Lynne Featherstone

I’ve been thinking – dangerous for a politician! Out of all the briefings I’ve had since becoming the Lib Dem Shadow Secretary of State for International Development about all the injustices and challenges of the developing world, the one that jumped out at me was the plight of children – orphaned, displaced and traumatized, sometimes for generations.

When war wrecks a child’s life – be it the murder of their families, loss of their home, displacement or injury – they are left vulnerable and fragile. Where natural disaster, war or protracted conflict rages the world rushes in with medicine, food, water and shelter – obviously. But there is something more that is needed – even at that first point. It is education.

So instead education often stops – and this stores up huge problems for the future. So I’ve just launched a new website www.teacherswithoutborders.info to consult on some ideas around this problem. Do take a look and send in your views – thanks!

Comments

1. Tristan says:

   19 March 2007 at 1:07 pm

   already exists

   Of course, competition in the voluntary sector is good too, so another provider of this run along different lines would not necessarily be a bad thing (so long as government funding is not preferential).
2. Lynne says:

   20 March 2007 at 2:02 pm

   This proposal is explicitly about education as part of the swift humanitarian response.

   The VSO does fantastic work in terms of education in the developing world – and establishes for the longer term – but that’s on a different timeframe.
3. Focusing on education in conflict zones | Lynne Featherstone says:

   28 May 2010 at 11:02 pm

   [...] up on my earlier blog posting on my Teachers Without Borders policy consultation, you can now read my newspaper column on the [...]