MEETING MINUTESEducation Cluster meeting

August 18, 2020

AGENDA

1. Education Cluster Updates

• Partner achievements in Q2

• Safe Schools Declaration implementation plan

• Education Cluster Strategy review

2. HPC 2021 (key needs in EiE for 2021, plans etc.)

3. Partner updates.

4. AOB

PARTICIPATING ORGANIZATIONS/INSTITUTIONS: 13 (20 PARTICIPANTS):

OCHA, UNICEF, ICRC, OPF, LA STRADA, SCI, VOSTOK SOS, BRITISH COUNCIL, CARITAS, SMM OSCE, SEVERODONETSK YOUTH AND CHILDREN ART CENTRE,

DRC DDG, ГО «ВОЛЯ – ГРОМАДА – КОЗАЦТВО»

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MINUTES:Agenda item Discussion points

Welcome and introduction The Ukraine Education Cluster (UEC) Coordinator welcomed participants and presented the agenda.

Education Cluster updates: Partner achievements in Q2

The UEC coordinator presented achievements of the cluster partners during January – June 2020. During presentation it was emphasized that at the moment reach of beneficiaries in NGCA is higher than in GCA which in general represents the real picture of EiE needs in conflict affected areas.

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Agenda item Discussion points

Reporting Agency( - Implementing Partner)

Conflict-Related Repairs,

children reached, (education facilities)

School Equipment,children reached,

(education facilities)

Education Kits,children reached

Capacity Building,teachers reached

INDIRECT BENEFICIARIES children benefiting

from trained teachers

Non-Formal and Life Skills Education,children reached, including indirect

beneficiaries

Distance learning programmes/modalities,

children reached

Consultations for Graduates and

Youth**,children reached

Total*children and teachers

GCA Total 1,073 1,982 0 766 8,241 750 0 0 12,812Donetska 0 522 0 389 5,173 0 0 0 6,084

British Council 77 77UNICEF (DRC-DDG, Health Through Education) 66 5,173 5,239People in Need 0Open Policy Foundation 150 150FSD 522 522Save the Children (Istok, Donetsk OPD) 96 96

Luhanska 1,073 1,460 0 377 3,068 750 0 0 6,728British Council 59 59UNICEF (DRC-DDG, Health Through Education)790 1,460 44 3,068 5,362SOS Children's Villages Ukraine 12 277 289People in Need 0Open Policy Foundation 150 150Vostok SOS 0Save the Children (Avalyst, Bridge, Children of Rainbow)283 112 473 868

NGCA Total 2,187 1,140 0 371 0 5,454 0 0 9,152Donetska 2,187 1,836 4,023

Luhanska 1,140 371 3,618 5,129

Grand Total* 3,260 3,122 0 1,137 0 6,204 0 0 21,964

** - Consultations for Graduates and Youth includes hotline users seeking advice on accessing higher educationReport date:

Education Cluster Snapshot, Jan-Jun 2020Response by partner and activity

children and teachers reached with at least one type of assistance

partnerseducation facilities by 12in 300

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Agenda item Discussion pointsEducation Cluster Strategy review

As current UEC Strategy ends in January 2021 there is an existing need to update the Strategy document and incorporate all the necessary changes. The UEC coordinator presented the key points to be updated in the existing strategy:

• Updates on EiE Needs

• Updated coordination structure

• Stronger emphasis on HDN

• Updated standards

• SSD implementation plan support

UNICEF: Is the decision on the review was made? What will be timeline of the new strategy and how the Startegy update process will correlate with HPC 21? All points are relevant the only suggestion is to add to priorities and review the needs of the cluster.

UEC: The decision was made as the current strategy is coming to the end. As for the process it would be similar to the strategy development with involvement and consultations with all partners and stakeholders. With bigger involvement of MOE which recently developed a EiE working group. The length will depend on the partners decision. As for the link with HPC again it will go in parallel with strategy review not to duplicate the affords as we are dealing with similar issues. As for the last point partially results are linked to COVID, though it is good indication to be more realistic and pragmatic on our plans and capacities.

OPF: Is the distance learning included in the strategy? And is centers Donbass – Ukraine and Crimea – Ukraine are mentioned.

UEC: In the current strategy document the needs in distance learning are indicated. Centers are not mentioned as the document does not include specific projects. But it most likely would be included in the updated version as COVID brought into attention. As well UEC was in touch with UNESCO to get their support on

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Agenda item Discussion pointscertification of education of children from NGCA.

UNICEF COVID response will be integrated in the strategy?

UEC if partners think this is the relevant question it would definitely be included.

As a next step UEC would organize a separate consultation on the Strategy review. If there are any ideas or recommendation on the process please get in touch, so we could include it in the agenda of the consultation.

Safe Schools Declaration implementation plan

The UEC Coordinator made an update on the SSD implementation plan. SSD was endorsed by the government of Ukraine end of 2019. After endorsement, MoE took a lead in the development of the SSD implementation with full support of Save the Children, UNICEF and UEC. Due to COVID 19 pandemic the development of the plan was slowed down, but lately the draft version was shared. SCI and UNICEF made their contributions and commitment to support the implementation of SSD guidelines. In case there is an interest or plans of other UEC partners to join the efforts kindly contact the UEC for further coordinated actions.

SCI: Safe Schools Declaration (SSD) is the key issue of the advocacy work Save the Children in working on. Before endorsement of the SSD we started planning the implementation of the SSD and one of the first SSD related implementation activities, was a serial of trainings for civil military cooperation officers which were carried out in December 2019. More than 50 officers from the General Staff and all the brigades acting in the conflict zone attended the training on the SSD and the Guidelines for Protecting Schools and Universities from Military Use during Armed Conflict. We plan to continue working with the Ministry of Defense as we consider them as one of the key stakeholders in the SSD implementation.As the leading agency in implementation of the SSD we submitted our inputs to the MoE who is currently in charge of the SSD national implementation plan. Prior to that we consulted with different countries who are more advanced than Ukraine in terms of implementation of the SSD and found good examples and lessons which are relevant to our context.On the basis of those examples and having in mind that the implementation is a job of many ministries including

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Agenda item Discussion pointsdefense, justice, internal and foreign affairs and others, we proposed creation of a interministerial group with representatives of all those ministries working on different parts of the implementation plan.

UNICEF Have taken consultations with the MOE and will contribute to 2 areas: support the development of the monitoring and reporting system related to the attacks on Education and Conflict Sensitivity particularly recommendations in the review of the text books.

HPC 2021 (key needs in EiE for 2021, plans etc.)

The UEC coordinator said that the time of HPC is about to start. OCHA is running the field session UEC encouraged partners to participate to get better understanding of the process. Today as a first step in the process of needs identification we would like to get your vision on the EiE needs of boys and girl affected by the ongoing conflict compared to the previous year. The UEC coordinator opened the floor for partners to share their vision on priority needs as well as areas with the biggest needs.

ICRC Top needs are related to the COVID according to short survey in communities on the contact line. Namely, IT equipment, internet access, lack of teachers capacity, disinfectants, heads of communities mentioned as well issues transportations of children. Damaged infrastructure is very rare, mostly related to old buildings. Teachers receiving too much trainings according to teachers and most of the needed trainings they receive from the MoE.

Caritas Have programmes in 18 schools. Carried out a small assessment. From their observations they can tell there is great need in the support of parents. And agree with equipment needs related to COVID to organize distance learning.

OSCE Damages of educational facilities. Recently the report was published on this topic. Could be found following the link in three languages. https://www.osce.org/special-monitoring-mission-to-ukraine/457690

OPF Last week very important meeting happened related to distance learning with representatives of schools in the East and Universities. Agree with all the needs mentioned above. There is a need in hardware and software to ensure the online learning. OPF encourages UNICEF to allocate resources to cover those needs. Most likely there will be no

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Agenda item Discussion pointshigh speed interned, on the contact line and rural communities the way out they suggest is to distribute necessary materials on flash drives and do teachers training on methodology to use them. Another issue is that most of the teachers are 50+, so they must be introduced to mere simple software. OPF has developed trainings and ready to scale up their work they are currently implementing with the support of the government of Lithuania and USAID.

UNICEF support most of what has been said. School need support to implement recommendations presented by the government in both GCA and NGCA. So COVID related needs must be incorporated in our plans. A couple words on needs assessment. UNICEF with the institute of statistics of Ukraine conducts assessment on the impact of the COVID to Education and reediness of schools to cope with consequences of COVID. Once it is ready it would be shared with cluster partners. Another point to be included in the HNO is the Conflict sensitivity and how education could contribute to the conflict in the positive or negative way.

The UEC coordinator presented the HPC 2021 timeline.

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Agenda item Discussion points

OCHA encouraged to take part in the online field consultations on HPC.Partners updates OPF for 7 month the hotline 4528 calls was received in Kramatorsk 410. OPF is initiating the new project with the

support of USAID on technical support of distance learning. The press conference is scheduled for 20 th of August. The work of centers Donbass – Ukraine and Crimea – Ukraine was extended. Another project is the information campaign for children from NGCA and CL and would really appreciate dissemination of materials by the cluster partners.

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Agenda item Discussion pointsLa Strada With the support of UNICEF works on the violence reduction during COVID. The series of online webinars were conducted. The guidelines were developed on violence prevention approved by the MoE https://www.unicef.org/ukraine/documents/protydiya-nasylstvu. Actively they implement violence reduction online among peers.

UNICEF is implementing project in GCA and NGCA to support safe schools reopening and to be able to follow the guidelines of the MoE and MoH. Triangle and TDH supported schools through e-vouchers – a new approach UNICEF is piloting.

There are lots of information materials adapted for children. They are available on UNICEF website. For teachers, parents and children. There are manuals developed for parents support online. https :// parents . nostress . org . ua / https://specialists.nostress.org.ua/

Another 50 schools will join the Safe School programme.

Save the Children Schools as Zones of Peace project is ongoing in 18 schools in GCA and 8 schools in NGCA. With modifications related to COVID. The Gender assessment as well as child friendly version was shared through the UEC mailing list. “Listen to us: girls’ and boys’ gendered experiences of the conflict in eastern Ukraine” Please use it for information especially useful during the planning stage.

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