Picture a refugee camp with a half a million people. Like a sprawling city of sorts, it houses four camps, including businesses, elementary and secondary schools, shopping centres, hotels and restaurants. That’s the Dadaab refugee camp of northeastern Kenya, a UNHCR base, and one of the largest such settlements in the world. More than half of its inhabitants are school-age children; most come from Somalia.
UBC’s Dr. Samson Madera Nashon and colleagues wondered back in 2009, how do you educate high school-age kids living in such conditions? How do you empower them to apply for a university degree, move out, secure permanent housing elsewhere and find gainful employment? Those were some of the formidable quandaries this group of ambitious educators from four institutions pondered as they joined forces to collaborate across continents. Together they created a program designed by the UBC Faculty of Education—coordinated by Dr. Samson Nashon and Dr. Rita Irwin—in collaboration with global partners.
Sixteen years later, some 300 refugee camp residents have graduated with a teaching degree from the camp. It took two years for Dr. Nashon, Department Head and Professor of Science Education in the Department of Curriculum and Pedagogy in the UBC Faculty of Education, and the team to develop a two-year Diploma in Teacher Education-Secondary. That was in collaboration with Kenya’s Moi University and other partners in the Dadaab refugee camp. One graduate even founded a school in Somalia in 2017, illustrating the program’s lasting community impact.
Dr. Karen Meyer, UBC, teaching under an acacia tree at the Dadaab refugee camp in Kenya (photo: Samson Nashon)
The Dadaab Teacher Education Program project funding has now ended. However, the program has inspired a growing body of research led by Dr. Nashon, and other faculty and students, exploring research themes that include belonging, disability and long-term education in displacement contexts. It is part of a broader Faculty of Education commitment to refugee education, with multiple ongoing programs, partnerships and research projects that support displaced learners and educators worldwide.
We spoke to Dr. Nashon about how the group was able to create the program, collaborate with multiple partners around the world and see it through to successful results.
What does it take to put together a collaborative program of this ambitious size and scope?
It requires teamwork and members that each have a commitment to serve with humility and a capacity to go beyond rhetoric. It takes an individual who has earned a collegial and trusting reputation to mobilize support among colleagues and leaders to see the dire need for action. It requires learning about the contextual need and approaching it with a humanitarian zeal.
A Dadaab teacher education class (photo: Dr. Eric Meyers)
In the classroom at the Dadaab refugee camp (photo: Dr. Cynthia Nicol)
Why do you think this project was successful when others have failed?
Because of UBC’s and its leadership’s support, and orientation to listen and respond honestly to the need—right from the President, Board and the community, including key support from the Faculty of Education community.
Educating kids who otherwise wouldn’t have access to school is the huge benefit of this program. What are others? Either directly or indirectly related?
This is what I have called “collateral benefits.” The project demonstrated respect for all gender groups without violating gender roles and the exemplification of the need for women and girls and men and boys to have equal access to education. Jamma, a graduate of the program, returned to Somalia to start a school and admitted nearly equal numbers of girls and boys. This was based on our project’s aim of admitting equal numbers. Although this target was never met, we recruited as many who were available as we could. If we had continued with the project, we would now be closer to parity.
Two teacher candidates of the Dadaab Teacher Ed Program (photo: Samson Nashon)
When you reflect on the program now, what are you most proud of?
The legacy it has left in the region! How proud of everyone who participated in the program to-date! Some high school students from the camp taught by some of the Dadaab Teacher Education Program graduates have joined UBC, graduated and are now serving in various Canadian organizations, including Mr. Hassan Ali, with RCMP Vancouver; Hassan Hassan, with Translink Police; and Suleiman Muhammed, a teacher with Surrey School Board.
What is the current status of the project?
The major part of the project was funded by Global Affairs Canada (GAC) at $6 million, of which collaborating Institutions (UBC, Canada, York University in Toronto, Canada, and in Kenya, Moi University and Kenyatta University) contributed $1.5 million. But two Canadian universities, UBC and York University, actually contributed a much bigger portion of this. The funding ended, but the need continues!
The camp has been in existence since 1991. Many have been born and raised in the camp, and that is the only home they know. Dadaab is in a semi-desert area. Climate change has not made it easier for local residents (the host community). If we had continued with the project, even to a scaled-down size, there would be many collateral benefits, including gender equity. That’s a big lesson for the local community, where there are very few females in school compared to boys. The need is dire. But I want to emphasize that UBC and the BHER (Business + Higher Education Roundtable) have left a legacy in the region.
What would you like to see happen next for the Dadaab refugee camp?
We cannot solve the world’s problems. But we need projects, such as Dadaab Teacher Education, which serve not just education in a narrow sense, but have a cultural impact that gets appreciated without imposing. A perfect example is our graduate Jamma’s story of starting a school in Somalia after graduating with his teacher’s certificate.
Dadaab campus in northeastern Kenya (photo: UBC team)
Business + Higher Education Roundtable-equipped computer lab for remote teaching (photo: Samson Nashon)
Can you name some of the many partners involved in the Dadaab project?
From UBC, Faculty of Education Dean Emeriti Professor Robert Tieney and Blye Frank; Professor Emeritus Rita Irwin; Professor Tom Sork; Professor Cynthia Nicol; Professor George Belliveau; Dr. Natasha Boskic; Mohmood Ayaz. Dr. Marangu Njogu (CEO of Windle International, granted an Honorary Doctorate by UBC for his exemplary support for the program and UBC faculty whenever the teaching in the camp); Professor Jennifer Khamasi (a UBC alumnus, formerly at Moi University, Kenya, and now at Dedan Kimathi University); as well as colleagues from York University and Kenyatta University. Dr. Marangu Njongu, Director of Windle Trust Kenya, coordinated all educational activities in the camp, and later received a UBC Honorary Doctorate.
Any advice for faculty wanting to tackle an ambitious humanitarian project with global partners?
Understanding the need of the community, and cultivating the need by listening to those whom the humanitarian action will impact. Collect information about the need from diverse members of the community. Most important is to ensure that whoever the link person is, that the person is acceptable to the community.
Read more about the Living, Learning and Teaching in Daddab camps research project.
Find information about the UBC Faculty of Education.
From left: Drs. Nashon, Irwin and Too with UBC and Moi University instructors (photo: Samson Nashon)