Glossary

What we mean when we say…..

Accelerator:
A time-bound, cohort-based programme designed to accelerate the growth of participating projects, typically including investment, peer learning and other capacity building support. Learn more about our accelerator model here.

Accelerated Education Programme (AEP):
A flexible age-appropriate programme that promotes access to education in an accelerated time-frame for disadvantaged groups, over-age out-of-school children and youth who missed out or had their education interrupted due to poverty, marginalisation, conflict and crisis. (AEWG)

Adaptation:
The process of adapting a solution, requiring detailed rethinking of certain elements, often in response to changes, contextual factors, addressing challenges or lessons learned.

Adoption:
Where one entity takes on another entity’s innovative solution and implements it, either in a new location or at greater scale. For example, adoption by a Ministry of Education might take up an established programme in a given context and drive it’s expansion or integration into the national system.

Business model:
This term can often make colleagues in the humanitarian and education sectors feel uncomfortable, due to its use within the for-profit sector. When we use this term, we are not referring to profitability, rather ‘business model’ means the short, medium and long-term implementation modality (including team structure, partnerships, coordination and funding) that will be put in place for the project in question to scale. You can find more information about the importance of identifying and putting in place sustainable and scalable business models for humanitarian education here.

Capacity building:
Activities or other types of support provided with the aim of strengthening the knowledge, ability, skills and expertise of individuals or teams in certain areas of their work, in order to help them achieve their goals. For the HEA the focus of our capacity building support is on M&E and scaling.

Catch up programme:
A short-term transitional education programme for children and youth who had been actively attending school prior to an educational disruption, which provides students with the opportunity to learn content missed because of the disruption and supports their re-entry to the formal system. (AEWG)

Do no Harm:
An approach which helps to identify unintended negative or positive impacts of humanitarian and development interventions in settings where there is conflict or risk of conflict. It can be applied during planning, monitoring, and evaluation to ensure that the intervention does not worsen the conflict but rather contributes to improving it. ‘Do No Harm’ is considered an essential basis for the work of organizations operating in situations of conflict. (INEE) 

Education in Emergencies (EiE):
A set of linked project activities that enable structured learning to continue in times of crisis or long-term instability. EiE can include all age groups in different phases of their education (INEE). The HEA follows the Inter-Agency Network on Education in Emergencies (INEE) Minimum Standards on EiE. Learn more here.

Evidence:
Proof of the efficacy of a solution in addressing the problem it is trying to solve – based on robust data collected using tested research methodologies.

Humanitarian Education:
Education that is implemented in a humanitarian context and is inclusive of refugee and other marginalized learners.

Human-centred design:
A creative, rights based approach to problem solving that engages the communities you’re designing with and ends with new solutions that are tailor made to suit their needs and the specific challenges of their contexts. The HEA and UNHCR believe that working with communities and human-centred design are central to innovation.

Impact:
Impact is the positive and negative, primary and secondary long-term effect produced by an intervention, directly or indirectly, intended or unintended. (OECD, 2002)

Innovative solution:
An innovative solution is an idea, project or programme that takes a novel or alternative approach to addressing a known problem. For the HEA, this is a problem within the humanitarian education or EiE space. 

Innovative:
For the HEA, something is innovative if it takes a novel or alternative approach that improves quality, efficiency or efficacy. Being innovative is not necessarily about the use of technology (as is sometimes assumed to be the case), but rather about the approach taken, results and impact upon target beneficiaries and wider systems. 

Inclusive Education:
Inclusive education ensures the presence, participation and achievement of all students in schooling. It involves restructuring the culture, policies and practices in schools so that they can respond to the diversity of students in their locality. For the HEA, we are particularly interested in the inclusion of refugee learners. 

Formal education:
Includes all learning opportunities provided in a system of schools, colleges, universities, and other educational institutions. It usually involves full-time education for children and young people, beginning at between five and seven years and continuing to 20 or 25 years old. It is normally developed by national ministries of education, but in emergency situations may be supported by other education stakeholders. (INEE)

Learning Outcomes:
The knowledge, attitudes, skills and abilities that students have attained as a result of taking part in a course or education program are known as learning outcomes. Learning outcomes are usually described as what students ‘should know and be able to do’ as a result of instruction and learning processes. (INEE)

Mentorship:
The pairing of teams with experts in certain areas of work (M&E and scaling within the HEA), to support them to identify, work through and successfully navigate challenges and opportunities, whilst building their internal expertise and skills. 

Non-formal education:
Non-formal education takes place both within and outside educational institutions and caters to people of all ages. It does not always lead to certification. Non-formal education programmes are characterized by their variety, flexibility and ability to respond quickly to new educational needs of children or adults. They are often designed for specific groups of learners such as those who are too old for their grade level, those who do not attend formal school, or adults. Curricula may be based on formal education or on new approaches. Examples include accelerated ‘catch-up’ learning, after-school programmes, literacy, and numeracy. Non-formal education may lead to late entry into formal education programmes. This is sometimes called ‘second-chance education’. (INEE)

Pilot:
Testing a potential solution to learn whether and how it works in a complex real-world environment.

Prototype:
An initial model of a project built to test its design.

Proof of concept:
Preliminary evidence, typically based on a pilot, which demonstrates the feasibility and efficacy of a solution in addressing the problem it is trying to solve.

Remedial Classes:
Remedial programmes identify the core competencies in each learning ‘block’ and teach the absolute core elements that must be known to a student in order to move ahead with the next block. Associated competencies, applications and revisions are generally left out of the remedial or catch-up education programme. (INEE)

Scale/scaling:
Scale and the process of scaling is not linear; there are many different pathways to scale. Scale and scaling can therefore look quite different across different contexts, projects and organisations. This is particularly the case in complex and changeable humanitarian contexts. That is why there is so much to share and learn on the subject! That said – in general terms – when we talk about scale we mean the sustainable, evidence-based expansion, replication, adaptation or diversification of a project to maximise impact.

Scaling journey/journey to scale:
The scaling journey describes the series of experiences involved in taking a project to scale. We often refer to it as a ‘journey’ to reflect the non-linear, flexible and iterative nature of the scaling process.

Sustainability:
The extent to which the impact of a project can be maintained or advanced over the long-term.

Scaling strategy:
This is the plan that is put in place to map out the different steps/activities required to take a particular project to scale. 

School-aged:
Children between the ages of 5 and 18 years old.

Social and emotional learning (SEL):
The process through which children and adults understand and manage emotions, set and achieve positive goals, feel and show empathy for others, establish and maintain positive relationships, and make responsible decisions.

Project team or Innovation team:
The project or innovation team is the team that leads/implements a particular innovative solution (see innovative solution definition), including those engaged in design, monitoring and evaluation, programme management and on the ground implementation. Through our mentorship and capacity building support we support selected ‘project teams’ or ‘innovation teams’ to navigate the process of bringing their innovative solution to scale.

Replication:
Taking the structure, systems and processes or set of core principles of an innovation, project or organisation to other geographic areas. Replication can be within or outside an organisation. (HIF)

Replicability:
The extent to which replication (see above) is possible. 

Uptake:
General term for the ownership/‘taking up’ of either an innovative solution in its entirety or key evidence, concepts and/or approaches of that solution by another entity – including through replication, adaptation or adoption (see above definitions).