E-LEARNING AND POST-CONFLICT RECONSTRUCTION

How can education and training survive conflict and catastrophe?
In war zones and regions devastated by a natural disaster, the education needs of the population can easily be overlooked. Yet, experience in Afghanistan suggests that education should be a fundamental part of any reconstruction package and e-learning offers an effective, affordable solution to many problems.

“e-Learning can play a significant role in reconstruction in post-conflict situations,” says Dr Harold Elletson, Chairman of the New Security Foundation, who will report to delegates at Security and Defence Learning 2009 in Berlin on the conclusions of a special session, which he will chair at eLearning Africa (www.elearning-africa.com), involving participants from all over Africa and beyond, on “eLearning and post-conflict situations.”

“I am sure that e-Learning can play a very important role in some of the world’s most difficult and dangerous areas,” he says. “We need to learn the lesson of Afghanistan. If western governments had invested in education, as part of an overall reconstruction package, after the withdrawal of Soviet troops, they would not face many of the problems they now do. Governments and organisations, such as NATO and the UN, need to pay much greater attention to the real benefits of eLearning in reconstruction.”

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