In the News

Sara shares her aspirations for the future, saying, "When I grow up, I want to become a doctor to help people who need treatment."  Her words reflect not only her resilience in the face of hardship, but her empathy for other people’s suffering. 

The young student is also enrolled in our additional education classes funded by Education Cannot Wait, where our teachers are helping catch Sara up on the classes she’s missed while injured. 

FRANCE 24's Mark Owen is joined by Yasmine Sherif, Executive Director of Education Cannot Wait (ECW), the global fund for education in emergencies and protracted crises. Leading the "combat for education" for the past several decades across the world, in war-torn countries, and unstable regions experiencing conflict and insurgencies, her modus operandi is simple: "Abnormal problems require extraordinary solutions". On ECW's official website, she is introduced to us as "A lawyer specialized in International Humanitarian Law and Human Rights Law (LL.M), she has over 30 years of experience with the United Nations and international NGOs. Ms. Sherif has served in some of the most crisis-affected areas of the world, including Afghanistan and the Middle East, the Balkans, Cambodia, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Sudan." 

Education Cannot Wait (ECW), a global fund dedicated to education in emergencies and protracted crises, has called for increased funding to support a successful joint program in Nigeria specifically focusing on addressing educational needs for children and adolescents in the Northeast.

The Executive Director of ECW, Yasmine Sherif, and representatives from the governments of Germany and Norway, who advocated for this scale-up, revealed that the intervention had already gulped in US$15 million in the Northeast.

Education Cannot Wait (ECW) has renewed multi-year investment that has exceeded its targets and reached over 400,000 children and adolescents with quality, holistic education in areas affected by the crisis in North-East Nigeria with up to $15 million.

On a high-level mission in Nigeria this week, Education Cannot Wait (ECW) Executive Director Yasmine Sherif, accompanied by high-level representatives from the Governments of Germany and Norway, announced a planned US$15 million allocation to renew the ECW Multi-Year Resilience Programme in the North-East of the country. The funding is subject to ECW’s Executive Committee approval.

ECW’s new catalytic grant funding for the planned Multi-Year Resilience Programme shall build on its US$23.6 million investments in the North-East of Nigeria, which have reached more than 400,000 children since 2018. The investments are delivered in partnership with the Ministry of Education, UN agencies, and international and local civil society partners. With a focus on building lasting solutions applying the humanitarian-development-peace nexus, ECW investments in North-East Nigeria have provided children with learning materials, supported teacher training and incentives, school feeding, provided essential mental health and psychosocial support for girls and boys impacted by the conflict, and worked with the national and state governments to get children back to school through permanent community-based programmes.

Born into a family of five girls but in a patriarchal society in Guinea, a culture which for a long time did not see women as equal members of society. Folly believes education is a game changer.

Folly is a wife, mother, journalist, and the Global Ambassador for ‘Education Cannot Wait’. The United Nations education fund for emergencies and protracted areas ensures everyone has the right to receive an education.  It’s given her scope to reach more children globally and give back to Africa, the continent she comes from.

Nigeria is home to 15 percent of the world’s out-of-school children. More than 7.6 million girls are not in school, and only nine percent of the poorest girls in the country are in secondary school. The Boko Haram insurgency and other armed groups fuel the out-of-school crisis in northeast Nigeria, disrupting the education of nearly two million school-age children.

Grave violations of children’s rights prevail in northeastern areas, including the abduction of thousands of children and young people; girls are enslaved and sexually exploited, and boys forced to become child soldiers. Education Cannot Wait (ECW) Executive Director Yasmine Sherif visited communities affected by the conflict and interconnected crises, witnessing first-hand the positive impact of ECW’s initial Multi-Year Resilience Programme (2021-2024).

On a high-level mission in Nigeria this week, Education Cannot Wait (ECW) Executive Director Yasmine Sherif, accompanied by high-level representatives from the Governments of Germany and Norway, announced a planned US$15 million allocation to renew the ECW Multi-Year Resilience Programme in the North-East of the country. The funding is subject to ECW's Executive Committee approval.   

On the mission, Dr Heike Kuhn, Co-Chair of the ECW Executive Committee and Head of Education Division at Germany'sFederal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development, Merete Lundemo, Co-Chair of the ECW Executive Committee and Special Envoy for Education in Crisis and Conflict for Norway'sMinistry of Foreign Affairs, and ECW's Executive Director Yasmine Sherif met with senior government officials, including the Minister of Education, Hon. Dr. Tahir Mamman, and Borno State Governor, Prof. Babagana Umara Zulum, and aid partners.

On a high-level mission in Nigeria this week, Education Cannot Wait (ECW) Executive Director Yasmine Sherif, accompanied by high-level representatives from the Governments of Germany and Norway, announced a planned US$15 million allocation to renew the ECW Multi-Year Resilience Programme in the North-East of the country. The funding is subject to ECW's Executive Committee approval.   

On the mission, Dr Heike Kuhn, Co-Chair of the ECW Executive Committee and Head of Education Division at Germany's Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development, Merete Lundemo, Co-Chair of the ECW Executive Committee and Special Envoy for Education in Crisis and Conflict for Norway's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and ECW's Executive Director Yasmine Sherif met with senior government officials, including the Minister of Education, Hon. Dr. Tahir Mamman, and Borno State Governor, Prof. Babagana Umara Zulum, and aid partners.

On a high-level mission in Nigeria this week, Education Cannot Wait (ECW) Executive Director Yasmine Sherif, accompanied by high-level representatives from the Governments of Germany and Norway, announced a planned US$15 million allocation to renew the ECW Multi-Year Resilience Programme in the North-East of the country. The funding is subject to ECW's Executive Committee approval.

On the mission, Dr Heike Kuhn, Co-Chair of the ECW Executive Committee and Head of Education Division at Germany's Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development, Merete Lundemo, Co-Chair of the ECW Executive Committee and Special Envoy for Education in Crisis and Conflict for Norway's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and ECW's Executive Director Yasmine Sherif met with senior government officials, including the Minister of Education, Hon. Dr. Tahir Mamman, and Borno State Governor, Prof. Babagana Umara Zulum, and aid partners.

On a high-level mission in Nigeria this week, Education Cannot Wait (ECW) Executive Director Yasmine Sherif, accompanied by high-level representatives from the Governments of Germany and Norway, announced a planned US$15 million allocation to renew the ECW Multi-Year Resilience Programme in the North-East of the country. The funding is subject to ECW's Executive Committee approval.

On the mission, Dr Heike Kuhn, Co-Chair of the ECW Executive Committee and Head of Education Division at Germany's Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development, Merete Lundemo, Co-Chair of the ECW Executive Committee and Special Envoy for Education in Crisis and Conflict for Norway's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and ECW's Executive Director Yasmine Sherif met with senior government officials, including the Minister of Education, Hon. Dr. Tahir Mamman, and Borno State Governor, Prof. Babagana Umara Zulum, and aid partners.

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