Over 260 million children’s learning is being disrupted by some form of crisis, typically due to natural disasters, human conflict, or a combination of the two. The vast majority (>80%) of the children who still manage to go to school are not meeting their target learning outcomes. Children in conflict settings have especially poor education outcomes, learning 6 times slower (on average) than even children experiencing other disasters (ECW, 2023a).

The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), located in Central Africa, has endured nearly three decades of one of the world’s deadliest conflicts. As a result, children's access to schooling is severely compromised in this country, particularly in the conflict-affected province of North Kivu in eastern DRC.

Goals

The project aims to provide educational support to girls and boys who have fled conflict in the province of North Kivu. The goals of the project are as follows:

• Provide access to education for conflict-affected children;
• Provide a safe learning environment for conflict-affected children;
• Ensure teachers are supported and equipped to be peacebuilders; and
• Deliver a holistic, quality education for conflict-affected children.

Activities

• General operating support for schools;
• Teacher professional development (pre-service training, in-service training, coaching, peer learning);
• School leader training and support;
• School maintenance and repair;
• Curriculum development.

Myriad Canada is working with Justice Rising on this project. Justice Rising is committed to supporting the most vulnerable and marginalized student populations by building, equipping, and operating schools since 2015 in the conflict-affected province of North Kivu in eastern DRC. The organization currently manages 23 schools in this province and provides education for more than 4,000 children whose safety and education are frequently threatened by the decades-long conflict.

Students attending Justice Rising schools achieve academic results above national averages, and the organization attracts teachers from all over the region. In addition to building and managing schools, Justice Rising has developed an award-winning structured pedagogy tool, The Chalkboard Guides (“CBGs”), which was awarded the Audience Choice Award at the MIT Solve / Jacobs Foundation Conference, and was included in the HundrED Global Collection 2024 as one of the 100 most impactful and scalable education innovations from around the world. Justice Rising has also developed the SMoLL Steps Framework to drive quality education in protracted conflict settings. This approach focuses on ensuring that students are Safe, Motivated, and Learning, in schools that are Legitimate and Sustainable.