Barriers to Refugee Adolescents' Educational Access during COVID-19: Exploring the Roles of Gender, Displacement, and Social Inequalities

As of 2021, more than 80 million people worldwide have been displaced by war, violence, and poverty. An estimated 30 to 34 million of these are under age 18, and many are at risk of interrupting their education permanently--a situation aggravated in recent years by the global COVID-19 pandemic. In this article, we adopt an intersectional conceptual framework to explore the roles gender and other social inequalities have played in shaping adolescents' access to education during the COVID-19 pandemic. We examine two refugee populations: the Rohingya, who have been excluded from formal education opportunities in Bangladesh, and Syrian refugees in Jordan, who have access to formal education in their host country. We provide novel empirical data, as well as insights into the adolescent refugee experience and the short-term consequences for education resulting from the pandemic. In the article, we draw from quantitative survey data on 3,030 adolescents, and from in-depth qualitative interviews we conducted in the spring of 2020 with a subset of 91 adolescents who are part of an ongoing longitudinal study. We also conducted 40 key informant interviews with community leaders and service providers.

Sexual and reproductive health and rights in the era of COVID-19: a qualitative study of the experiences of vulnerable urban youth in Ethiopia.

BACKGROUND: Youth who have migrated from rural to urban areas in Ethiopia are often precariously employed, lack access to sexual and reproductive health services, and are at heightened risk of sexual violence. However, little is known about the sexual and reproductive health consequences of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, and associated lockdowns and service disruptions for urban-dwelling socially disadvantaged youth. METHODS: This paper draws on qualitative virtual research with 154 urban youths aged 15-24years who were past and present beneficiaries of United Nations Population Fund-funded programs, and 19 key informants from the city bureaus and non-governmental organisations in June 2020. Semistructured interviews by phone explored the impact of COVID-19 on young people's sexual and reproductive health and rights. RESULTS: The pandemic has affected the availability of sexual and reproductive health information and services, and exacerbated fears about attending clinics, particularly disadvantaging youth living with HIV and those involved in commercial sex work. Many young people have also lost their livelihoods, with some moving into transactional and survival sex. Sexual violence further undermines the rights and well-being of youth who are already marginalised, with street-connected youth, young people involved in commercial sex work and youth with disabilities particularly at risk. CONCLUSION: There is an urgent need to quickly resume front-line services, and social assistance measures must include young people, if Ethiopia is to continue meeting its own objectives around adolescent and youth sexual and reproductive health.

COVID-19, state (in)visibility and structural violence in low- and middle-income countries.

The socioeconomic impact of COVID-19 on adolescents and youth in lower- and middle-income countries (LMICs) who have migrated for work, are among the urban poor, or have been forcibly displaced is not well understood. To address this knowledge gap, this article draws on in-depth qualitative interviews undertaken between April and July 2020 with 249 adolescent girls and boys and 24 community key informants in Bangladesh and Ethiopia. These two countries have divergent social protection systems and thus provide a useful comparative lens to understand state provisioning for the most disadvantaged, including vulnerable young people, in crisis contexts. Despite rapid implementation of restrictions to halt viral spread, the mobilisation of social protection in response to the pandemic's socioeconomic effects has lagged. Using a lens of structural violence, findings underscore that socially marginalised young people are the most disadvantaged by state failures to deliver essential services or protection. There has also been insufficient support from humanitarian and development actors in responding to the challenges of the pandemic. The article concludes that identifying and addressing how structural inequalities shape access to and inclusion in social protection mechanisms can contribute to more effectively targeted measures to support the most disadvantaged, especially during crises.

Localising Public Health: Refugee-led organisations as first and last responders in COVID-19.

The COVID-19 pandemic and ensuing socioeconomic impact on already marginalised refugee communities demonstrate both the need for, and lack of, localisation in humanitarian and development responses. Our research with organisations founded and led by refugees, termed here refugee-led organisations (RLOs), in camps and cities in Kenya and Uganda shows their potential to be an asset in the response to COVID-19 and in contributing to more effective and participatory forms of humanitarian assistance. In this research note we draw on pre-pandemic research with around 80 RLOs and follow-up research with 15 in Uganda and Kenya who are actively responding to the pandemic and its effects. We identify five key areas in which refugees are or could be involved as responders to COVID-19 and other pandemics: providing public information, supplementing capacity gaps, healthcare delivery, shaping social norms, and virus tracking and contact tracing. Our research during COVID-19 shows how RLOs have pivoted their existing service provision to fill assistance gaps, including in areas directly related to public health. As the humanitarian system searches for ways to implement remote and participatory approaches to refugee assistance, RLOs offer great potential, if mechanisms can be found to identify those that are effective, provide them with funding, and build their capacities.

Intersecting barriers to adolescents' educational access during COVID-19: Exploring the role of gender, disability and poverty.

This article explores the social determinants of adolescents' access to education during the COVID-19 pandemic in three diverse urban contexts in Bangladesh, Ethiopia and Jordan. It provides novel empirical data from the Gender and Adolescence: Global Evidence longitudinal study, drawing on phone surveys (4441), qualitative interviews with adolescents aged 12-19 years (500), and key informant interviews conducted between April and October 2020. Findings highlight that the pandemic is compounding pre-existing vulnerabilities to educational disadvantage, and that gender, poverty and disability are intersecting to deepen social inequalities. The paper concludes by reflecting on policy implications for inclusive distance education in emergencies.

Refugee-led responses in the fight against COVID-19: building lasting participatory models

The formal structures of humanitarian aid are struggling to respond to the consequences of COVID-19. The work of refugee-led organizations is now more relevant than ever, and they need to be far better supported--both now and in the longer term. In Uganda, home to around 1.4 million refugees, refugee-led organizations have been making important contributions to help provide support in both camps and cities during the pandemic. In the Nakivale Settlement in the south-west of Uganda, employees of the Wakati Foundation--who ordinarily work on small-scale building projects--have been sewing and distributing colorful face masks.