Central African refugees in the Democratic Republic of the Congo

The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is committed to the inclusion of refugee children and youth into its public schools in line with the Global Compact on Refugees (GCR), which calls on host countries and relevant stakeholders to contribute resources and expertise to expand and enhance the quality and inclusiveness of national education systems to facilitate access by refugee and host community children (both boys and girls), adolescents and youth to primary, secondary and tertiary education (United Nations, 2018). Schools in the Northern provinces of the country are hosting refugees from the Central African Republic but many schools in this part of the country operate with little or no support from the State and are therefore ill-prepared to welcome additional students. This case study relies on the analysis of secondary data and qualitative insights collected during a needs and asset assessment conducted in the Nord Ubangi province in August 2021. As part of this exercise, the assessment team visited nineteen schools, twelve primary and seven secondary, which had already enrolled 2,286 refugee children and youth (1,030 girls)2 and had the potential to welcome additional refugees, with the right support in place.