The UK government has announced an £80 million contribution to Education Cannot Wait (ECW), the United Nations global fund for education in emergencies and protracted crises, to help provide education for twenty million children living in humanitarian crises around the world. The funding will be distributed over the next four years and will aim to offer children education during extreme weather events, conflicts, and pandemics.
ECW has provided multi-year support to over 30 crisis-affected countries since its inception in 2017, and has trained 87,000 teachers and reached 7 million children and adolescents, 48% of whom were girls. The fund has recently announced $7 million in funding to provide vital support for vulnerable children and young people in response to the deadly earthquake in Turkey and Syria.
The UK is a co-founding member of ECW, and the £80 million contribution reflects the UK’s commitment to prioritizing education in emergencies, particularly for girls and the most vulnerable. The UK government is investing in other partners to ensure that expert education support can be quickly mobilized in the event of a crisis, such as responding to the devastating earthquakes in Turkey and Syria.
Andrew Mitchell, who made the announcement at a financing conference for ECW in Geneva, said that educating children and young people affected by crises is one of the biggest challenges that the world faces, from Russia’s illegal invasion of Ukraine to the recent devastating earthquake in Turkey and Syria. He added that the UK is renewing its commitment to education in emergencies because it refuses to give up on the 222 million children and adolescents affected by the horrors of war, disaster, and displacement and that education can provide a lifeline through to a better future.
A recent study by ECW has found that, in comparison to those in countries not affected by conflict, children in fragile and conflict-affected countries are more than twice as likely to be out of school and that 222 million children affected by crises require educational support. Yasmine Sherif, Executive Director of Education Cannot Wait, called the UK’s pledge a crucial step towards making good on the global promise to deliver on the Sustainable Development Goals in armed conflicts, climate disasters, and forced displacement, and an investment in building a better world for generations to come.
Source: GovDot]UK
