Digital education for peacebuilding in post-conflict contexts: A systematic review of ICT-enabled learning with insights for rebuilding Sudan, Dr Denis Musinguzi, Prof. Joseph Ntayi, James Mubangizi, Tonny Kiggundu
Dr Denis Musinguzi
School of Arts and Social Sciences (SASS)
Uganda Martyrs University
Uganda
ORCID:
Professor Joseph M. Ntayi
Faculty of Economics, Energy and Management Sciences, Makerere University Business School
Makerere University
Kampala
Uganda
ORCID:
James Mubangizi
Faculty of Economics, Energy and Management Sciences, Makerere University Business School
Makerere University
Kampala
Uganda
ORCID: 0009-0000-3471-806X
Tonny Kiggundu
Faculty of Economics, Energy and Management Sciences
Makerere University Business School
Makerere University
Kampala
Uganda
ORCID:
Background: This systematic literature review examines ICT-enabled education for peacebuilding in post-conflict contexts, offering insights for Sudan’s education rebuilding.
Methods: Using SPIDER criteria and PRISMA guidelines, 49 peer-reviewed studies were selected via systematic searches of Scopus and Web of Science and databases of grey literature.
Results: Results showed a diverse set of ICTs—mobile learning, offline digital tools, blended models, and peace education platforms—deployed in a variety of conflict environments. Recorded impacts included better access to learning and continuity of education, increased social cohesion, leadership strengthening, and recovery from trauma. Enabling factors such as institutional readiness, cultural adaptation, teacher capacity, and community engagement, and barriers such as limited connectivity, funding fragility, and gender differences are highlighted. Twelve key lessons were identified to guide Sudan’s education recovery strategy.
Conclusion: ICT can support educational recovery and peacebuilding, but success in Sudan depends on strategic integration, local ownership, inclusive design, policy alignment, and longitudinal, multi-sectoral evaluation to ensure sustainable impact.
Keywords: Digital Education; ICT Intervention; Post-Conflict Reconstruction; Educational Continuity; Peace Building; SPIDER Framework; Fragile States; Teacher Education; Mobile Learning; Offline Solution; Education Equity.