Enhancing education resilience in Eastern Europe, the Caucasus and Central Asia through knowledge and evidence dissemination

 

Understanding the risks and disruptions to education systems, as well as their preparedness to address them, is crucial for ensuring the resilience and effective functioning of the systems. While the countries of Eastern Europe, the Caucasus and Central Asia exist in different conditions and contexts, they all face similar risks and challenges. These include political instability, external threats from neighbouring countries, economic and social difficulties, migration and natural disasters, all of which have implications for the resilience of their education systems. There is a growing emphasis on education system resilience to ensure that education systems are prepared to respond to current and future disruptions. This emphasis has become particularly important after the COVID-19 pandemic. However, there is a limited understanding of what resilience means in theory and practice. It is also unclear what types of disruptions education systems may face beyond those already known in the countries of Eastern Europe, the Caucasus and Central Asia.

This project will examine education system resilience in selected countries in the region. Specifically, it will explore the meanings and practices of education system resilience and the extent to which they consider the needs of vulnerable groups. It will also research potential future disruptions to education systems in these countries. By doing so, the project aims to generate contextually relevant evidence about education system resilience and potential new disruptions, facilitate cross-country sharing and learning, and, ultimately, inform policy and planning.

This project is part of the Global Partnership for Education Knowledge and Innovation Exchange’s Observatory on Education System Resilience initiative, a joint endeavour with IDRC.