Back on Track | Rebuilding education, Rebuilding societies

Getting Ready for School: A Child-to-Child Approach in Yemen

30 April 2012

Story and pictures provided by Child-to-Child Trust Low primary school enrolment and retention rates are one of the biggest challenges for children in Yemen, where access to preschool is limited and in some areas non-existent.

Syrian children in Lebanon pick up the pieces of the educations they left behind

18 April 2012

By Simon Ingram MASHTA EL HAMMOUD, Lebanon, 17 April 2012 – Stepping off their minibus in the mountain village of Mashta el Hammoud, in northern Wadi Khaled, a group of children scampers up the stone steps to their classrooms. While the prospect of maths and Arabic classes may not seem attractive, there’s no mistaking these [...]

Members of the Bureau of UNICEF’s Executive Board assess programmes and progress in post-conflict Sri Lanka

10 April 2012

By Rajat Madhok COLOMBO/JAFFNA, Sri Lanka, 12 March 2012 – Families of children who disappeared during Sri Lanka’s 27-year-long conflict wait for news of their lost ones outside a UNICEF-funded Family Tracing and Reunification Centre (FTR) in the northern town of Mullaitivu. Until UNICEF and its government partners established this office, these families had no [...]

In DR Congo, a UNICEF programme is empowering communities to improve water and sanitation

27 March 2012

By Edward Bally KINSHASA, Democratic Republic of the Congo, 23 March 2012 – Years of civil war have limited progress in improving health and sanitation services throughout the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). Today, half the population of 66 million still has no access to clean water sources, and one out of every five [...]

After storm and floods in the Philippines, school helps children return to normalcy

22 March 2012

By Andy Brown ILIGAN, Philippines, 16 March 2012 – Ten-year-old Joy Crizelle lives with her grandfather, sister, two aunts and uncles, and a nephew in a small one-room hut at an evacuation centre in Barangay Mandulog, in Iligan. Their village was one of the worst affected by the flash floods that followed Tropical Storm Washi [...]

In post-flood Philippines, UNICEF provides crucial help on the ground

22 March 2012

By Philippa Day ILIGAN CITY, Philippines, 20 March 2012 – Twelve-year-old Hannah Monsalan lives in Mandulog, one of the villages worst-hit by the flash floods that swept through northern Mindanao in December, following Tropical Storm Washi. The equivalent of one month’s rain fell overnight, swelling the Mandulog river to a destructive torrent, which crushed hundreds [...]

Welcome to the
Back on Track Website

Back on Track is an innovative programme designed to support and further international development work on education in emergencies and post-crisis transition countries.

This site is a platform for ideas, information, materials and discussions on current trends and issues in the delivery of education services both during and after conflict and natural disasters.

Featured podcast

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Podcast moderator Kathryn Herzog spoke with Jack P. Shonkoff, MD, Director of the Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University, and Chloe O’Gara,MD, Program Officer for the Hewlett Foundation's Global Development and Population Program, about the importance of early childhood care and education and the issues around early learning.