Field Note: The Multifaceted Responsibilities of Education Clusters: Successes and Struggles

Abstract

Education clusters coordinate education in emergencies responses in crisis-prone and politically volatile settings. In the context of overlapping emergencies and shrinking aid budgets, Humanitarian Reset guidance calls for simpler and localized coordination arrangements. Drawing from education cluster documents across multiple crisis contexts worldwide, along with insights from the coordination literature, this field note examines the achievements and persistent challenges education clusters face in convening diverse actors, harmonizing responses, generating and using evidence, improving cost-effectiveness, and advocating for education needs with decisionmakers. We illustrate the extent to which education clusters are positioned to operationalize the Reset while safeguarding the right of crisis-affected children to protective, continuous, and safe education.