EPCC Mourns the Loss of IRC Colleagues

The Education Partnership for Children of Conflict mourns the sad and tragic loss of Jackie Kirk, whom many of us worked closely with on education and conflict issues, and was one of the four individuals working with the International Rescue Committee who were killed in an ambush in Afghanistan last week. Three colleagues, Shirley Case, who managed education programs for children with disabilities, Nicole Dial, who coordinated child protection programs, and Mohammad Aimal, who was an IRC driver, were also killed in this same tragic incident.

Jackie, working together with her colleagues at the IRC and INEE, was, for so many years, at the cutting edge of work involving education in emergencies, particularly as it related to gender issues. In that way, her efforts really paved the way for so much of the thinking and policy work being done today and that all of us will, hopefully, continue to push forward.

It is a very sad day indeed and a reminder of the remarkable commitment and sacrifice so many of our colleagues like Jackie, Shirley, Nicole, and Aimal make when they are willing to put themselves in harm's way to help children affected by conflict have a brighter future.