Set Them Free

The most effective and efficient way of shackling young crisis-affected girls and boys for life is to deprive them of quality education. Instead of financial empowerment and productivity, these girls and boys will be chained to aid dependency and a life in destitution. Without an education, they lose their last hope for a future. They will not be equipped to contribute to recovery and rebuilding their countries. The consequences will be severe on their lives, their nations and the world at large.

Education fuels economic growth and reduces long-term costs. Cutting education funding may seem like a short-term budgetary solution. However, education is lifesaving and the only way out of aid dependency.
Cutting education leads to higher long-term costs. If we do not reduce the number of children who leave school earlier than planned by just 1 percentage point, this will eventually end up at about US$230 billion in social costs. On the other hand, if we reduce leaving school prematurely by 1 percentage point, the global lifetime private benefit is about US$5 trillion, the global lifetime fiscal benefit is over US$800 billion and the global lifetime social benefit is about US$4.6 trillion.

Investing in education reduces crime and violence. Lack of education is directly linked to higher crime rates. Without an education, children face recruitment into armed groups, forced labour and sexual exploitation. Without an education, they lose economic opportunities. Their only way to break free is to leave their homelands to seek a better life elsewhere. By providing them with a quality education amidst their crisis, we set them free to become productive contributors to rebuilding their societies, nations and global economy.

234 million children and adolescents are today unwillingly tied down to extreme poverty and extreme humanitarian crises in Afghanistan, DRC, Gaza, Haiti, Sudan, Ukraine and across the sub-Saharan Africa, just to mention a few. We can free them now. Education is lifesaving and, since crises are protracted, we can save generations from irreversible losses. 

We currently face a massive shortfall in humanitarian funding for education that will impact our ability to respond to the world’s most severe crises. This will have ripple effects across the globe. According to the United Nations, new projections indicate that overall foreign aid will drop to a record low this year. We cannot afford to cut international aid. Even less can we afford to cut aid for education to girls and boys in humanitarian contexts.

Education Cannot Wait is a proven model comprising rigorous financial oversight, measurable impact, and cost-effective means to deliver quality education results in emergencies and protracted crises. Working with all our partners, ECW does it with speed, agility, transparency and trust. In just a few short years, we have reached over 11 million crisis-affected girls and boys living in the world’s toughest contexts.

As highlighted in this month’s high-level interview with Dr. Ramiz Alakbarov, UN Resident Coordinator and Humanitarian Coordinator in Ethiopia, “the work of Education Cannot Wait plays a pivotal role in providing education to children living in emergencies. Investing in education is an investment in resilience, peace, stability and long-term economic development.”

For every dollar we invest in education, we see an exponential return on investment. These investments cut across sectors, open-up new economies, support lifesaving humanitarian actions, and foster stability and security across the globe.

With these realities in mind, we urgently call on our strategic donor partners, the private sector, high-net-worth individuals and individuals everywhere to set free 234 million children and adolescents in humanitarian contexts.
Abnormal problems require extraordinary solutions. Whatever the budgetary constraints might appear to be – these can be overcome. In the final analysis, real freedom only appears when we set others free.