Education Cannot Wait Announces US$91.7 Million in Catalytic Grant Funding for New Multi-Year Education Responses

14 January 2022, New York – Education Cannot Wait (ECW) recently announced a total of US$91.7 million in catalytic grant financing for new and expanded Multi-Year Resilience Programmes in Bangladesh, Burundi, Lebanon, Libya, Pakistan and Sudan. All but Bangladesh are new multi-year investments, accelerating ECW’s growing expansion into countries impacted by protracted crises. These new multi-year investments announcements add to the multi-year catalytic grant announced earlier in 2021 for Iraq.

Across all countries, the catalytic grants aim to reach over 900,000 vulnerable children and adolescents, of whom 58% are girls. Half of the children and adolescents targeted are refugees or internally displaced; and, 13% are children with disabilities.

The grants aim to leverage an additional US$250 million worth of public and private donors’ funding aligned to the multi-year programmes in these countries to reach a total 3.3 million crisis-affected children.

In all, ECW – the United Nations global fund for education in emergencies and protracted crises – now supports Multi-Year Resilience Programmes (MYRPs) in 24 countries and First Emergency Response (FERs) in 35 countries. Thus far, a total of 42 emergency and protracted crisis countries have benefitted from ECW emergency education investments. ECW has mobilized US$845 million since Fund’s inception and leveraged an additional US$1 billion through ECW-supported Multi-Year Resilience Programmes.

“Today we mark a milestone in our global efforts to provide every crisis-affected girl and boy with their inherent human right to quality, inclusive learning opportunities. With additional support through our strategic donors, UN agencies and civil society partners, we have the capacity to bring ECW’s investments to scale and reach millions more children and adolescents impacted by conflict, climate change, forced displacement, COVID-19, protracted crises and emergencies with the safety, hope and power of education. This is our global commitment to reach the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030, and we call on global leaders today to step up and urgently fund ECW and our partners with US$1 billion in additional resources,” said Yasmine Sherif, Director of Education Cannot Wait.

With this expanded funding, the breakout global fund has already reached close to 5 million children. The Fund’s COVID-19 education in emergency response has reached an additional 29.2 million children with life-saving access to remote learning, health bulletins, water and sanitation facilities and other measures that are keeping students learning and preventing the spread of COVID-19.

Bangladesh: ECW’s US$13.2 million catalytic grant in Bangladesh will reach 130,000 Rohingya refugee and Bangladeshi host community children and adolescents, providing a mechanism to align additional funding and scale-up the education in emergency response in Bangladesh. Fully funded, the scaled-up programme will reach over 350,000 refugee and host-community children and adolescents impacted by COVID-19 and the Rohingya refugee crisis. Learn More.

Burundi: The US$12 million catalytic grant in Burundi will reach approximately 130,000 girls and boys. The three-year programme seeks to mobilize an additional US$18 million from public and private donors. Fully funded, the programme will reach more than 300,000 children and adolescents impacted by the interconnected crises of COVID-19, climate change and conflict. Learn More.

Lebanon: With US$12 million in catalytic grant investments in Lebanon, ECW and partners will reach approximately 233,000 girls and boys and Lebanon. The fully funded programme seeks to leverage an additional US$38 million to reach a total of 875,000 vulnerable children and adolescents. Learn More.

Libya: ECW announced US$11.1 million in catalytic grant financing in Libya to reach 110,000 crisis-affected children and adolescents with holistic education solutions. ECW and partners are calling for US$18.9 million in additional resources to fully fund the programme. Learn More.

Pakistan: Approximately 22.8 million children are out of school in Pakistan. ECW’s new US$13.2 million catalytic grant will reach 155,000 children and adolescents. With US$46.8 million in additional resources, the programme will ensure improved access to quality education for the most vulnerable out-of-school girls and boys, including many Afghan refugees and other children affected by crisis. Learn More.

Sudan: ECW’s US$17.7 million catalytic grant in Sudan will support access to quality life-sustaining education programmes for at least 100,000 displaced, conflict affected and vulnerable children and adolescents. The programme seeks to mobilize an additional US$60 million. Learn More.

Iraq: In addition to these new multi-year investments, ECW also announced recently a US$12.5 million multi-year catalytic seed-funding grant to support universal and equitable education for 192,100 vulnerable girls and boys in Iraq – with a focus on forcibly displaced children and youth impacted by years of war and conflict. Learn More.

Yemen: In addition to the above Multi-Year Resilience Programmes, ECW also announced new funding for a First Emergency Response Grant in Yemen. The US$1.7 million grant will support the rehabilitation of learning centres and water and sanitation facilities, provide psycho-social support to children and increase access to education materials. Learn more.