In the News

Finally, the “Education Cannot Wait” program is a crucial solution to helping Somalia escape the cycle of poverty. This program sees quality education for children and adults as the key to improving life for future generations. Almost half of the children in Somalia do not attend school due to having to help work at home, lack of teachers, illnesses and general lack of resources. With this program, however, families are given school supplies in addition to supplementary foods and safe drinking water. Partners in this program also provide incentives for teachers to give children a more significant opportunity for enrollment and rehabilitate classrooms. Eighteen thousand children have had access to education since 2019.

Anastasia is a student at Lyceum No. 1, one of the few schools in the Mykolaivska region of Ukraine that is fully operational. With over 700 students – including those coming in from neighboring villages and internally displaced children from areas where shelling continues – the school in Kryve Ozero remains open thanks to dedicated teachers, administrators and support from government and international partners.

Education Cannot Wait (ECW), the UN fund for education in emergencies and protracted crises, and partners in Ukraine are working to ensure that children are able to continue learning and building towards a brighter future. Among its numerous holistic education supports, ECW funding to UNICEF has supported an initiative to install shatter-resistant window film at 23 schools in the Mykolaivska and Odeska regions of the country – including Anastasia's school.

Minister of State for International Development and Diaspora, Sean Fleming T.D., today announced a further €1 million in support for Education Cannot Wait, the United Nations global fund for education in emergencies. 224 million children around the world are deprived of a quality education due to armed conflicts, forced displacement, climate-induced disasters and other prolonged crises. Funding from Ireland will assist Education Cannot Wait to provide education to children living in areas experiencing crisis. The additional funding will help to provide school infrastructure, learning materials, teacher training and mental health and psychosocial services. It will also provide water, sanitation and food for pupils.

Minister Fleming said: “Providing education is a key priority for Ireland’s work around the world. Conflicts and disasters are keeping 224 million young people around the world out of education. Depriving children of education is damaging for them and also sets back their entire communities. Ireland’s partnership with Education Cannot Wait supports children caught up in crisis to stay in, or to return to, education.

To accelerate the impact of Education Cannot Wait's (ECW) investments in over 40 crisis-affected countries, ECW announced today a US$1 million grant to the Inter-agency Network for Education in Emergencies (INEE). This 36-month Acceleration Facility grant will bring together diverse stakeholders, know-how and resources to inform public policies and share best practices to scale-up impact across ECW's broad global portfolio of programmes which have already reached almost 9 million children. 

To accelerate the impact of Education Cannot Wait's investments in over 40 crisis-affected countries, ECW announced today a US$1 million grant to the Inter-agency Network for Education in Emergencies. This 36-month Acceleration Facility grant will bring together diverse stakeholders, know-how and resources to inform public policies and share best practices to scale-up impact across ECW's broad global portfolio of programmes which have already reached almost 9 million children.

"Education Cannot Wait and INEE share the firm conviction that learners in crisis contexts deserve to thrive, not just survive. INEE has been instrumental in advancing the right to quality education in emergencies and protracted crises through powerful advocacy, standard setting, knowledge sharing and capacity building of practitioners. Through this innovative partnership, we are strengthening capacities on the ground to improve the quality and impact of our investments and support holistic education for children in the world's toughest contexts," said Yasmine Sherif, Executive Director of ECW, the UN global fund for education in emergencies and protracted crises.

In addition, the EU has pledged a further 25 million euros for the global “Education Cannot Wait” fund. This fund focuses on educating children in emergencies and ongoing crises, particularly disadvantaged groups such as girls, children with disabilities and minorities. Since the fund was founded, the EU has already provided support with 27.5 million euros. With the additional 25 million euros, the total amount provided by the EU amounts to 52.5 million euros for “Education Cannot Wait” to ensure that vulnerable children have access to high-quality education and no one is left behind.

These measures underline the importance of quality education as a fundamental human right and key to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals. Millions of children worldwide have been out of school during the COVID-19 pandemic, and this additional funding will help improve educational opportunities for the most vulnerable children and advance global education goals.

We are also experiencing a very concerning increase in the number of children in emergency and crisis situations, often as a result of conflict or climate-related natural disasters.  Figures released in June of this year by Education Cannot Wait put the number of children whose education has been disrupted by conflict, climate change and other disasters at 224 million. Only 11% of these children are in school and reaching minimum standards in their reading or maths.

Now, as called for by UNESCO at the United Nations General Assembly last year, we must ‘reboot’ our education systems to ensure they are fit for purpose, fit for the future, and fit for every child – including the most vulnerable.

An innovative program in Ethiopia is keeping girls like 14-year-old Mellion in school by providing a high-energy biscuit when they need it most. The First Emergency Response, delivered by UNICEF with funding from Education Cannot Wait, is providing new hope to girls and boys impacted by the crisis in Tigray and beyond.

Around 1,000 adolescents and young people affected by the armed conflict receive modular skills training thanks to Education Cannot Wait and UNICEF.

This modular training project for adolescents and young people affected by the armed conflict was conceived by UNICEF with funds allocated by  Education Cannot Wait (ECW) fund, and implemented in the field by local NGOs such as Children Believe and the Centre Diocésain de Communication (CDC). It covers the Nord and Centre Nord regions.  Groups of 40 to 50 students per centre are offered a package of three training courses. The courses cover sewing, mechanics, renewable energy, tiling, poultry farming, juice production, hairdressing, and Amadé's favorite, sheep farming. At the end of their three months' training, the best students will be lucky enough to receive a start-up kit. As for Amadé, he's hoping to be provided with sheep, so that he can launch his cattle-breeding project.

The educational rights and development of the next generation are at serious risk from the crises due to COVID-19 and then the 2021 coup according to a World Bank report.

The report indicates that from 2020 -2022, public schools in Myanmar were closed for a total of 532 days, marking the longest among countries in the East Asia and Pacific region. As a result, the majority of children in Myanmar lost over three and a half years of educational opportunities.

Education Cannot Wait (ECW) also made an announcement at the beginning of this year, stating that the consequences of the armed conflict resulting from the coup have deprived 17 million children in Myanmar of their right to education.

The United Nations is continuously working to meet the educational needs of the millions of children who do not currently receive the benefits of education. Most of these children cannot attend school due to a lack of qualified teachers, inadequate teaching materials and poor sanitation. These obstacles are magnified when a nation faces further turmoil. The Education Cannot Wait (ECW) program provides education to children in the most uncertain times of emergencies and protracted crises. Here are three examples of how the ECW provides education despite conflict, climate disasters and epidemics. 

"The United Kingdom is a member and largest bilateral donor to the Global Partnership for Education and Education Cannot Wait initiatives," he said.

"Through these initiatives, the United Kingdom has made significant contributions to promoting access and quality of education in Kenya. This has been the case, especially for marginalised learners in rural and economically disadvantaged regions."