Past Program

A child's experiences—both positive and negative—lay the groundwork for their future development, health, and wellbeing. Displacement ruptures the social fabric of childhood, removing children from their communities and significantly increasing their risk to experience hunger, bullying and gender-based violence, as well as long-term hardship such as unemployment and depression. In many contexts education is one of the only systems of support that remains in their lives, making it crucial in developing the socio-emotional skills to navigate change and uncertainty. 

The second network meeting focused on trends in education policy towards whole child development (WCD) where Rachel Smith of the Inter-agency Network for Education in Emergencies (INEE) highlighted the increasing focus on a 'breadth of skills' approach in policy and curriculum design around the world. Ander Alonso-Pastor, Coordinator of UNESCO Chair in Educational Policies and 2030 Agenda at University Antonio Ruiz de Montoya, Peru, discussed the situation of displaced children in the Andean region of Colombia and Peru.   

The Whole Child Development for Displaced Learners is part of  Porticus’ All Eyes on Learning Program. AEoL focuses on strengthening collaborative action, networking, learning and advocacy amongst influential actors working on the delivery of educational services to children and young people caught up in displacement and crisis.   
  
The network connects donors, intergovernmental agencies, governments and educators to create and sustain commitment to whole child development in contexts of conflicts and crisis. Connecting diverse stakeholders, who in turn have connections to other networks, will help advocate for and amplify the call for quality education and whole child development for some of the most vulnerable children and students in the world.