Review of Small Scale Educational Interventions on Literacy and Conflict Resolution/Peacebuilding in Guinea, Sierra Leone and South Sudan

This 25-page review forms part of the 2004 Department for International Development (DFID) report on Service Delivery in Difficult Environments, undertaken by the Health Systems Resource Centre. It draws on a series of small-scale, non-formal education interventions in Guinea, Sierra Leone, and South Sudan from 1999-2004, in conflict and post-conflict contexts. These interventions were undertaken by Education for Development in partnership with indigenous non-governmental organisations (NGOs), with the intention of developing the sector capacity in adult literacy and conflict resolution/peacebuilding together with providing opportunities for vocational training.

Education for Development (EdDev) is an NGO based in the United Kingdom (UK), which works in partnership with local NGOs on education and training projects on a wide range of learning programmes (literacy, women’s programmes, capacity building, agricultural extension, health, conflict resolution), providing support through training of trainers, curriculum development, materials development, monitoring and evaluation activities, research, and project design.

At the time of the study, EdDev had worked recently on pro-economically poor projects in Guinea (literacy and conflict resolution), Sierra Leone (literacy, conflict resolution, and vocational training), Southern Sudan (literacy and conflict resolution), Gambia (literacy and deaf signing), Kenya (organisational development and training of trainers), Nepal (community literacy), Pakistan (community literacy), Egypt (organisational development and training of trainers), and the UK (development education). EdDev has a policy of working in partnership with local NGOs, strengthening their capacity both in terms of organisational development and project-specific knowledge, skills, and attitudes to enable them to initiate, deliver, and evaluate service delivery in their own context.

The projects discussed in the paper are small-scale in nature; however, the author believes they represent a significant entry point to pro-economically poor service delivery in difficult environments and raise a range of issues which may be applicable in a wider context.

The review is structured as follows:

• Section 1 provides an introduction and background.
• Section 2 briefly explores the three contexts using, as a starting point, the framework of will/no will and capacity/no capacity.
• Section 3 summarises the three projects pertaining to the study.
• Section 4 explores recommendations drawn from the projects in the light of the presentation ‘Pro poor service delivery in difficult environments: Contexts, entry points and approaches’.
• Section 5 indicates the range of sources for the review.

The author drew on the following sources for the study:

• NGO (indigenous and international) reports and experiences;
• Grey literature, including evaluation and assessment reports from the three projects;
• The document Service Delivery in Difficult Environments: Case Study 4: Guinea, Sierra Leone, and Sudan;
• Semi-structured and informal interviews with representatives from NGOs operating in Sierra Leone and Sudan;
• Emerging education strategies for Sierra Leone and South Sudan;
• Consultation meetings with, and documentation from, the National Commission for Resettlement, Reconstruction, and Rehabilitation in Sierra Leone, the Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA), and Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM), Sudan Relief and Rehabilitation Association (SRRA); and
• Workshops at a community level in Sierra Leone and South Sudan.

The study draws the following conclusions:

“The small scale education interventions undertaken by EdDev have had a significant impact in difficult environments in conflict/post-conflict environments at a local level largely because of their flexible nature, the commitment and community-based nature of the implementing local NGOs and the integration of two complementary sets of skills i.e. literacy and conflict resolution/peacebuilding. This requires the dual purposes of projects (a) NGO capacity building and (b) outcomes in terms of the ‘subject’ e.g. literacy, HIV/AIDS awareness etc.

Working in partnership with local NGOs and developing their capacity in curriculum design, participatory approaches as well as project design, budget management, implementation and evaluation, has enabled the partner NGOs to play stronger roles in community development. Selection of appropriate partners is crucial, where the interventions of Eddev have been most successful have been when the local NGO has a strong to commitment to shared values with EdDev combined with a clear
strategic direction and purpose.

At the individual level of implementation the impact was high and included skills acquisition and probably more importantly increases in self-confidence and ability to play a role in community decision-making. However, the most significant impact has been in capacity building of local NGOs in transferable skills which have provided a strong foundation on which to ground larger scale interventions when the context turns more favourable. However, in order to be effective there needs to be coherence and effective two-way communication between these small scale initiatives and the larger, longer term interventions, supported by a recognition of the value of the enhancement of capacity in transferable skills for development as a significant outcome.”