Education Cannot Wait Allocates Us$14 Million to Three Multi-year Education Programmes in Somalia Reaching More Than Half a Million Children and Youth.

Education Cannot Wait announces a two-year $14 million allocation to support the launch of ground-breaking multi-year education programmes in the Federal Government of Somalia and Member States, Somaliland, and Puntland. The programmes target an overall total of 583,000 vulnerable girls and boys in a country stricken by decades of conflict, widespread violence and disasters, such as droughts and floods.

Education Cannot Wait facilitated the development of the programmes under the leadership of the three Education Authorities with a wide range of national and international partners. With this seed funding allocation, the Fund aims to catalyze additional financing from donors towards the total budget of the programmes that amounts to $191 million over the 2019-2021 period.

“This investment unites partners around quality education for over  half a million vulnerable girls and boys in Somalia. Finally, they will have an opportunity to lift themselves out of a cycle of disenfranchisement, violence and crisis,” said Education Cannot Wait Director, Yasmine Sherif. “This investment reaches those left furthest behind. We hope that this marks an end to their long wait for the basic right to education,”  she said. 

An estimated 3 million children are out of school across Somalia and the country has one of the world’s lowest ratios of primary-age children attendance. Only 30 per cent of boys and 21 per cent of girls of primary-school age attend primary school. At the secondary level, access to education is even more limited, especially for girls: 92 per cent of adolescents within the official age range for secondary school are not enrolled in secondary education. Children uprooted by the crisis are also particularly affected, with nearly two-thirds of displaced children not attending school.

The three programmes focus on increasing equitable access to quality education, providing safe learning environments and ensuring retention and improved learning outcomes for the most vulnerable girls and boys.  Displaced, returnee and host community children as well as children living in remote areas are specifically targeted. Activities include the rehabilitation of schools, school-feeding programmes, psychosocial support, alternative basic education and the provision of teaching and learning materials. Training and awarenesss-raising activities to increase enrolment and retention rates, address barriers to girls’ education and promote child protection and safeguarding best practices are also planned. 

Education Cannot Wait’s initial $14 million allocation is distributed over 2019-2020, with $7 million being disbursed the first year to kickstart the three programmes and $7million to be disbursed the second year, subject to satisfactory performance.

The three multi-year programmes were developed over several months in close collaboration with in-country education partners and donors. The programmes are aligned to the Education Sector Strategic Plans, Somalia’s humanitarian response plan and the Joint Resilience Action Programme produced by UN agencies in-country.

The multi-year programmes build on the achievements of Education Cannot Wait’s 2017-2018 First Emergency Response programme of $4.9 million in Somalia which focused on retaining children in schools through school feeding programmes, access to safe drinking water and promotion of hygiene best practices, support to teachers with emergency incentives, support to Community Education Committees, and the provision of teaching and learning supplies.