The Caribbean Educational Working Group (CEWG) — working together to build a more resilient and equitable education infrastructure
Since 2017, the Clinton Global Initiative’s (CGI) Action Network on Post-Disaster Recovery has brought together partners from across the Caribbean region to respond to natural disasters, advance recovery efforts, and promote long-term resiliency through knowledge sharing and cross-sector partnership building. More than a year into the Covid-19 pandemic, its sustained impact and reach across all strata of our communities has revealed that responses to disasters must also be considered in the context of public health and education.
Educational infrastructure is critical to a community’s success, and both the pandemic and natural disasters have shown that disruption can cause significant harm to children over the long term. That’s why CGI is partnering with Georgia State University’s Center for Studies on Africa and its Diaspora (CSAD) to leverage their institutional expertise and capacity to support partners in the region in collaborating to build a more resilient, equitable and inclusive education infrastructure. Together, CGI and Georgia State launched the Caribbean Education Working Group (CEWG) to address structural and institutional inequities in the region, and build resiliency to protect from disruptions cause by natural disasters and health crises.There is an urgent need for action. Since March 2020, the virus spread in the Caribbean has impacted nearly 12 million learners in 29 Caribbean countries. According to the United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), school closures, interruption in classes and the cancelation or postponement of assessments and examinations have all had detrimental consequences for children’s education. The disruptions caused by the pandemic have exposed pre-existing gaps in terms of access, equity and quality, and the most vulnerable populations are at risk of falling even further behind.
In response, CEWG seeks to foster collaboration and generate specific solutions to the three challenges identified, and to respond to additional issues identified by local partners. The CEWG will provide members a forum to:
• Identify critical areas of need in the Caribbean, including specific localities;
• Coordinate work among local partners that addresses the CEWG Priorities to help maximize the impact of efforts;
• Network and build new cross-sector and cross-island partnerships; and
- Share lessons learned, best practices, and common resources.
The CEWG is made up of partners representing multilateral organizations, the private sector, policy makers, nonprofits, and community members across the Caribbean region working to support the region’s efforts to develop innovative models for education delivery, responsive to the gaps, deficits, and lags revealed by the Covid-19 pandemic.
“The pandemic is showing us that we need to work towards resilient systems that can withstand any shock, and healthy schools — where you don’t only learn, but where the curriculum is conducive to achieving a healthy and productive system, including new teaching methods, new curricula, vocations.” Virginia Asin-Oostburg, M.D., Independent Public Health Practitioner
“When we talk about inequities in education, it’s talking about Black and brown children not having what other children have.” Tiffany Bain-Saunders, MSc, Research and Program consultant, ORG Education
The pandemic has underscored the urgency of designing a coordinated response to address interrelated themes of education, climate, health, and the economy, and CGI and Georgia State are answering the challenge. To promote resiliency, their efforts must not only consider operating in the context of a pandemic, but also consider how historic and systemic inequity has necessitated investment in a more inclusive education model from the ground up.
To facilitate this effort, the CEWG hosts a series of virtual summits with partners throughout the year. Join an upcoming conversation or learn more about the Caribbean Education Working Group (CEWG) by contacting us at https://www.clintonfoundation.org/about/contact-us. In the meantime, check out an initial set of resources compiled from a variety of experts and organizations in the field. They are easily accessible online at the following links:
Digital Learning
- de Chaisemartin, Talia. “When coronavirus hit, the Eastern Caribbean states took bold steps to ensure continuity of learning.” Global Partnership for Education, 28 July 2020.
Education/Educational Response
- The World Bank. Acting Now to Protect the Human Capital of Our Children: The Costs of and Response to COVID-19 Pandemic’s Impact on the Education Sector in Latin America and the Caribbean. March 2021.
- UNICEF LACRO Education Section. “Latin America & the Caribbean COVID-19 Education Response.” UNICEF, 8 July 2020.
- ECLAC and UNESCO. Education in the time of COVID-19. United Nations, August 2020.
- “Education in Times of Coronavirus: Latin America and the Caribbean’s Education Systems in the Face of COVID-19.” Inter-American Development Bank, May 2020.
- Latin American Coalition for Teaching Excellence. “It is Urgent to Recover the Learning and Wellbeing of Students,” March 2021.
- Civil Society Working Group. The Demand for a Post-Pandemic Evaluation Agenda: Recommendations from Civil Society for Educational Assessment During School Reopening. The Dialogue: Leadership for the Americas, February 2021.
Policy Briefings & Reports
- Policy Brief: Education during COVID-19 and beyond. United Nations, August 2020
- Global Education Monitoring Report 2020: Latin America and the Caribbean: Inclusion and education: All means all [EN/PT]. UNESCO, 16 November 2020.
COVID-19 Response
- MacDonald, Scott B. “COVID-19, The Caribbean and what comes next.” Global Americans, 2 July 2020.
The Clinton Foundation’s mission is to create economic opportunity, improve public health, and inspire civic engagement and service. Please follow us on Twitter at Clinton Foundation and Clinton Global for the latest updates and resources on how our programs and partners are helping to confront global challenges and the urgent needs facing our country.
You can also support this work by making a contribution today.
