Rewrite the Future Featured at the Brookings Institute

Rewrite the Future at the Brookings Institute November 2008.

Save the Children's Rewrite the Future initiative — and its efforts to expand education to millions of children in war zones — got significant attention in Washington, D.C. in November when the prestigious Brookings Institute hosted a round-table discussion on the role that education can play in helping protect displaced children in emergencies.

Co-sponsored by the University of Bern Project on Internal Displacement, the roundtable discussion featured participants from Save the Children as well as Gene Sperling, Director of the Center for Universal Education at the Council on Foreign Relations; and Rod Snider, Senior Technical Advisor for the American Red Cross. Representing Save the Children were Michael Klosson, Associate Vice President and Chief Policy Officer for Save the Children, and Jerry Farrell, Director of the agency’s Darfur Office. Jacqueline Geis, Project Manager from the Brookings-Bern Project on Internal Displacement, moderated the panel.

The focus of the roundtable centered on whether education should be included as part of emergency response by donor governments. Currently more than 72 million children are out of school worldwide. More than half of these children live in conflict-affected states that receive less than one quarter of international basic education assistance. Historically, education has not been considered a live-saving activity. This was one of the reasons Save the Children implemented its Rewrite the Future program in 2006, which aims to help millions of children living in conflict-affected areas gain access to an education. Today there is a growing view at the UN and within the NGO community that education can be considered a live-saving measure and, therefore, should be considered in every emergency response.

Jerry Farrell discussed his on-the-ground experience as the Director of the Darfur Office. Mr. Farrell spoke of Save the Children's great strides in providing education in Darfur, including building 48 schools, creating PTAs, women’s committees and children’s committees, in spite of the security issues in the region. He underscored that while the security situation in Darfur is deteriorating, children continue to receive an education and that this, more than anything else, gives displaced families hope for the future.

In his remarks, Gene Sperling noted that there is a trust gap between unstable governments and donors fearful that their money would be wasted on war and corruption.

From the perspective of a first responder, Rod Snider argued that at the outset of every disaster, hard choices have to be made based on limited resources. He stated that without first addressing basic needs it is difficult to educate children.

In the end participants agreed that providing education in emergencies is important and attainable; however, funding and priorities present significant obstacles to implementing programs.

Read about Jerry Farrell's NPR interview

Read a more detailed summary of The Brookings event

Last Updated February 2009