15th May 2025
How can academic research shape humanitarian education and action?
This is the question at the heart of today’s insightful discussion between two Education in Emergencies (EiE) colleagues from Save the Children International.
Casey Pearson (EiE Technical Learning Specialist) sits down with Rafka Daoud (EiE Professional Development Programme Manager) to explore the critical connections between education, training and research, drawing on insights from Rafka’s recent doctoral research in Lebanon.
Rafka shares her journey of researching higher education reform in Lebanese private universities, offering a unique perspective on how academic inquiry can inform and reshape real-world practice.
From the challenges of balancing a full-time role with a doctorate to the broader implications of her findings for both education and humanitarian sectors, this conversation highlights how research can act as a catalyst to drive meaningful change.
💬 “The core principle of quality assurance is setting standards – whether it’s in the humanitarian sector or in the higher education sector – ensuring accountability between what is set and how it should be implemented, monitoring the impact, promoting continuous improvement. I can see that the quality assurance can have a vital role in the humanitarian sector.” – Rafka Daoud
💬 “I think it highlights to me personally how important it is to bridge the gap between people working in the sector who are facing the realities with those in the academic world, because it’s the people who are living and working in these contexts who have these experience which make them experts in what’s missing in the research, the literature and the policy.” – Casey Pearson
This episode is a must-listen for research practitioners and advocates in the humanitarian and development space.
Keywords: Education in Emergencies, quality assurance in education, research in humanitarian education, Lebanese Universities, crisis-affected contexts, Total Quality Management, capacity building, INEE Minimum Standards, humanitarian programming, education sector accountability, humanitarian training systems, education for sustainable development, SDG4, evidence-based advocacy, locally owned systems.
About the speakers
Rafka Daoud, EiE Professional Development Programme Regional Manager for the MENA Region, Save the Children International
Rafka Daoud is a seasoned education professional with extensive expertise in social and emotional learning (SEL), quality assurance in higher education, and humanitarian capacity-building topics, including Education in Emergencies (EiE) and NGO project management. She holds a Doctor of Education (EdD) from Liverpool University and a master’s degree in business, combining educational and managerial expertise to address complex challenges in the sector.
Rafka has teaching experience and has worked in various higher education institutions across Lebanon and the MENA region. Her strong research background includes a focus on improving teaching and learning processes, with a particular emphasis on integrating Total Quality Management (TQM) principles to enhance educational outcomes. Her doctoral research explored innovative strategies to foster continuous improvement in higher education, providing valuable insights into institutional development.
Rafka serves as the Regional Manager for Education in Emergencies (EiE) in the MENA region. In this role, she oversees impactful capacity-building programs, such as EiE Fundamentals and the Certificate of Advanced Studies developed in partnership with Geneva University. She has a proven track record of designing and implementing large-scale educational initiatives, collaborating with NGOs, and liaising with government officials to drive educational reforms. Rafka is based in Lebanon.
Casey Pearson, Technical Learning Solutions Specialist, EiE PDP Lead, Save the Children International
Casey Pearson holds more than a decade’s experience in education and professional development across national and international contexts. She is a qualified teacher with a first class honours degree in Education, and a distinction in MSc Humanitarianism, Aid and Conflict. Since starting her career as a teacher in the UK, Casey transitioned into Education in Emergencies (EiE) and has worked for a range of NGOs in a range of contexts. Casey is based in the UK.
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Links to further information
Daoud, Rafka (2025) An exploration of how Lebanese private universities are attempting to improve teaching and learning in the absence of a national quality assurance agency. Doctor of Education thesis, University of Liverpool.
Education in Emergencies (EiE) Professional Development Programme information on the HLA website*
*The EiE CAS programme was created and delivered by the HLA in partnership with Save the Children UK. From the 2025-26 cycle, the programme will be delivered by Save the Children International. This transition will not affect the programme for existing or new students.
Episode transcript
[Intro music]
[Voiceover]
Welcome to Fresh Humanitarian Perspectives, the podcast brought to you by the Humanitarian Leadership Academy.
Today we’re exploring the critical role of research in humanitarian education. I’m Casey Pearson, Education in Emergencies Technical Learning Specialist with Save the Children International. And I was delighted to sit down with my colleague Rafka Daoud, who is the Education in Emergencies Professional Development Programme Manager for the Middle East and North Africa Region who is currently based in Lebanon to discuss with her her research.
Rafka brings a wealth of experience from the Education in Emergencies sector, and her fresh doctoral research shines a light on how universities in Lebanon are working to improve teaching and learning in the absence of a national quality assurance system.
We talk about what this means for crisis-affected contexts, and how quality assurance isn’t just a technical process – it’s also a powerful advocacy tool for improving education outcomes and accountability across the humanitarian response. I hope you enjoy the conversation.
[Music ends]
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Casey: Welcome to the podcast, Rafka. Let’s start with some introductions. Could you tell our listeners a little bit about yourself and the role in the humanitarian education space.
Rafka: Good morning. My name is Rafka Daoud. I’m Lebanese. I currently serve as the Regional Manager for Education in Emergencies in the MENA region. I have worked in education and humanitarian context for over a decade – more than 15 years now – both in the field and in regional level and technical level.
My work spans from youth programme to teacher training, quality assurance, stakeholder engagement. Alongside my professional experience or my professional journey, I recently completed a Doctorate of Education degree from the University of Liverpool in the UK, focusing on higher education reform in Lebanon, particularly in private universities, and how they improve teaching and learning in the absence of national quality assurance agency.
Casey: Great thanks. Glad to have you on here and hear about your experience. So, as you mentioned, you’ve got your full-time job as well as pursuing your doctorate that you just mentioned. And we’ll talk about in a lot more detail throughout the podcast.
But what motivated you to take this step – was there any defining moment that you thought ‘Oh, this would be interesting. I really need to do this research’.
Rafka: Well, yes, honestly, the idea of a doctorate research had been in my mind for years, but what really pushed me to pursue my doctorate degree with Liverpool University was a moment during a regional training in Beirut on the higher education sector, where I saw how disconnected policy level reform in education were from what was happening in universities and school. At that time I was working in close collaboration with the Ministry of Education and Higher Education. So I had these weekly meetings with representative and high-level employee in the Ministry of Education, and I felt that there is some disconnection between the national, on the national policy level related to quality assurance and the auditing sector with the higher education or the universities in Lebanon.
So I kept thinking, what can we do to have more grounded research from our region by practitioners who understand the context? So here it was the shift from maybe curiosity to more academic conviction. I wanted to contribute to that body of knowledge, and not just for academia, but to influence practice, and to come up with professional solution.
To answer your second question about how I balanced my full-time work. Yeah, it was a very tough and difficult to balance between full-time job for the past five years and doctorate research. But I felt that the two commitments fed into each other. My work in the humanitarian sector, if I want to say, sharpened my research questions, and the research gave me deeper insight into systematic issues, especially that my work was in the MENA region, and Lebanon was one of this country that I worked in.
Casey: Super interesting. It makes a lot of sense bringing those two fields together, especially when you’re seeing the problem firsthand.
I’m sure there’s lots of findings throughout your research, but could you maybe share what some of your kind of key takeaways, key findings were?
Rafka: Yes, for sure. First, my thesis investigates how Lebanese private universities are enhancing teaching and learning in the absence of national quality assurance agency, as I mentioned before, that there is some gaps between the national policy, the institutional level and also on the teaching level.
So one of the key finding in my research is that internal quality assurance mechanism, when supported by internal committee or committed leadership and a culture of continuous improvement, can play a pivotal role in advancing educational quality – even in a fragmented policy environment, where we do not have this kind of collaboration or coordination between the national policy level, the university level or the institution level and the teaching level.
So if we have this kind of internal quality assurance mechanism implemented and developed by the institution itself, along with a culture of continuous improvement with a committed leadership, we can say that there is some improvement on educational quality.
Also, I found that several universities in Lebanon private universities I’m talking are developing their own contact specific internal quality assurance system that are aligned with global quality standards such as Total Quality Management to address gaps in teaching and learning.
However, many institutions are still struggling with inconsistent implementation, such as lack of student-centred pedagogies in many faculties based on the interview that I did, based on the data collection that I did, I found out that most of the teachers are still using the traditional pedagogies.
And maybe because there is some limited investment in faculty development.
And also my research or the finding highlighted the tension between market driven strategies and the core educational mission. Maybe this was flagged because some universities prioritised enrolment targets over learning outcomes, enrolment targets over student retention.
So the gaps that I aim to address in my research was the policy level, how the absence of national equality assurance framework leave institution without consistent benchmarks or external accountability. Also on the practice level, how this impacted maybe the limited professional development for faculty on effective teaching method and assessment practices.
And on literature level, I wanted to elaborate more because there is few empirical studies that have explored how universities in Lebanon approach internal quality, assurance for teaching and learning improvements, especially in the context of political instability and regulatory framework.
To summarise or to wrap up, I can say that my work or my research and my thesis calls for a stronger institutional commitment to quality cultures, even in the institution itself, more inclusive governance and quality assurance processes and national efforts to establish a robust or a strong and context-based relevant quality assurance agency.
Casey: Fascinating. Thanks Rafka. Yeah, it sounds like some kind of a really clear advocacy point that you’re calling for, particularly on establishing those national quality assurance agencies.
I wonder, this kind of concept of having quality assurance could be applied to other sectors outside of kind of universities like humanitarian programming or training systems. Could you see that the need for a quality assurance process to be applied in these settings? And yeah, what would your kind of thoughts be around that.
Rafka: Yeah, to answer your question. Yes, I can say that the concept of national quality assurance agency should be explored in other sectors, not only in the higher education sector, maybe including the humanitarian programming and training system, especially that I work in this field, I work as a professional development programme manager or technical manager in the humanitarian sector.
And if I want to link it to the quality assurance concept, I can say that the core principle of quality assurance is to setting standards – whether it’s in the humanitarian sector or in the higher education sector, ensuring accountability between what is set and how it should be implemented monitoring the impact, promoting continuous improvement. So I can see that the quality assurance can have a vital role in the humanitarian sector in aiming to reach a good quality, a good standard and sustainability. Because we all know that in the humanitarian sector we have this kind of project cycle where we do monitoring, evaluation where we do project planning implementation. And throughout the whole implementation we do this monitoring evaluation that is based on quality assurance.
If I want to link it also to the humanitarian sector or the humanitarian programming, specifically in the education in emergencies, I can say that quality assurance mechanism could be aligned with international standards, such as those set by the INEE, the Interagency Network for Education in Emergencies, which could maybe enhance the coherence and effectiveness of educational response, and especially across the region and across the country, and all the organisation working in the same country, in the same department or the same sector.
If I want to emphasise maybe the education on the education level. So the INEE Minimum Standards provide a widely endorsed framework related to education programme and how it can be implemented. So a national quality assurance agency maybe could make it more localised, context-based and align these international standards to national standard and ensure that they are systematically applied and monitored across emergency and in crisis context.
Also, if I want to think about training and capacity building systems, since my role also focus on quality assurance in the capacity building programme, I can say that the quality assurance can give us as technical staff competency based, teacher framework based, to ensure that our training are aligned with a quality curriculum and to promote equitable access to professional development opportunities for all national staff and local organisation. And it’s particularly relevant in Lebanon and similar context in the MENA region.
Casey: That makes a lot of sense. A lot of sense. Yeah, especially building on the INEE Minimum Standards which I know have been going under a big review at the moment. So, yes, super interesting.
Rafka: Yes, I would also like to add that the opportunity that it can help with quality assurance. The more we have quality assurance. The more we have this culture of quality and accountability in the humanitarian sector, not only in the higher education sector, and also ensure that the humanitarian and development approach, or actors are aligned in their goals that they are working in the same direction. Also, the more we have quality assurance, maybe we can promote more system-wide learning grounded in evidence and best practices, such as, for sure the INEE, and also it strengthening the beneficiary trust and ownership, the donor trust also, when the communities they can see this consistency and relevance and equity and for sure the service provided.
Casey: Totally lots of opportunities, really, really interesting reflections. I know a lot of your work and research is around kind of university level. But in education in emergencies a lot of efforts focus mostly on primary and secondary levels. From your perspective, what role does higher education play in emergency, recovery and resilience, and more of a kind of long-term development?
Rafka: Yes, for okay, most of the education in emergencies, effort or programme focus on ensuring access to primary and secondary education in the formal or non-formal setting. I can see, I can say that the higher education is often the missing link in building this sustainable recovery and resilience.
So from my own perspective and rooted in both research and field practice. So based on my study and my field work, I can say that the higher education can play a critical role and strategic role in long-term development in crisis and post-crisis context.
To give you an example in my current role, I lead a programme, the education emergencies in the MENA region. The aim of this programme is to enhance the quality of the education in emergencies program implemented in the region in the MENA region, in the Asia region, in all the regions where we work.
But to ensure that we are providing a good quality of programme to all the beneficiaries around the world, we have this kind of collaboration in partnership with Geneva University. So we have this kind of collaboration, and the Geneva University accredited our programme – the EiE Certificate of Advanced Studies.
So with the field expertise and the field experience and the theoretical background and the long-term programme that span over 9 months where our students come to attend a 9 month programme and different modules, we aim to ensure that the higher education have this critical role and strategic role in developing this long-term impact in the education in emergencies.
Also, from my own perspective, I can say that the higher education can contribute directly to recovery by developing the professional workforce needed to rebuild essential systems, such as maybe local staff working in the local organisation, teachers, public servant, humanitarian leader. So without access to higher education, the local capacity to manage recovery, effort and lead the development initiatives could remain limited.
Also, I can see that higher education fosters resilience at both individual and societal level. So for young people affected by conflict or displacement, maybe having access to knowledge and skills could be very limited. So it becomes a protective factor, especially for the most marginalised group, like refugees, youth who are at risk to maybe help them link to higher education sector.
Casey: I think you’ve covered that very comprehensively, we’ve covered a lot so far, giving both like professional development opportunities for those working in the sector, but also for those at risk in emergencies and opportunities for them to develop their own skills, as you mentioned. So yeah, really, really helpful.
And we’ve covered a lot so far, both in terms of your research and the sector more broadly, I guess. Maybe let’s think about what’s one of the key messages or takeaway you’d like to leave our listeners with, either from your research journey, the process of research, or some of the findings from it, and some of your reflections. If you could maybe summarise kind of one key message.
Rafka: Okay, before, before moving to the key message from my research and the advice and maybe the resources I have, I would like to emphasise on one point regarding the previous question that I highly advocate to invest in higher education, that it’s not a luxury. It’s more a strategic imperative for sustainable peace and development and especially that we need to align with SDG 4 policy and agenda to have this sustainable quality education around the world.
If there is, now to answer your question, so if there is one message I would like to extend or to leave to our listeners is that quality education cannot be improved or sustained, maybe without system that are both accountable and deeply rooted in local realities. In my research, based on my professional experience, the research journey, the thesis, showed me that even in the absence of national quality assurance agency, or body on the national level, on the policy level, Lebanese private universities – private, I’m saying, not public universities – they were able to innovate and improve.
And that’s why they implemented the internal quality assurance system. And this system were taken seriously, especially when leadership is committed to continuous improvement and inclusive practices. Also the absence of national coordination created this kind of fragmentation, duplication and inequalities between the Lebanese private universities.
So the key takeaway from this research is that we need stronger, locally owned system. As I said before, a national quality assurance agency that can balance the accountability with support in the Lebanese context. So, however, also we have the internal quality assurance system in the private universities, surely we need the national quality assurance agency to lead and to lead the coordination between all these private universities, and to come up with a national framework and a national standard related to the quality assurance.
Casey: Really interesting, yeah. Makes a lot of sense. And it’s a very clear call for action and very specific to the Lebanese context. Definitely. Thank you. Thank you for sharing. I guess we’ve only just started to tap into the research and some of your findings. But if people would like to learn more and kind of read the research in full, what’s the best way to hear more about your research or get in touch with you.
Rafka: Now I’m in the process to publish my research. Still, it’s not published online, however, for the candidate or the people who are interested in learning more about my research and my thesis, they can reach out to me via my Linkedin, Rafka Daoud. It can be written also. Also for all the practitioners who would like to know more about the my thesis who focus on improving, teaching and learning in the absence of national quality assurance agency. So I’m always happy to connect with researchers, practitioners, policymakers may be working on higher education, reform on quality assurance, whether in Lebanon or the Middle East region. So now maybe they can connect with me on my Linkedin page. Once my research will be published online, I can share the link or the journal.
Casey: Definitely. And we can share that in the podcast details as well. And maybe, finally, what advice would you offer to anyone thinking about balancing high level research with a full-time humanitarian or development job?
Rafka: I can say that this is a very demanding process, balancing between academic journey, profession, and professional development, and at the same time being committed with a full-time job. The most important thing is to understand yourself and to think about your motivation and your strengths.
I was able to manage this load between my work, my studies, only with the support of my family, maybe with the support also of myself having this kind of consistency about what I started, why I wanted to do my doctorate degree, I always reminded myself about my motivation and why I am doing this research.
So I took lots of break during this journey I stopped sometimes my study, I felt that I don’t want to continue my study, because this was overwhelming, to do all the work to start with the data collection. And when you start to do the data collection, you start to understand better your research and maybe everything that you had in mind, and everything you read maybe was not aligned with the data collection itself, or the data that you collected, and to engage more with the data you need to do the data analysis. And to do a data analysis, you need to forget about everything you read in the articles in the book, in the previous research.
So it was a very demanding process where you have to be very objective and not subjective. You have to be objective for the reading that you had before, and to be critically analysed, what you read and to critically analyse your data collection and to do the data analysis in a very natural way.
So to all the researcher who want to do research. So I advise them to think about their motivation, to think about what they want to reach in their studies, and it was a positive and a good opportunity for me. Now I’m done. I’m very happy. I’m looking forward for the next step to enhance my academic research background.
Casey: Thanks. Rafka, really, really interesting insights on the realities of trying to manage both those things and some great advice.
I really appreciate today’s conversation. It seems like there’s some really clear calls for action, particularly around establishing national quality assurance frameworks and systems, particularly in Lebanon, and I’m sure of a lot of that could be applicable to other national contexts.
Specifically around your points about how important it is to come from the national level, so it’s owned nationally and understood by those who will use it to hold kind of education systems accountable.
Yeah, really, really interesting reflections. So thanks for taking the time to go through that and sharing it, sharing your kind of research and insights. And I think it just highlights to me personally how important it is to bridge people working in the sector and facing the realities, actually taking that step to close the kind of academic gap because it’s the people who are living in these contexts and experiencing and have experience in these who are the experts in what’s missing in the research and in the literature and the policy. So yeah, really appreciate you sharing your reflections.Thanks so much, Rafka.
Rafka: Thank you, Casey.
[Music]
[Voiceover] Casey: I loved this conversation with Rafka. As a fellow EiE professional and researcher myself, I am excited at the richness, potential and application of this research – the thesis is linked in the show notes so you can delve into the findings. As Rafka mentioned, if this sparks any ideas for collaboration, do reach out to her on her LinkedIn, she’d love to hear from you.
As we close out today’s episode, I wanted to take this opportunity to express thanks to Rafka and also fellow EiE colleagues including Efren Lubuguin and Mathilde Lemaire. Thank you also to our wonderful former EiE PDP teammates, as well of course to students, alumni, partners and funders, especially People’s Postcode Lottery Education Trust, who are and have been part of the EiE Professional Development’s incredible success story.
Established over a decade ago by Save the Children UK and the HLA, we’ve seen the programme grow from strength to strength and we are incredibly proud of the global impact of the EiE PDP network.
But, our story doesn’t end there – this year the programme transitions to Save the Children International where we’ll continue to deliver the flagship EiE Certificate of Advanced Studies programme, accredited by the University of Geneva, alongside other capacity strengthening activities.
Education is a lifesaving intervention and is a core component of the humanitarian response. Within our new home, we’ll continue to advocate, train and amplify this work for young people and families in affected communities. You can connect with me, Casey Pearson, also on LinkedIn for potential collaborations.
Thank you for listening to today’s episode of Fresh Humanitarian Perspectives from the Humanitarian Leadership Academy.
[Music]
Note
Episode produced in May 2025 by Ka Man Parkinson.
The views and opinions expressed in our podcast are those of the speakers and do not necessarily reflect the views or positions of their organisations.