Higher Education in Conflict Settings
Humanitarian assistance in times of conflict and war was created as a short-term solution to short-term problems. The entire humanitarian sector has been built upon the idea of maintaining “permanent temporariness.” This short-term mindset has led the international community to prioritize only those services seen as “life-saving.” While there is no denying the importance of these services (such as food, water, shelter), it is critical to take note that modern conflict is spurring protracted crisis situations. The average time spent as a refugee has doubled from 9 to 17 years over the past decade (Wright & Plasterer, 2012). These long-term conflicts call for a reassessment of traditional humanitarian strategies.
From the late 1970s through the late 1990s, the international community considered basic education services a necessity within conflict settings. Within this discussion, higher education was seen as “enclaves of privilege”, with no humanitarian funding channeled into programs or institutions of higher learning (Wright & Plasterer, 2012). However, as a 2010 UNESCO report iterates, “The belief in education is strengthened when young people and adults alike have hopes of advancing their interests through learning, for themselves or for family or community members.” With no option for schooling beyond basic primary and possibly secondary levels, what would young students in protracted conflict or emergency situations have to work toward? This shift in perspective, combined with increasingly protracted conflicts, has led policy makers and service providers to look at utilizing higher education as a tool for long-term stabilization and relief.
As Milton (2017) points out, “While Higher Education conventionally understood is not a post-conflict priority, the sector has the potential to act as a critical national capacity that could enable more effective transitions from relief through reconstruction into long-term development.” Yet, if the international community continues to promote “permanent temporariness” within a donor-driven environment, higher education will not be prioritized. It is pertinent that host countries see the benefits of higher education for both refugee/displaced students as well as local communities (Wright & Plasterer, 2017).
Bikobiko Mto is a writer, educator, academic, and refugee living in Nyarugusu refugee camp in Tanzania. Bikobiko was the recipient of a scholarship for refugee students to access higher education in Tanzania. Below is his assessment of higher education opportunities in Tanzanian refugee camps.
Higher Education in Tanzanian Refugee Camps
The global policy environment for education in displacement has seen important advances. In 2015 states committed to Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and its framework for action. In 2016 another milestone was set thought the adoption of the New York Declaration for Refugees and Migrants. This declaration highlights the role of higher education in supporting solutions for individuals and communities, increasing their resilience and self-reliance and states that scholarships are necessary to enable access to higher education for refugees and to help them to build a secure future.
Despite progress being made in including refugees in the global and national development frameworks, refugee students remain disadvantaged in pursuing their education, especially higher education and thus in shaping their futures. Only 1% of refugee youth are enrolled in higher education compared to 36% of youth globally. (DAFI, Albert Einstein German Academic Refugee Initiative, 2016 Annual Report, page 4)
In Tanzania the only program that opens scholarship opportunities to refugees for higher education is “The Albert Einstein Germany Academic Refugee Initiative” (DAFI). This is a recognized model for flexible, targeted support for young refugees. It combines protection, solutions and human development approaches.
Apart from the DAFI scholarship program, there is AHADI Institute which educates refugees from the war-torn countries of Congo, Rwanda and Burundi by providing post-secondary training through distance-learning and instruction for 26,000 students per year studying to receive their high school diploma. The Institute was founded by Brother Constant Goetschalckx who is its Director. This institute has a center in the camp where many refugees used to get access to post-secondary education for free. Its center in the camp has been inactive since 2014. The Institute used to pay specific lecturers from the University of Lubumbashi in the DRC to teach its students here in the camp.
UNHCR Tanzania has supported eligible refugee students through the DAFI program for the last 20 years. This program seeks to develop capacities, skills and knowledge of refugees with the strategic objectives of contributing to the promotion of self-reliance of refugees by providing them with professional qualification needed for future employment. The goal is to encourage the development of qualified human resources for future reconstruction of refugees’ home countries upon repatriation. This tertiary education can facilitate the local integration of refugees in the host communities and contribute to the development of the host country. This objective has encountered a great deal of challenges as many refugees are reluctant to return home and prefer to integrate in the host country or be resettled in a third country.
The strategic priorities of the DAFI program are as follow:
· Develop human capital of refugee communities to contribute to durable solutions, including political, economic and social structure upon repatriation.
· Promote self-reliance of the sponsored students trough employment opportunities and entrepreneurship.
· Empower students to contribute knowledge, skills and leadership to refugees and host communities, and to facilitate peaceful coexistence with the host communities during displacement.
· Strengthen the protective element of education by encouraging lifelong learning for young refugees.
· Foster future role models for refugee children and youth to demonstrate the positive impact of education on individuals, communities and societies.
The current decision by the Tanzanian government, in February 2018, to withdraw from the UN’s “comprehensive refugee response framework” due to security problems, created a major roadblock for students with higher education integrating into the host communities. This framework provides last solutions for refugees, including integration into the host communities (February 2018, Daily News, Tanzania government Newspaper). This withdrawal now leaves refugees in Tanzania without a policy that allows refugees with a high level of education to bring their contribution to the host communities and get paid as national.
Many of the refugee graduates under the DAFI scholarship program have been struggling with the underpayment they get in the camp of about 25 USD a month, compared to their level of education. For this reason, many of them would prefer to do others business instead of working for the benefit of other refugees at a very law stipend.
However, UNHCR and REDESO (Relief to Development Society, a partner and implementer of some of UNHCR’s activities in Dar es Salaam) have been working hard to have many refugees admitted into Tanzanian higher learning institutions. The approach to the scholarship is that UNHCR awards scholarship to eligible refugees for their undergraduate studies. UNHCR and partner organizations provide additional support through close monitoring, academic, preparatory courses and language classes based on students’ need to support their academic achievement and skills development. To increase employability, DAFI students are encouraged to obtain internships and engage in community work.
Inclusion in the certified education system is a key principle of the DAFI program. It enables refugees to study in institutions located in their countries of asylum alongside peers from the host countries. The scholarship ensures safe and decent living conditions for the sponsored student (though the amount allocated may not be enough due to the recent high cost of living in cities where most of the institutions are located) so as to allow students to focus on their studies, build networks and gain skills necessary for later success in the labor market.
Congolese refugees encounter many challenges regarding admission into Tanzanian Universities due to the state of their form six certificates which do not show how they scored in different subjects. They must go through various stages to get the scholarship. These include the accreditation of their certificate by NECTA (the National Examination Council of Tanzania), a translation from French into English by the Alliance Francaise in Dar es Salaam, and the release of an accepted equivalent by NECTA later.
Though DAFI students do not face many difficulties in academic performance and social integration according to the 2016 Annual Report, there are some challenges linked with the background of these students. Many of them are refugees from French speaking countries with a French background who face a new system at university where everything is taught in English. Those who have a good level of English are more likely to succeed within the new system while those without English skills must learn quickly.
At university, student’s lives seem to be good compared to the life they used to live in the camp. UNHCR and its partner in Dar es Salaam, Relief to Development Society (REDESO) coordinate to address all of the needs of students. The scholarship covers a wide range of costs, from tuition fees and study materials to food, transport and accommodation. The total amount allocated is dependent on the estimated expenses of a given program and cost of living in the respective country. Tuition fees and medical expenses of students get directly paid to the university and other living expenses are directly sent to student bank accounts. Every month, an estimated amount of $100 is given to every beneficiary as allowance. An estimated amount of $50 for books is given twice every year (once each semester). The accommodation fee depends on the institution and its location. The figures on living expenses seem high compared to life in the camp where these students lived below $1 a day; however, this money might not cover all of the needs of students as many of them seem to reach the end of the month with empty pockets.
Nevertheless, the DAFI scholarship program is still the only hope for refugees living in the camps in Tanzania to access higher education. Unfortunately, this program does not meet the need of the large number of students who finish their form six every year with a desire to continue on to higher education. According to the 2016 DAFI scholarship program annual report, only 58 students out of more than 500 hundred benefited from the scholarship program. Among these students, 25 were female, 21 graduated and 10 were newly admitted. The allocated budget for the program in Tanzania in 2016 was $184,661. 50 students were from Burundi, 4 from Somalia, 3 from DRC and 1 from Yemen (see figure 1). Burundi had a large number of scholarships compared to others. There are as many Congolese are as many as Burundian in Nyarugusu Refugee Camp, yet only 3 scholarships were awarded.
The data in figure 2 shows that the number of DAFI scholarships were at the lowest level in 2016. This might have been caused by the size of the DAFI program budget where Tanzania got only $184,661 out of the worldwide budget of $9.6 million, with an average scholarship cost of $3,184.
The German government is the main donor of the DAFI scholarship program. According to the 2016 DAFI Scholarship Annual Report, Germany has contributed $3.8 million as a core contribution and $6.1 million as additional contributions to the program. Other donors are UNO-Fluchtlingshilfe, a German based non-governmental organization founded in 1980 with the aim to protect refugees, their dignity and support their self –reliance. It supports refugee related projects in Germany and abroad and creates public awareness. Its contribution in 2016 was $334,448. The Said Foundation, which was established in 1982 with the aim to improve the life chances of children and young people by providing them with opportunities to receive good education and care, contributed $1 million in 2016.
Previously, the DAFI program provided Masters Scholarships for refugees. The last edition of these scholarships were in 2013, where less than 5 Masters Scholarships were given to refugees. Much effort and focus is put on undergraduate scholarships. For this reason, there is a need for many other scholarship programs from other parts of the world to support refugees for Masters and even PhD scholarships.
In conclusion, we all know that refugees have brought a considerable contribution in many sectors to their home countries, host countries and resettled homes. For example, Albert Einstein, who was forced to leave his country after the Nazi party’s anti-Semitic policies made it difficult for him to carry out his work, moved to the USA with his wife where he won the Nobel Price of Physics. Many other refugees like Sergey Brin, Madeleine Albright, Henry Kissinger and Sigmund Freud have positively changed the world. Without higher education, many of them would not have succeeded. With higher education, it is possible for refugees living in camps to be part of the advancement of their home country as well as contribute to their host countries and bring a positive change to the community in which they live.
Bikobiko Mto, is an ESL Instructor and Interpreter at CWS/RSC Africa since 2014, a former Program Coordinator at the Universal College of Africa in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, a former Program Coordinator at the Universal College of Africa in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania and former French, English and Chemistry teacher at Fraternity Secondary school in Kasulu/Kigoma, Tanzania. Bikobiko was born in Fizi, a zone of the South Kivu region in the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of Congo. In October 2009 Bikobiko Mto earned a DAFI scholarship that helped him to pursue a Bachelor of Art in French Linguistic at the University of Dodoma in Tanzania. In 2016 he earned an African Union scholarship under the Mwalimu Nyerere African Union Scholarship Program to pursue a Master’s degree in Humanitarian Action Cooperation and Development at the Open University of Tanzania. Bikobiko currently resides in Nyarugusu Refugee Camp.
References
DAFI, Albert Einstein German Academic Refugee Initiative, 2016 Annual Report
Mendenhall, M., Dryden-Peterson, S., Bartlett, L., Ndirangu, C., Imonje, R., Gakunga, D., … & Tangelder,M. (2015). Quality education for refugees in Kenya: Pedagogy in urban Nairobi and Kakuma refugee camp settings.
Mendenhall, M., Collas, S., & Falk, D. (2017). Educating the Future Amidst Displacement: Refugee
Teachers in Kakuma Refugee Camp. Reconsidering Development, 5(1).
Milton, S. (2017). Higher Education and Post-Conflict Recovery. Springer.
REDESO (Relief to Development Society): 2016, Higher learning Scholarship Program for refugees in Tanzania.
UNHCR, 2015: Education Brief. Inclusion of refugees in the National Education System, available at http://goo.gl/BEqpPL
Wright, L. A., & Plasterer, R. (2012). Beyond basic education: Exploring opportunities for higher learning in Kenyan refugee camps. Refuge: Canada’s Journal on Refugees, 27(2).
