In the News

According to the United Nations, there is a $100 billion annual financing gap to achieve the education targets in low- and lower-middle income countries outlined in the Sustainable Development Goals. A new Global Estimates Report recently issued by Education Cannot Wait (ECW) provides a stark and truly daunting portrait of the state of education in the world today.

According to ECW’s analysis, about 75 percent of school-aged children are out of school in Sudan — that's 11 million. This is a silent global emergency. According to the United Nations, without additional measures, by 2030 approximately 300 million students globally will lack basic numeracy and literacy skills. Children affected by crises are falling even further behind. Only 17 percent of crisis-affected primary school children achieve minimum reading proficiency by the end of primary school, according to the ECW report.

Working together with partners, ECW provides significant investments each year in school feeding. The most recent analysis indicates that ECW investments for quality school feeding interventions active in 2023 reached over 300,000 children across nine countries.

In Ethiopia, ECW investments reached around 100,000 children through school feeding programmes. Recognizing that poverty was a crucial factor keeping children out of school, the programme involved families and community members to manage the programme and provide in-kind contributions like building kitchen houses or providing firewood to cook the hot meals. 

In Cameroon and Haiti, ECW funding delivered by WFP is focused on local procurement from smallholder farmers. This not only ensures nutritious meals for young learners, but also strengthens the local food system and local economy. 

In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, over 39,000 students in 69 schools have received nutritious meals through an ECW-funded programme delivered by UNICEF.

Additionally, Zalmay Khalilzad, the former US Special Representative for Afghanistan Reconciliation, the European Union, and Yasmine Sherif, executive director of the UN initiative “Education Cannot Wait”, have all stressed the importance of securing the rights of women and girls in Afghanistan.

In the International Day of Women Judges, Education Cannot Wait (ECW) and Legal Action Worldwide (LAW), in partnership with the Strategic Initiative for Women in the Horn of Africa (SIHA), have launched a groundbreaking initiative aimed at empowering Sudanese refugee girls in Uganda. The programme – funded by an ECW Acceleration Facility grant of US$200,000 – will offer training in comprehensive legal education on human rights, gender equality, advocacy and more, while also supporting participants’ access to formal and non-formal education programmes, and integrating mental health and psychosocial support to help participants build emotional resilience.

This week, a new feature film titled 'Rule Breakers' highlights the stories of hope, courage and resilience of the Afghan Girls Robotics Team. In real life, ECW's Global Champion Somaya Faruqi led that team to victory in competitions around the world. Today, she has joined a long list of leading global advocates to call on leaders to listen to #AfghanGirlsVoices and call for a return to equality and equal access to quality education for all the girls and women of Afghanistan.

Baity Centers, supported by UNICEF and its partners, offer vital education, child protection, and health awareness services. Thanks to donors including Education Cannot Wait, the European Union, and the governments of Japan, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom, these centers continue to bring hope to families like Amira's, ensuring that every child has the opportunity to learn and thrive.

Baity Centers, supported by UNICEF and its partners, provide critical services to families through education, child protection, and health awareness. With the help of donors, including Education Cannot Wait, the European Union, the Governments of Japan and the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom, these centers continue to offer hope to families like Hana’s, ensuring that every child has the chance to learn and thrive.

Mrs. Museveni further praised the Education Cannot Wait ( ECW) Fund, co-founded and primarily funded by UK, for its crucial support of refugee children's education in Uganda. 

The movie, a harrowing tale and a clarion call to return Afghanistan’s girls to the safety and hope of a quality education, releases today in the United States, Canada, South Africa and Sri Lanka, and Yasmine Sherif, Director of Education Cannot Wait (ECW), the global fund for education in emergencies and protracted crises in the United Nations, says the world should use International Women’s Day to push for the ending of the ban on girls’ secondary education in Afghanistan.

Now an engineering scholarship student in the United States, Faruqi is also an Education Cannot Wait (ECW) Global Champion, spearheading the launch of ECW’s global advocacy campaign—#AfghanGirlsVoices.

The #AfghanGirlsVoices campaign uses moving illustrations by a young Afghan female artist and determined testimonies from Afghan girls to amplify the voices of those left behind demanding their right to education. As the global fund for education in emergencies and protracted crises, ECW supports and protects holistic learning outcomes.

In addition, as part of our work in Amhara, Oromia, Sidama, South Ethiopia, and South-West Ethiopia regions, until 2024 we reached over 14,000 children with school meals, supported by Education Cannot Wait, World Vision Singapore, and other partners.

It was in this context that UNICEF, in partnership with the Education Office of Bossangoa Catholic Diocese (ECAC in its French acronym), thanks to the financial support of Education Cannot Wait (ECW), launched the building of a new complex made up of three classrooms, an office and new toilets, to offer Djibalo’s 427 pupils -including 210 girls – a learning environment worthy of the name.

FCA currently implements education projects in eight oblasts, including Kharkiv, focusing on school rehabilitation, safe spaces for learning, educational reform and support for teachers and students’ mental wellbeing. Projects are funded by European Union Humanitarian Aid, Finland’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Education Cannot Wait global fund, the Canada-Ukraine Foundation and FCA’s private donors and parishes in Finland.