Community Volunteerism and Education Continuity During Health Emergencies

COVID-19 pandemic illuminated the existence of non-formal community-based volunteering (NCV) across countries. NCV during the COVID-19 lockdown was, however, mainly in health and welfare causes since previous studies showed it improved citizens’ health care and awareness in health emergencies (e.g., Ebola) in Africa. Educational needs were underemphasized and mainly managed by formal organizations; and their services are usually not enough. NCV, being substantial in Africa, could be leveraged on to meet children’s educational needs during emergencies. To effectively utilize NCV to maintain access to education in emergencies (EiE), we need to understand its constraints. Hence, this paper adopts an autoethnographic method to highlight the lessons learned, from an NCV in EiE initiative during the health pandemic lockdown in Nigeria, about the constraints and possibilities of NCV in EiE. The volunteers were two education graduates and the targeted beneficiaries were COVID19-induced out-of-school children (ages 6-14) from low-income backgrounds. Important lessons for health (post)pandemic education policies, practices and preparedness emerged from NCV in EiE encountered constraints, including curriculum, legal, security, and political challenges. Given the findings, the study proposes institutionalizing NCV in EiE and ways of the institutionalization to enable increased access to education of vulnerable children.