What Works to Promote Children’s Educational Access, Quality of Learning, and Wellbeing in Crisis-Affected Contexts

Abstract

Objectives This study is a rigorous review of evidence found in the literature that shows which interventions promote educational access, quality of learning, and wellbeing among children who live in crisis-affected areas, and those in settings where a crisis has just ended.1 We define crisis as an emergency caused by violent conflict, natural disaster, or both; educational access as “the opportunity to enrol, attend, and complete formal or nonformal education programmes” (INEE, 2010, p. 115); quality of learning as relates to both academic achievement and attitudes (e.g., tolerance); and wellbeing as holistic health, including physical, emotional, social, and cognitive characteristics. Our primary goals are threefold: (1) to assess the strength and quantity of the existing evidence of effective practices and programme interventions in countries and regions affected by crises; (2) to identify relevant and robust evidence of effective interventions in high-, middle-, and low income countries to serve as a point of departure for future research; and (3) to develop conceptual models that suggest pathways and mechanisms to test in future research. We highlight programmes that appeared innovative when we encountered them, but note that, given the scarcity of literature that assesses the effectiveness of interventions in these contexts, there likely are many innovations that the empirical literature does not capture.