IGAD-GIZ Teacher Training Initiative (ITTI)

The project is implemented by the Intergovernmental Agency on Development (IGAD) in Ethiopia, Sudan and Uganda. It is a two year project. 

Djibouti Declaration (DD) on inclusive education for refugees, returnees and host communities was adopted in December 2017 by IGAD ministers in charge education in partnership with UNHCR, UNESCO, the EU, GIZ on behalf of the government of Germany, UNICEF, and the Djibouti government.

The DD came originally from the Nairobi Summit of IGAD Heads State and Government which adopted the Nairobi Declaration, afterwards called the Nairobi Process.

Teacher development through training and psychosocial support was believed to contribute to inclusive education among refugees and displaced population who were/continue to be driven out out of their settlement through violence and/or climate change.

This brief description of the Teacher Training will highlight the process, the practice, and lessons learned including the role of partnership.

The objective of the teacher training initiative included:

1. To upgrade the teaching skills of teacher in refugee and displacement settings in the IGAD Member States.
2. To prepare teachers to deal with psychological problems of refugees and displaced children some of whom undergo severe forms of trauma and depression related to conflict.
3. To prepare teachers themselves to be a model and provide motivations to their students also by leading an improved life though the training in ICT and entrepreneurial skills.

The good practice was facilitated by a number of factors a few of which include:

1. The Policy harmonization efforts at regional levels which aims at cooperation and peer learning.
2. The Djibouti Declaration (DD) which sets the framework and policy context urging Member States to harmonize their national polices, in particular to include refugee education into their education systems and develop national qualification frameworks and equivalency of teachers qualifications.
3. Good understating and support of Member States, specially when launching the Teacher Trainings Initiative.
4. Effective cooperation with development partners such as GIZ and at national level UNHCR, UNICEF, and others.

Main activities of the Good Practice

The Teacher Training Initiative included the following key activities:

1. Development of the Terms of Reference (ToR) about the training.
2. Announcement of the initiative to potential bidder to provide the service.
3. Selection and notification of of the service providing consultancy firm.
4. Establishment of National coordination focal points/experts.
5. Domestication and consensus-building workshops in the three selected countries with the Ministries of Education as secretariats of the national coordination committees.
6. Determination of Training Sites/Locations where the refugee schools are heavily coventrated.
7. Developing and getting endorsed the Modules by the ministries of education in each country. the modules were prepared based on field assessment and interviews with teachers, school, training colleges and ministries of education as well as refugee student and parents.
8. Launching the actual training in the selected sites.
9. Conducting the training with regular supervision b y IGAD, partner Agencies, and the ministries of educations.
10. Awarding Certificates at the end of each training session.
11. Convening a Regional Experience-sharing workshop (June 2022) at Addis Ababa with countries involved and those that are not yet embraced by the program. Here the program was very much appreciated and demand for it increased.
12. Evaluation of the impact on students in due course and exploring the possibilities of expanding the program to other countries and other refugee settings...(2023-2024)

Partners involved

• GIZ/German Government
• Particip GmH
• IGAD

What challenges were encountered in delivering the project and how were they overcome?

Challenges

The challenges included

1. Physical distance of the training sites.
2. The need for transport a large number of teachers.
3. Unmet demand for training opportunities.
4. Inadequate number of Member States.
5. Certificates provided to mark attendance but not necessarily towards professional qualifications.

How they were overcome

Some of the challenges still persisted and require additional partners and funding. But space and transport related problems/challenges were solved by arranging accommodations in the training localities for fixed number of days.

Results of the Good Practice

The long-term impact on students will have to be studied in the future. It is clear that the teachers who got the opportunities were happy.

In what way does the good practice meet one or more of the four objectives of the Global Compact on Refugees?

Objective 1: Ease the pressures on host countries

The project responds to alleviate the pressure is on host countries.

Objective 2: Enhance refugee self-reliance

The project tries to enhance refugee self-reliance.

Objective 3: Expand access to third-country solutions

By training teachers the project attempts to expand access to inclusive education thereby enabling to meet third country obligations.

Next steps

The next steps will involve training of trainers, expanding the training to the countries and refugee settlement schools in the region. This requires additional funding engagement of various donors.

Are there areas in which support would be required to continue and/or scale up your good practice?

Yes - training of trainers, allocation of more resources, and injection of funds to build the capacities of Member States. One of the repeatedly asked questions by Member States is sustainability and salary incentive rise once the training is conducted. Therefore more partners are needed to respond to these and other questions.

Kebede Kassa TSEGAYE, PhD, Senior Coordinator, Education, Science, Technology, Innovation, Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD), Djibouti/Addis Ababa

[email protected]

[email protected]