In the News

An innovative program in Ethiopia is keeping girls like 14-year-old Mellion in school by providing a high-energy biscuit when they need it most. The First Emergency Response, delivered by UNICEF with funding from Education Cannot Wait, is providing new hope to girls and boys impacted by the crisis in Tigray and beyond.

Around 1,000 adolescents and young people affected by the armed conflict receive modular skills training thanks to Education Cannot Wait and UNICEF.

This modular training project for adolescents and young people affected by the armed conflict was conceived by UNICEF with funds allocated by  Education Cannot Wait (ECW) fund, and implemented in the field by local NGOs such as Children Believe and the Centre Diocésain de Communication (CDC). It covers the Nord and Centre Nord regions.  Groups of 40 to 50 students per centre are offered a package of three training courses. The courses cover sewing, mechanics, renewable energy, tiling, poultry farming, juice production, hairdressing, and Amadé's favorite, sheep farming. At the end of their three months' training, the best students will be lucky enough to receive a start-up kit. As for Amadé, he's hoping to be provided with sheep, so that he can launch his cattle-breeding project.

The educational rights and development of the next generation are at serious risk from the crises due to COVID-19 and then the 2021 coup according to a World Bank report.

The report indicates that from 2020 -2022, public schools in Myanmar were closed for a total of 532 days, marking the longest among countries in the East Asia and Pacific region. As a result, the majority of children in Myanmar lost over three and a half years of educational opportunities.

Education Cannot Wait (ECW) also made an announcement at the beginning of this year, stating that the consequences of the armed conflict resulting from the coup have deprived 17 million children in Myanmar of their right to education.

The United Nations is continuously working to meet the educational needs of the millions of children who do not currently receive the benefits of education. Most of these children cannot attend school due to a lack of qualified teachers, inadequate teaching materials and poor sanitation. These obstacles are magnified when a nation faces further turmoil. The Education Cannot Wait (ECW) program provides education to children in the most uncertain times of emergencies and protracted crises. Here are three examples of how the ECW provides education despite conflict, climate disasters and epidemics. 

"The United Kingdom is a member and largest bilateral donor to the Global Partnership for Education and Education Cannot Wait initiatives," he said.

"Through these initiatives, the United Kingdom has made significant contributions to promoting access and quality of education in Kenya. This has been the case, especially for marginalised learners in rural and economically disadvantaged regions."

Including refugee children in the education system of their host country is the most practical and sustainable way of turning this around.  Access to existing schools provides refugees with accredited and certified learning opportunities that can be monitored for quality and with the right support, it can offer a route to improve the national system for host community children as well.

In cases where the inclusion of refugees in the national education system isn’t possible, the international community still has an obligation to act and make alternative arrangements, through mechanisms such as Education Cannot Wait.

Education in Armed Conflict: Protection, Prevention, and Access
Armed conflict often has a devastating impact on children’s access to education in a variety of ways. In numerous conflicts, schools are attacked, looted, and used for military purposes. This side event, organized by Watchlist on Children and Armed Conflict, the Global Coalition to Protect Education from Attack (GCPEA), and the Permanent Missions of Luxembourg, Japan, and Malta, aimed to: 1) identify challenges related to the protection and provision of education in conflict settings; 2) discuss measures that should be taken to protect education from attack and ensure children’s free, equal, and safe access to education in armed conflict; 3) share practical measures and good practices that can be replicated across the globe to better protect and provide education in conflict affected areas; and 4) strengthen intersectional gender analysis of the interlinkages between attacks on schools and other grave violations against children.

Co-sponsors: Child Fund Alliance, Colombia, Committee on the Rights of the Child, Education Cannot Wait (ECW), European Union, France, Geneva Call, Global Coalition to Protect Education from Attack (GCPEA), Japan, Luxembourg, Malta, Norway, OSRSG-CAAC, Plan International, Philippines, Save the Children, Switzerland, UNESCO, UNICEF, Watchlist on Children and Armed Conflict

Pendant des décennies, le système éducatif soudanais a souffert d’un sous-financement et d’un manque de formation des enseignants, ainsi que de l’ingérence politique du gouvernement du dictateur Omar Hassan al-Bashir. Mais les espoirs que beaucoup avaient de voir les conditions s’améliorer après son éviction en 2019 ont été rapidement déçus. Les crises politiques persistantes et la crise économique ont contraint les étudiants à se retrouver entassés dans des salles de classe surpeuplées et les enseignants à se mettre en grève en raison des salaires impayés et des mauvaises conditions de travail.

Les groupes humanitaires et les agences des Nations Unies affirment qu’ils intensifient leurs efforts pour garantir que l’accès à l’éducation se fasse de pair avec la réponse humanitaire. Certains élèves soudanais ont pu entrer dans les écoles primaires et secondaires de pays d’accueil comme l’Égypte et le Soudan du Sud. Le Rwanda a accueilli 200 étudiants en médecine soudanais. Education Cannot Wait, un fonds des Nations Unies dédié aux urgences éducatives, a annoncé une subvention de 5 millions de dollars pour soutenir les filles et les garçons vulnérables d’âge scolaire.

Aid groups and U.N. agencies say they are ramping up efforts to ensure that access to education is done hand-in-hand with the humanitarian response. Some Sudanese students have been able to enter primary and secondary schools in host countries like Egypt and South Sudan. Rwanda has taken in 200 Sudanese medical students. Education Cannot Wait, a U.N. fund dedicated to educational emergencies, has announced a $5 million grant to support vulnerable school-aged girls and boys.

Aid groups and U.N. agencies say they are ramping up efforts to ensure that access to education is done hand-in-hand with the humanitarian response. Some Sudanese students have been able to enter primary and secondary schools in host countries like Egypt and South Sudan. Rwanda has taken in 200 Sudanese medical students. Education Cannot Wait, a U.N. fund dedicated to educational emergencies, has announced a $5 million grant to support vulnerable school-aged girls and boys.

Norway’s engagement in South Sudan with FCDO spans over two decades through various collaborations. One of the joint collaborations, the BSF (Basic Services Fund) was cited as an example of a best practice. The BSF prioritized support to basic services amongst which education was also one of the key priorities. To date, the fund is widely considered to have been one of the most effective pooled funds in South Sudan. Under GESS we once again have an opportunity for a great collaboration.

Norway supports education on all fronts—including the Global Partnership for Education and Education Cannot Wait programmes which are providing much-needed education for children across the world including in conflict situations in South Sudan.

Today, as we commemorate United Nations Day, we must stand up for 1.1 million Palestinian children in Gaza who acutely need us and we must support all the national and international staff in UNRWA, UNICEF, WFP, UNHCR and WHO, and other aid organizations, living and working amongst them as I write this.

Education Cannot Wait has invested in 44 lower-income, crisis-affected countries across the globe. These are countries who cannot manage the needs alone. ECW has already reached 9 million children and adolescents with quality education. We have done so based on the imperatives of humanity and impartiality – without discrimination as to race, ethnicity, gender or religion. We have done so with an absolute commitment to the UN Charter, just like all our colleagues in the UN system and its civil society partners.