Results for children and youth

ECW outcomes focus on access, continuity, equity and gender equality, quality learning, and safe and protective learning environments.

Increased Access

Ensuring that crisis-affected children are provided with continuous quality learning is an essential priority area for the fund.

  • ECW multi-year investments proved highly effective in providing access to education for refugee children and youth. In Uganda, Save the Children led efforts that helped increase the gross enrolment ratio for refugee children from 53 per cent in 2017 to 75 per cent in 2019.
  • In Ethiopia, following a $15 million grant implemented by UNICEF, the primary gross enrolment ratio for refugee children rose to 67 per cent, up from 62 per cent in 2018.
  • In Yemen, ECW financed UNICEF to maintain a measure of access to education in crisis-hit communities and provided cash incentives to approximately 128,000 teachers (26 per cent women) in 12,355 schools.
  • In 17 countries where traditional classroom instruction was not an option, ECW grantees delivered education (including non-formal) in temporary learning spaces. Radio-based instruction was delivered in the Central African Republic and Niger to about 4,000 children and youth (40 per cent girls).
  • ECW investments in Cameroon, Chad, and Nigeria were designed to tackle not only barriers on provision of education services but also financial barriers faced by crisis-affected households. The comprehensive package of services provided in Chad, which also included support to income-generating activities, led to a decrease in the dropout rate from 23.7 per cent to 17.9 per cent in ECW-supported communities.

Progress Highlights

Number of teachers / administrators recruited / financially supported
2019 Actual 2018 139,071 * (27% women) 5,703 (30% women)
*This figure includes Yemen where 127,433 teachers were financially supported for seven months during 2019.
Number of classrooms (including temporary learning spaces) built or rehabilitated
2019 Actual 2018 5,675 2,798
Number of 3-18 years old children/youth benefiting from non-formal education opportunities
2019 Actual 2018 340,768 ( 46 % girls) 259,566
Number of households in ECW-supported communities receiving cash transfers for education
21,081

Greater Continuity

Ensuring children stay in school until they complete their education is a key priority for the fund and its partners.

  • In 2019, ECW reached more than 108,000 children globally with early childhood education services (50 per cent girls).
  • In Ethiopia, 12,318 forcibly displaced children (50 per cent girls) completed an accelerated school readiness programme and successfully transitioned to formal education; while in Syria, 9,203 children (51 per cent girls) who successfully completed non-formal programmes were referred to the formal system.
  • In Yemen, to reduce school dropouts across levels and cycles, ECW supported the organization of exams for about 1.8 million children (45 per cent girls) against a target of 1.2 million.

Progress Highlights

Percentage of ECW-supported programmes with increased survival, transition, or completion of crisis-affected children and youth
100%
Number of children aged 3–8 years reached with early childhood education services
2019 Actual 2018 108,330 ( 52 % girls) 78,245 (50% girls)

Equity and Gender Equality

Through this priority area, ECW and our partners are working to leave no one behind and ensure access is provided to the most vulnerable children, including girls and children with disabilities.

  • In terms of children and youth reached, MYRPs have achieved gender parity, with girls representing 50 per cent of beneficiaries. In Afghanistan, girls represent 57 per cent of beneficiaries; and girls made up 48 per cent of all beneficiaries reached in 2019 by ECW grantees across all funding windows.
  • About 45 per cent of ECW beneficiaries are forcibly displaced children – 30 per cent refugees and 15 per cent internally displaced. The remaining 55 per cent are children living in host communities or other crisis-affected children.
  • All MYRPs launched in 2019 were designed following evidence-based targeting to ensure that children and communities left furthest behind are reached. In Syria, 78 per cent of beneficiaries live in areas with “severe” or higher needs. In Chad, the MYRP targeted the five most vulnerable regions.
  • Inclusive education policies were developed in several MYRP countries. In Afghanistan, the Ministry of Education launched a National Policy on Girls’ Education to reaffirm its commitment to equitable participation of girls in education.

Progress Highlights

Percentage and number of girls out of total children and youth reached by ECW
2019 Actual 2018 1.2 million 48 % 0.4 million 49%
Percentage of women among teachers / administrators trained
2018 44% 44 % 2019 Actual
Number of children and youth with disabilities reached with ECW support (since the Fund's inception)
23,600

Improved Learning and Skills

Improving learning outcomes, skills, and the well-being of children and youth are the ultimate objectives within the ECW results framework.

  • Both FER and MYRP investments are increasingly showing positive improvements in academic learning outcomes, particularly across non-formal education programmes.
  • ECW actively promotes a ‘whole-of-child’ approach in which learning spaces receive support that address a wide variety of learning, teaching, organization, and safety needs. The approach is necessary as conflict-affected children and youth often do not possess the previous schooling experience and/or mental readiness for learning in emergency settings.
  • Teachers play a pivotal role in creating a positive learning environment and facilitating learning. ECW grantees have trained more than 41,000 teachers and education personnel (46 per cent women) since 2017 in subjects such as gender-responsive pedagogy and assessment, subject knowledge and planning, emergency preparedness, health and hygiene, inclusive education practices, as well as psychosocial support.

Progress Highlights

Number of children aged 3–18 reached with individual learning materials
2019 Actual 2018 1,811,383 ( 48 % girls) 726,610
Number of teachers / administrators trained
2019 Actual 2018 29,272 ( 44 % women) 20,047 (44% women)
Number of classrooms supported with materials to enhance the learning environment
2019 Actual 2018 19,097 11,408

Safe and Protective Learning

ECW and its partners are working to ensure schools and learning spaces offer a safe, protective and healing environment to crisis-affected children

  • For many children and youth, the journey to and from school exposes them to risk, gender-based violence, and recruitment into armed groups. In 2019, ECW funded programmes that provided 4,175 girls and boys with safe transportation to and from educational facilities.
  • Codes of conduct are effective ways to ensure teachers understand their roles and responsibilities, while students and communities can use the codes to hold teachers accountable. More than 80 per cent of ECW-supported countries have codes embedded in their programming, up from 44 per cent in 2018.
  • Access to safe, clean toilets can be the difference between intermittent and regular school attendance. ECW-funded interventions have improved access to toilets by constructing 1,972 gender-segregated WASH facilities globally.
© Save the Children/Hewadmal

Progress Highlights

Number of crisis-affected children and youth having access to (i) clean drinking water and (ii) basic hand-washing facilities (in 2019)
55,360
(44% girls)
Number of schools adopting/ operationalizing a code of conduct with ECW support (in 2019)
36,964
Number of crisis-affected children and youth reached with psychosocial support activities (in 2019)
102,489
Number of children aged 3–18 receiving school feeding
154,281
(44% girls)