ROTA hosts education in emergencies summit

Reach Out To Asia (ROTA) has welcomed senior members of the Inter Agency Network for Education in Emergencies (INEE) to Doha to take part in an INEE Working Group summit at the Qatar Foundation Recreation Centre, Education City on the 11th and 12th of November. Attending the 2-day summit were education leaders representing 20 key agencies including the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), WarChild, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA). At the meeting, INEE Working Group members discussed topics including; an overview of key INEE accomplishments in the past 6 months, a review of Arabic language Minimum Standards for education in emergencies, and guidance on providing Conflict Sensitive Education. In addition, ROTA Executive Director Essa Al Mannai presented an update on ROTA’s educational and disaster risk reduction projects in the Middle East and Asia, as well as leading a 30-minute workshop dedicated to the World Innovation Summit for Education (WISE). “ROTA was proud to host the first INEE Working Group meeting in Qatar,” says Executive Director Essa Al Mannai. “We shared ideas, discussed new ways to address major challenges, and set out an action plan to promote education initiatives in countries currently tackling emergency situations,” says ROTA Executive Director Essa Al Mannai. The INEE is an open global network of NGOs, United Nations (UN) agencies, governments, academic institutions, schools and affected populations who work together to ensure all people have the right to quality and safe education in emergency and post-crisis recovery environments. An INEE member since 2008, ROTA has integrated the INEE Minimum Standards for Education: Preparedness, Response and Recovery in program which provide access to quality formal and non-formal education for tens of thousands of children in Bangladesh, Nepal and Pakistan. In the aftermath of the 2005 earthquake in Pakistan’s North West Frontier Province and the catastrophic flooding in 2010 which affected as many as 20 million people, ROTA and its partners helped ensure access to quality education, guided by the INEE Minimum Standards : “The INEE Working Group collaborates to tackle the key issues facing the provision of education in emergency crisis situations,” added Essa Al Mannai. “Without doubt, the Working Group was extremely supportive of ROTA’s projects and passionate that children forced to leave their homes do not lose their right to education and to a brighter future.” ROTA Executive Director Essa Al Mannai was joined at the INEE summit by ROTA’s international education specialists Lamis Sabrah, Zarmina Nasir and Epifania Amoo-Adare.