view of the Responsibility to Protect (R2P) movement regarding the matter, saying that the international community has the responsibility in halting genocides and the stand of the US humanitarian intervention policy. It also notes the genocides occurred in Rwanda, Bosnia, Burundi and Sudan.

El artículo discute distintas estrategias de solución duradera a la situación de comunidades de desplazados internos, tomando como referencia los programas de reasentamiento llevados a cabo por seis países. La autora ofrece un análisis de los programas de Burundi, Colombia, Georgia, Serbia, Sudán y Uganda.

El artículo explora el trabajo del grupo humanitario bélgico Médicos Sin Fronteras (MSF) en Burundi, Sierra Leona, Sudán y Colombia. Sus obras en África incluyen el tratamiento para las víctimas de las violaciones sexuales y por motivos de género. Como respuesta a este problema, MSF abrió un centro de salud para mujeres en Bujumbura, Burundi en 2004, ofreciéndolas una variedad de servicios médicos y sociales.

The article offers information about a policy research project of the North-South Institute which focuses on African Regional Security. It explores the operational dimensions of bridging the responsibilities to react and to rebuild in Burundi and Sudan with emphasis on the reform of the security sector.

The article offers information about a project on security system reform (SSR) and peacebuilding initiatives in Burundi, Haiti and Sudan by the North-South Institute and the Centre d'Alerte et de Prevention des Conflits. They aim to initiate a project on the challenges of pro-poor democratic SSR in the three countries.

Reports on development regarding the military forces of countries in Africa. Italian naval attachment in Algeria; Appointment of former rebel commander Adolphe Nshimiyimana as deputy army chief in Burundi; India's offer of military training and defense equipment technology to Sudan.

The U.N. Fund for Population Activities (UNPFA) has conducted Needs Assessment Missions in many developing countries as a means of identifying population and related areas in which individual countries would need assistance to achieve self-reliance in formulating and implementing population policies and programs. This exercise is still going on in some of the countries. In ECA member States these needs missions have been conducted in the following countries: Burundi, Cameroon, Comoros, Ethiopia, the Gambia, Guinea, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritania, Morocco, Niger, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, Senegal, Somalia, Sudan, Swaziland, Tanzania, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. The areas identified for assistance vary from country to country, however, in some cases the needs are similar. Data collection and analysis is still 1 of population needs for which many countries require assistance. This includes conducting of national population censuses and demographic surveys and establishing or improving the civil registration systems on vital events. Training of nationals in data collection and analysis is another area in which ECA member States need assistance. It was identified that there is lack of integration of population variables in socioeconomic development planning. The various missions recommended assistance to help ECA member States to integrate population variables in development planning. Creation of Population units in ministries of planning and/or other departments was recommended as a means to help this integration. The various missions also identified the need to create or to enhance the awareness of the interrelationship between population and sociodevelopment and their implications. To this end the missions on needs assessment recommended assistance in population information and communication activities, including the introduction of population education in formal and nonformal education, conducting of seminars and workshops on population and development etc. To help formulation of population policies, the establishment of National Population Commissions at the highest level was recommended. Such commissions would examine population issues in detail and formulate suggestions for policy decisions and measures. Other common population related areas which require greater assistance include health programs of maternal and child health care, health education activities, and family planning activities. Last but not least is the need to improve the role and status of women in Africa so that they can be integrated to take a more active part in the various economic and social activities in national development., (full text)