Promising Equity Practices among Refugees in East Africa
This ECCN webcast explored emerging good practice in pursuing equity in education among refugee populations in the Great Lakes region of eastern Africa. The ECCN community recognizes that common, often tradition-bound challenges to equity and access to schooling may be exacerbated following forcible displacement. This webcast considered practical programmatic solutions to overcome barriers to education for girls and young women within refugee populations. It highlighted a sample of promising practices from ongoing refugee programming in Rwanda, Tanzania, and Uganda. Listen to the panelists discuss how to address significant obstacles for refugees and reflect on coordination efforts across relief and education agencies.
Featured Case Studies (see related content below)
The in-depth case studies on equitable education programming among forcibly displaced communities in East Africa were compiled by Plan International and are featured below. Snapshots of the case studies are available as well.
Plan International developed three additional case studies on projects promoting equity among Syrian and Egyptian students. Strategies include supporting peaceful co-existence among host and refugee communities, hygiene and sanitation efforts in formal schools, and peace education through play.
Related Content
Speaker(s)

Alexandra Shaphren
Alexandra Shaphren is a Deployable Child Protection in Emergencies Specialist for Plan International. Shaphren deploys to humanitarian settings to support the Child Protection components of Plan International’s emergency response programs. She has experience conducting multi-sector needs assessments in Child Protection, Education, and Sexual and Gender Based Violence. Her expertise includes analyzing response needs to design projects, providing technical capacity building to emergency response staff, direct implementation, and monitoring and evaluation. She also represents Plan International at global coordination groups and technical forums. Shaphren has worked in displacement and refugee contexts in South Sudan, Rwanda, Nigeria, Uganda, Philippines, and Bangladesh, among others. She comes with experience from the International Rescue Committee, Save the Children, and the American Red Cross, and holds a Master’s in Public Administration at Middlebury Institute of International Studies and a Bachelor of Arts from Lewis and Clark College.
Frank Manfredi
Frank Manfredi is Senior Director of Plan International USA’s Resilience Practice, which encompasses Disaster Risk Management and Governance programming. Frank began his career as a Sponsor Relations Representative before joining Plan’s International Programs Team. He is an 18-year veteran of the organization, including heading its Disaster Management unit and deploying to several Plan emergency responses, including, the 2004–05 Indian Ocean Tsunami; 2006’s Yogyakarta Earthquake; 2007’s Cyclone Sidr in Bangladesh; 2013’s Typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines; and 2015’s Nepal Earthquake. Prior to joining Plan, Frank served for two years with the International Rescue Committee’s Joint Voluntary Agency in Thailand, where he worked in refugee processing. He also served as a Franklin Fellow in the State Department’s Office of the Director of U.S. Foreign Assistance from 2008–2009, focusing on the coordination of Humanitarian Assistance as a member of the Global/Functional Unit. Frank holds a Bachelor’s degree in Government from Harvard College and a Master’s degree in Political Science (International Relations and Comparative Politics, with a concentration in Southeast Asia Studies) from Northern Illinois University.