Education Cannot Wait Announces New US$500,000 Investment to the Alliance for Child Protection in Humanitarian Action

Millions of crisis-affected children around the world are in urgent need of education support. These girls and boys are in danger of losing out on years of learning, and are at higher risk of child marriage, human trafficking, child labour and forced recruitment into armed groups.

To strengthen and scale up the delivery of holistic and protective education for children left furthest behind, Education Cannot Wait (ECW) announced today a US$500,000 grant to the Alliance for Child Protection in Humanitarian Action (The Alliance). This 36-month Acceleration Facility grant will strengthen partnership between child protection and education sector actors in emergencies and protracted crises – enabling them to better implement a whole-of-child approach that enhances protection, learning and wellbeing for children in crisis contexts.

“Access to education during emergencies and protracted crises saves lives and offers a large degree of protection for children and adolescents from violence, exploitation and abuse. At the same time, education is only an effective protection measure if it provides mental and physical protection. Through this new partnership with the Alliance for Child Protection in Humanitarian Action, we drive the shift within the humanitarian system to focus on school-aged children and their education as a means of providing safety and protection. We turn policy into practice. It is an uncompromising right for every child, even in crises, to be safe to learn,” said Yasmine Sherif, Executive Director of Education Cannot Wait, the UN global fund for education in emergencies and protracted crises.

The Alliance is a global network of operational agencies, academic institutions, policymakers, donors and practitioners. It facilitates inter-agency technical collaboration on child protection in humanitarian contexts, sets standards and produces technical guidance for use by various stakeholders. At its core, its mission is to build a world in which children are protected from abuse, neglect, exploitation and violence in humanitarian settings.

The Alliance has been working for many years with the Inter-agency Network for Education in Emergencies, as well as other education-focused entities, to achieve more integrated ways of working across education and child protection actors operating in humanitarian settings. "With support from ECW, we will capitalize on the recent shift within the humanitarian sectors towards more preventive approaches to protection. Together with our colleagues in the education sector, we will work to address root causes of harm to children to not only prevent harm, but also to help children build their resilience and achieve their full potential," said Hani Mansourian, co-coordinator of the Alliance for Child Protection in Humanitarian Action.

This grant to The Alliance is a concrete demonstration of ECW’s commitment to protecting children and adolescents in emergencies and protracted crises. The new investment will strengthen collaboration between the child protection and education sectors – including local and national organizations – providing more opportunities for knowledge-sharing and technical collaboration. It will also support greater cross-sectoral coordination and enhance access to key resources and guidance materials on child protection and its integration.

While education and child protection are critically important humanitarian sectors with a specific focus on children, they remain two of the most consistently underfunded sectors. With a stark mismatch between needs and available funding, innovative solutions and greater collaboration are crucial to reach every crisis-impacted child – including children with disabilities – with safe, holistic education.

The Acceleration Facility is ECW’s funding mechanism dedicated to supporting the creation of global public goods and resources for the education in emergencies sector. This latest grant brings the Fund’s total investments through its Acceleration Facility window to over US$26 million, and is a key part of ECW’s Strategic Plan to mobilize US$1.5 billion over the next three years to reach 20 million crisis-affected children.