In the News

Ce nouvel investissement, d’un montant de 25 millions de dollars É.-U. et réalisé conjointement avec le gouvernement du Cameroun, des agences des Nations Unies et la société civile, vise à mobiliser un financement supplémentaire de 50 millions de dollars É.-U. pour venir en aide à 227 000 filles et garçons touchés par les crises.

The new allocation brings ECW’s total investments in Cameroon to over US$30 million to date to reach crisis-affected girls and boys with quality education.

The multi-year investment will be delivered by a consortium of grantees, including the Norwegian Refugee Council (US$3 million), Plan International (US$3.2 million), UNESCO (US$3.5 million), UNICEF (US$6.8 million), UNHCR ($5.6 million) and the World Food Programme ($2.9 million) in alignment with the Government of Cameroon’s plans for education in the crisis-affected parts of the country.

1 August 2022, New York – Education Cannot Wait (ECW) announced today US$25 million in catalytic seed funding to roll out a first-ever Multi-Year Resilience Programme in Cameroon. The new allocation brings ECW’s total investments in Cameroon to over US$30 million to date to reach crisis-affected girls and boys with quality education.

With ECW support, the Ministry of Education & UNICEF provide trainings for parents & school management committees in Chad.

Educating children in crisis situations was an acute enough problem before COVID that the U.N. dedicated its first global breakout fund to finding solutions. Five years on, a global pandemic — and protracted conflicts that have produced 100 million refugees and counting — has exacerbated the crisis, while limiting humanity’s capacity to respond.

The fund, Education Cannot Wait, or ECW, was established by the U.N. following the 2016 World Humanitarian Summit led by former U.K. Prime Minister Gordon Brown, and became fully operational in 2017. The goal was simple: to provide all crisis-affected children and youth with the “safe, free and quality” education promised by Sustainable Development Goal 4. But marshaling resources was far from meeting the need. Education typically draws only around 2% of all humanitarian funding.

Temporary school closures during the COVID-19 crisis left 1.6 billion children unable to learn — 91 per cent of students worldwide — including nearly 369 million who rely on school meals for daily nutrition, speakers in the high-level political forum on sustainable development stressed today, as they called for the wholesale transformation of education systems towards those that place student needs at the heart of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

La Organización de las Naciones Unidas recientemente estimó que la cantidad de menores afectados por la crisis y que necesitan apoyo educativo urgente aumentó de 75 millones en el 2016 a 222 millones en la actualidad. Son 222 millones de sueños truncados y 222 millones de ataques a nuestra humanidad colectiva.

Yasmine Sherif, Director of the United Nations Education Cannot Wait Program, highlights how Education Cannot Wait (ECW) is the United Nations global fund for education in emergencies and protracted crises. ECW supports and protects holistic learning outcomes – so no one is left behind. A recent Global Estimates Study revealed that there are now 222 million crisis-affected children and adolescents in need of urgent, educational support; a significant increase from the estimated 75 million children in 2016. 

En su más reciente informe, la ONU señaló que la cantidad de niños y niñas en edad escolar afectados por la crisis ha incrementado en un 196% en los últimos seis años: pasó de 75 millones en 2016 a 222 millones para 2022.

Todas las tardes, muy puntual, llega Antony, de 17 años, al espacio de refuerzo escolar que tiene Save the Children en su comunidad en Colombia. Desde que él y su familia huyeron de su país natal, Venezuela, no había tenido la oportunidad de estudiar. “Soy migrante. Llegué aquí hace cuatro años y no contaba con los documentos necesarios para entrar en una escuela. Hace tres, empecé a asistir a las actividades de Save y ellos me ayudaron a entrar en un colegio. En las mañanas voy a la escuela, en las tardes, al espacio de refuerzo de la organización”, explica el chico por videollamada. Lo necesita, dice, porque considera que lo que aprende en la jornada lectiva formal “no es suficiente”.

Conflict, increasing food insecurity, the climate crisis and the COVID‑19 pandemic have disrupted education for millions of children and youth worldwide, particularly the most marginalized including those who are displaced, especially girls and adolescent girls. Canada remains committed to working with partners and youth to help ensure quality education and lifelong learning opportunities are available to all children.

Four months ago, daily scenes emerged of refugees lining up across the Moldovan-Ukrainian border to seek refuge from the war unfolding at home.

This marked the beginning of a regionally led emergency response to support the transit of 6.5 million Ukrainians - mostly women, children, and older people - into neighbouring nations. As it currently stands, Moldova, one of Europe’s poorest and smallest countries, hosts the highest number of Ukrainian refugees per capita.