Rights, Capabilities, and Critical Pedagogy: Assessing Empowerment in INGO-led Non-formal Education for Refugees and Migrants in Libya

This study investigates how INGO-led NFE programmes for children and youth on the move seek to empower learners amid the complexities of mixed migration. It takes Libya as a case study, given its position as a central route to the Mediterranean and its high influx of refugees and migrants. The study proposes an integrated conceptual lens—combining the 4As rights-based framework, the capability approach, and critical pedagogy—to examine the empowering dimensions within INGO practices. Based on qualitative interviews with 12 staff from five INGOs, findings reaffirm critiques of Education in Emergencies’ short-term approach, highlighting its emphasis on provision over impact. Education’s empowering potential is found to be constrained by the absence of progressive learning pathways and the limited efforts to enhance learners’ agency.