East and Horn of Africa

Session 1: The Role of Connected Learning in Advancing Protection Efforts

07:00-08:30 CET / 9:00-10:30 EAT

This session will be hosted by the Connected Learning in Crisis Consortium. Globally, few refugee children have access to the full cycle of formal education, from primary through secondary completion. Only 3% of refugee youth have access to higher education opportunities. In response to this reality, UNHCR along with other higher education institutions and non-governmental organizations are partnering to illuminate the possibilities for greater inclusion in formal education systems that result in Bachelor’s degrees, Master’s degrees or other accredited certifications. The campaign #15by30 strives to increase the percentage of qualified refugee youth accessing higher education to 15% by the year 2030. This session will explore how connected learning, which leverages contextualized and student-centered experiences supported by technology and innovation, can be prioritized to advance protection efforts across East and the Horn of Africa. The panel will also discuss how evolving protection policies have created the conditions for connected learning environments to thrive.   

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Session 2: Can the Global Compact ease East Africa’s refugee burden?

09:00-10:30 CET / 11:00-12:30 EAT

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This session will be hosted by the Institute for Security Studies (ISS) in Addis Ababa. The panel will reflect on the implementation of the Global Compact on Refugees (GCR) in Eastern Africa Region, which is home to the majority of the forcibly displaced in Sub-Saharan Africa. It hosts 4.3 million of the 6.3 million refugees and 9.5 million of the 18.5 million IDPs in Sub-Saharan Africa. Countries in the region follow an open-door policy. Policy changes and expansion of access to education are some of the areas that has seen progress in the GCR implementation, while slow progress in responsibility and burden sharing is one of the key challenges. In this respect, IGAD’s Nairobi process that includes three key declarations, Nairobi Declaration (2017), the Djibouti Declaration on Education (2017), and Kampala Declaration on Jobs and Livelihoods (2019) is playing a critical role in facilitating durable solutions. Discussions will reflect on GCR’s potential to ease the burden of these host countries.

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