In the News

In 2023, despite security challenges, UNICEF has supported MENAPLN to facilitate access to education for 763,000 children, through formal education, accelerated schooling strategies, vocational training and education by radio programme, and distributed over 150,000 school kits and supplies. UNICEF also supported teacher training to ensure 350 new schools apply the “Quality Child-Friendly School” standards and the Safe School approach.

Thanks to generous contributions from donors such as the European Union, Education Cannot Wait and Japan, UNICEF helps restore the right to education for thousands of children in Burkina Faso.

For children with disabilities — for whom even getting to school or moving around inside the school building can be a struggle — the challenges can seem insurmountable. In Peru, an innovative multi-year program delivered by UNICEF with funding from the United Nations global fund for education in emergencies, Education Cannot Wait (ECW), is helping girls and boys with disabilities, like Anaís and Joel, to find new opportunities and new hope through quality, inclusive education.

An estimated 80 percent of countries categorized as extremely high-risk are also categorized as Least Developed Countries (LDCs). More than 62 million children—nearly one-third of the 224 million crisis-affected children worldwide in need of educational support—face the repercussions of climate-related events like floods, storms, droughts, and cyclones, which are further intensified by climate change. 

Against this backdrop and in advance of the Conference of the Parties (COP28) in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, the United Nations global fund for education in emergencies and protracted crises, Education Cannot Wait, issued today an urgent appeal for USD 150 million in new funding to respond to the climate crisis.

A pesar del aumento del 126% en los requisitos educativos desde 2005, la financiación se incrementó en solo un 4%. Además, los sistemas educativos preparados para resistir crisis prolongadas no se pueden construir sobre la base de unos llamamientos a corto plazo e imprevisibles. Durante la Cumbre Humanitaria Mundial, celebrada en mayo de 2016, se lanzó la nueva plataforma mundial “La educación no puede esperar” (Education Cannot Wait) con la intención de crear un puente entre las intervenciones humanitarias durante las crisis y el desarrollo posterior a largo plazo mediante una financiación predecible.

The steep hillsides also house half a million refugee children with dreams that extend far beyond the confines of the camp. Fourteen-year-old Jannat* is one of them.

Despite the grim backdrop of a childhood marked by crises faced by so many Rohingya children in Myanmar, Jannat is continuing her education today. Thanks to Education Cannot Wait (ECW) investments in Bangladesh, and the support of partners like Save the Children, Jannat is back in the classroom and working towards a dream she's held since she was a little girl: to become a doctor.

ECW has championed the right to education for children affected by the global climate crisis. In the aftermath of devastating floods in Libya, Mozambique and Pakistan – and spikes in hunger, forced displacement and violence across the Horn of Africa and the Sahel – ECW has issued emergency grants to get children and adolescents back to the safety and opportunity that quality education provides.

Within existing programmes in crisis-impacted countries like Bangladesh, Chad, Nigeria, South Sudan and Syria, ECW investments are supporting climate-resilient infrastructure, disaster risk reduction and school meals, offering hope and opportunity in the most challenging circumstances.

Despite the grim backdrop of a childhood marked by crises faced by so many Rohingya children in Myanmar, Jannat is continuing her education today. Thanks to Education Cannot Wait investments in Bangladesh, and the support of partners like Save the Children, Jannat is back in the classroom and working towards a dream she's held since she was a little girl: to become a doctor.

Jannat wasn't always certain that her dreams of working in medicine were within reach. After fleeing Myanmar with her parents and two siblings, and settling in the refugee camp, that future seemed nearly impossible.

There was an overall increase in Gross Enrollment Rate (GER) from 55% in term one to 57% in term 2 2023 across all three levels of education. This may be attributed to the increase in the number of schools reporting and increase in enrollment because of new arrivals in select settlements, The education situation analysis was updated with the current education needs and challenges that informed the Global Refugee Forum round table discussion on transitional management, The process of the selection of the partners to implement Education Cannot Wait (ECW) First Emergency Response (FER) funding to respond education gaps caused by the influx of refugees was completed and approved by the ERP Steering Committee.

"The very future of humanity is at stake. Rising seas, spiking temperatures and ever-more-severe droughts, floods and natural hazards are derailing development gains and ripping our world apart. As we've seen with the floods in Pakistan, and the drought in the Horn of Africa and the Sahel, climate change is triggering concerning jumps in forced displacement, violence, food insecurity and economic uncertainty the world over," said Yasmine Sherif, Executive Director of Education Cannot Wait.

"Education is an essential component in delivering on the promises and commitments outlined in the Paris Agreement, Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction and Sustainable Development Goals. As all eyes turn toward this year's Climate Talks (COP28) and the Global Refugee Forum, world leaders must connect climate action with education action," said Sherif.

We must take stronger action to end violence against girls and women through the UN 16 Days of Activism campaign – running from the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women and Girls (25 November) until Human Rights Day (10 December). We urge leaders everywhere to take firm, concrete action to put all the human rights of girls and women – especially their right to 12 years of safe, quality education – at the forefront of the international agenda.

This year's theme is 'Invest to Prevent Violence against Women and Girls.' By investing in safe schools, protective learning environments, and mental health and psychosocial support – through holistic, quality education that empowers girls to be confident of their rights and have the power to claim them – we can truly empower an entire generation of future women leaders.

The UN Secretary-General has defined the crisis in Gaza not just as a humanitarian crisis, but rather as a crisis of humanity. According to UN Secretary-General António Guterres: “Gaza is becoming a graveyard for children. Hundreds of girls and boys are reportedly being killed or injured every day.” This continued trend of violence and disregard for international humanitarian law and human life has enveloped our world.

According to UNICEF, at least 120,000 children have been killed or maimed by wars since 2005. On average, that is almost 20 lives lost every day. Furthermore, in her remarks to the UN Security Council on 30 October, UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell pointed out that ”… more than 420 children are being killed or injured in Gaza every day – a number which should shake each of us to our core.”

The UN Secretary-General has defined the crisis in Gaza not just as a humanitarian crisis, but rather as a crisis of humanity. According to UN Secretary-General António Guterres: “Gaza is becoming a graveyard for children. Hundreds of girls and boys are reportedly being killed or injured every day.” This continued trend of violence and disregard for international humanitarian law and human life has enveloped our world.

According to UNICEF, at least 120,000 children have been killed or maimed by wars since 2005. On average, that is almost 20 lives lost every day. Furthermore, in her remarks to the UN Security Council on 30 October, UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell pointed out that ”… more than 420 children are being killed or injured in Gaza every day – a number which should shake each of us to our core.”