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Publications and Reports

Education During and After Conflicts







From Bullets to Blackboards
Editors: Emily Vargas-Barón and Hernando Bernal Alarcón
summary: For countries torn by war or violence, the stakes for developing education policies and quality programs are high. Effective education is essential to prepare the next generation for a productive life, heal psychological wounds, prevent cyclical violence, and achieve reconstruction and peace. If educational needs are ignored during and after war, prior education systems may be retained and perpetuate conditions leading to more conflict. ...READ MORE...
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A Focus on Colombia






From Reality to Utopia
Hernando Bernal Alarcón
summary: From Reality to Utopia describes and analyzes the 47-year history of one of Latin America's most innovative educational institutions, Acción Cultural Popular (ACPO). Initiated in 1947 by a priest working in Sutatenza, Boyacá, a small town in the Colombian Andes mountains, this radio education system used broadcasts to bring literacy, mathematical skills, and health, nutrition and agricultural education to rural adults who were isolated from public services and economic development opportunities. ...READ MORE...
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Schools that Teach and Heal
Description of program: Since 1985 the armed conflict in Colombia, among other factors, has resulted in the displacement of between two to three million Colombians. In 2004, the governmental agency responsible for coordinating activities to assist displaced populations, the Social Solidarity Network, has registered 1,512,194 displaced persons in the Unique Registration System. Nonetheless a non-governmental organization, the Consulting Group on Human Rights and Forced Displacement (CODHES), estimates that, since 1985, 3.2 million people have become displaced. Those most affected by this situation are children and women. Given this situation, it is essential that the country's schools develop the capacity and pedagogical infrastructure required to deal with the pedagogical, social and cultural problems presented by this population. ...READ MORE...
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Strategic Foreign Assistance
By A. Lawrence Chickering, Isobel Coleman,
P. Edward Haley and Emily Vargas-Barón

Summary: The emergence of significant numbers of violent non-state actors has created a new reality in national and international security. To respond to this new reality, the authors recommend that governments and peoples come together to encourage economic, political, legal, and social development within weak societies in which terrorists take refuge and to assist deadlocked governments to overcome the explosive legacies of religious and ethnic conflict. In Strategic Foreign Assistance the authors show that, to do this, the United States must develop a strategic international cooperation and assistance policy that fosters strong civil societies. ...READ MORE...
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Serving Parents and Children in Countries with Violent Conflict
or Poverty