Education Research in Conflict and Protracted Crisis (ERICC)

Access to high-quality and continuous education is a fundamental right for all children, including those affected by conflict and protracted crises. Yet, a recent study revealed that 268 million children and adolescents across 73 countries are affected by crises, of which an estimated 72 million are out of school, and 127 million are enrolled in school but not achieving minimum proficiency levels in reading or math. Despite a range of efforts, significant barriers and extensive gaps in evidence remain on ‘what works’ to improve education and wellbeing outcomes in settings of conflict and crisis.

Typical applied research in this field is developed for policy makers and rarely includes rigorous primary evidence. The current body of research is fragmented and cannot effectively inform decision-making to transform education. It is mostly designed by global north actors, with limited local stakeholder engagement, and lacks attention to the political economy of education dynamics.

The Education Research in Conflict and Protracted Crisis (ERICC) program aims to address critical evidence gaps and identify the most effective approaches for improving access, quality, and continuity of education to support sustainable and coherent education systems and holistic learning and development of children in conflict and crisis. ERICC is a six-year Education in Emergencies (EiE) research program funded by the UK’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO), and countries in focus include Bangladesh (Cox’s Bazar), Jordan, Lebanon, Myanmar, Nigeria, South Sudan, Iraq, and Syria.

The ERICC program is comprised of four main components:

1. Research on the most effective approaches to education in conflict and protracted crisis
2. In-country operational support for FCDO Education and Humanitarian Advisors
3. Promoting research uptake by policy-makers and EiE practitioners
4. Strengthening academic and knowledge systems in the Global South for sustained EiE research

The International Rescue Committee is the lead for ERICC Programme components 1 & 2, including leading the ERICC Research Programme Consortium (RPC) with Academic Lead IOE, University College London’s (UCL) Faculty of Education and Society. The RPC is a global research and learning partnership that strives to transform education policy and practice in conflict and protracted crisis around the world — ultimately to help improve holistic outcomes for children — through building a global hub for rigorous, context-relevant and actionable evidence base.

Expert consortium partners include The Centre for Lebanese Studies, Common Heritage Foundation, ODI, Osman Consulting, OTHERwise Research, and Queen Rania Foundation. During ERICC’s inception period, NYU-TIES provided research leadership, developed the original ERICC Conceptual Framework, and contributed to early research agenda development.

The ERICC RPC is committed to four primary principles for conducting rigorous research:

• The ERICC Conceptual Framework is used to organise and synthesise existing evidence and then build a systematic knowledge base that is comprehensive, context-sensitive and actionable for educational interventions and policy changes.
• Developing contextual understandings of the Political Economy of Education of different conflict and crises settings, through the application of Political Economy Analyses;
• A co-constructive approach to building research agendas through stakeholder engagement — at local, national, and global levels — from the start, for evidence use and evidence uptake;
• Applying a research methods framework to build evidence in a systematic and rigorous way.

Visit the ERICC website to learn more and view ERICC publications.