The latest evaluation of the Global English Language (GEL) Programme offers a timely reminder that international education is about far more than recruitment targets, visa settings and export earnings. At its best, education can rebuild lives, restore confidence and reconnect communities fractured by conflict.
A new report from Cambridge University Press & Assessment and Jesuit Worldwide Learning (JWL), Language as a Tool to Recover and Rebuild: The Impact of the Global English Language (GEL) Programme in Iraq and Kenya, reveals the profound role English language education can play in communities affected by war, displacement and marginalisation.
The findings are striking. Across Iraq and Kenya, 90 per cent of participants said learning English through the GEL programme had improved their lives, while 81 per cent believed it had given them opportunities to improve the lives of others in their communities. Ninety per cent reported increased confidence interacting with others in English, and 72 per cent said the courses had improved their employment prospects or professional development.
Since launching in 2017, the programme has reached more than 32,000 learners across over 30 countries, with around 65 per cent of participants being women. It operates in some of the world’s most challenging environments, serving forcibly displaced people, returnees and marginalised communities through locally run learning centres.
The evaluation focused specifically on learners in Iraq and Kenya. In Iraq, many participants were Yazidi returnees rebuilding their lives after the atrocities committed by the Islamic State. In Kenya, learners included refugees from neighbouring countries living in Kakuma Refugee Camp, Kalobeyei settlement and Nairobi.
While the report confirms that English improves access to employment and education, its most compelling insight is that language learning also serves as a mechanism for healing.
For many Yazidi learners in Iraq, the classroom became a place to reclaim agency after years of trauma and exclusion.
“Learning English with GEL has given me the opportunity to improve my life by enhancing my communication skills, building my confidence, and opening doors to more educational and professional opportunities,” one student said. “It has also helped me connect with people from different cultures, participate in global discussions, and express my ideas clearly.”
Some students travelled extraordinary distances to attend classes, walking kilometres through intense summer heat and hitching rides simply to reach the learning centre.
“I had to walk about 3 kilometres in the summer heat every day to reach the highway that leads to the centre of Sinjar,” one participant recalled. “For me, it was worth it, and I would do it again if I had a chance.”
These stories challenge the often transactional way English language education is discussed. In many developed countries, English proficiency is framed primarily as a pathway to university admission or employment. Yet for learners emerging from conflict, language becomes something deeper: a means of restoring identity and participation.
The report highlights how learning together helped rebuild trust between individuals from different ethnic and religious backgrounds.
“In the beginning, I felt uncomfortable because I didn’t know my classmates,” one Iraqi student said. “I didn’t want to share my life with them but now we are like a family.”
Perhaps most powerfully, English gave Yazidi learners the ability to tell their own stories to the world.
“ISIS committed genocide against the Yazidi people in Sinjar,” one student explained. “Before the course, I wasn’t able to explain this. I would like to let people from outside know what happened here.”
In Kenya, English was similarly viewed as more than an academic subject. Participants described it as a practical tool for coexistence among refugee populations speaking multiple languages.
“In 2016, we experienced conflict in the camp. And the main source of it was the language barrier,” one student said. “So, we decided to have this initiative to build the community together, to teach people some basic English skills.”
Facilitators also observed that classrooms became informal support networks where learners shared experiences of trauma and recovery.
“People have been traumatised in the countries where they came from,” a Kenyan facilitator said. “I believe education is a way to manage some of these traumas.”
Another important theme emerging from the report is the multiplier effect of education. Learners frequently used their English skills to support others by translating documents, helping community members prepare CVs and guiding young people through applications for education opportunities.
“English has become a bridge that connects us to the world,” one Kenyan participant noted.
For the international education sector, these findings arrive at an important moment. As policymakers debate caps, migration settings and economic contribution, the report serves as a reminder that education’s value cannot always be measured in export dollars.
Language education creates employability. But it can also foster social cohesion, rebuild confidence after conflict, amplify marginalised voices and restore hope where opportunity has been scarce.
The evaluation did identify areas for improvement. Female learners in Kenya, despite accounting for 51 per cent of enrolments between 2019 and 2024, were only half as likely as men to complete three GEL courses, reflecting the influence of traditional gender roles and other barriers to participation. In response, JWL has strengthened support mechanisms and expanded delivery into high schools to engage female learners earlier.
Ultimately, the report reinforces a simple but powerful truth. Education is not merely preparation for life; in communities recovering from displacement and violence, it can be part of the recovery itself.
For international educators accustomed to discussing student outcomes in terms of grades, graduate salaries and rankings, the GEL programme offers a broader perspective. Sometimes the most important outcome of learning English is not simply securing a job or passing an exam.
Sometimes it is finding the confidence to speak again.
