This report, published in 2013 by the World Bank in collaboration with the International Rescue Committee, draws connections between Social and Emotional Learning and supporting the development of resilience and well-being of children in contexts of violence and conflict.

It proposes that educational systems and schools that incorporate SEL can help to develop protective factors in children, and help mitigate the risks to their healthy development posed by continued exposure to conflict and violence. Several reasons are given, such as provision of knowledge skills and attitudes that help children to cope and heal from violence and suffering, teaching the skills for engaging peacefully and effectively with others in contexts of conflict, helping students to focus on learning in challenging situations. Examples of how SEL can be operationalized in schools and education systems in conflict and crisis-affected areas are also provided. One example is the International Rescue Committee’s (IRC) Healing Classrooms (2013), a program that supports teachers in creating “healing” learning spaces in which children can recover and grow.