GCRF Development Award: Languaging in post-conflict zones: Educating for success in Colombia, Lebanon and South Africa

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The development award lays the foundations for an international research network which will address an urgent challenge: in Colombia, Lebanon, and South Africa many students do not have access to education in their home language, often leading to educational failure. For students in these post-conflict contexts, accessible, high-quality education is essential to protect against threats to lives and livelihoods. The development award will address this key challenge, establishing a capable, equitable, and sustainable research network which connects academic researchers, non-government organisations, policy-makers, and local stakeholders in Colombia, Lebanon, and South Africa. The development award will identify complex challenges faced by people in post-conflict zones, and will put in place networks to conduct innovative and original research which addresses those challenges. The development award will examine language in education policy in each of the three national contexts, and will analyse historical interventions in policy and practice. This learning will inform the development of calls for innovative and original research in language education policy and practice in Colombia, Lebanon, and South Africa. The development award will play a key role in setting the research agenda for the Network Plus. In Beirut, Cape Town, and Medellin Network Assemblies will bring together academic researchers and non-academic partners, government officials, local authorities, non-government organisations, and teachers. A key outcome of each Network Assembly will be identification of challenges, themes, and research questions related to language in education policy, to shape Network Plus activity. Community Meetings in each country context will be co-ordinated and hosted by project partners. The Community Meetings will enable grassroots stakeholders including teachers, lecturers, students, and community groups to set the agenda for the Network Plus. These meetings will address the educational, welfare, and economic needs of minoritized groups who are excluded by ethnicity, gender, language, poverty, race and social class. Following the Community Meetings, a Progress and Advisory Board in each country will take forward the learning from the Network Assembly and the Community Meeting, to synthesise research questions and themes, and to develop processes for commissioning original and innovative research. The Progress and Advisory Board will firm up identified research themes, establish research project commissioning procedures and protocols, and put in place processes for the evaluation of research. A final report will synthesise learning from the development award phase across the three countries. Working with educators and policy-makers, the development award will put in place capable, equitable, and sustainable partnerships which will underpin the inception of the Network Plus. In Colombia, Lebanon, and South Africa the Network Plus will build on the structures and knowledge generated through the development award, to conduct original, innovative research which will inform language policy for educational success.