Yasmine Sherif, Director of Education Cannot Wait, at the “Blue Dot” established by UNICEF, UNHCR and partners in Chișinău. "Blue Dot" support centers offer protection, temporary shelter, food and psychosocial support to meet the urgent needs of families fleeing Ukraine. Credit: ECW

By Joyce Chimbi
Nairobi, Apr 14 2022 (IPS)

A brutal war now engulfs the young lives of an estimated 7.5 million children in Ukraine. Caught in the crossfire of bullets and missiles as the conflict escalates, children and young people have been plunged into a humanitarian crisis.

With their lives turned upside down, affected children are lost, traumatized, and among millions fleeing their homes into neighboring countries, including the Republic of Moldova, in search of safety, protection, and assistance.

Having seen the effects of the ongoing crisis firsthand, Yasmine Sherif, Director of Education Cannot Wait (ECW), tells IPS that affected children and their mothers arrive in Moldova visibly traumatized and need immediate psychosocial support.

“As a result of the conflict in Ukraine, across the region, there are more than 5 million refugees who have fled Ukraine and an additional 7.1 million people internally displaced. An estimated 400,000 people have passed through Moldova in search of safety thus far,” she says.

Students attending class at a local school in Ungheni, Moldova. The school hosts Ukraine refugee children who attend class with Moldovan pupils.
Credit: ECW

Sherif paints a picture of a country unprepared for the refugee crisis – despite its welcoming spirit and an open-door policy for refugees.

“Moldova is the poorest country in Europe with significant capacity gaps and is struggling to accommodate an inflow of refugees. Today, Moldova hosts at least 100,000 refugees, including 50,000 refugee girls and boys, of whom only 1,800 are currently enrolled in school.”

Sherif confirms that Moldova is registering the children as quickly as possible to attend school and that public schools are open to refugees. Still, she says there are pressing issues facing affected Ukrainian refugee children and that, as of now, Moldova is ill-equipped to address their educational needs.

Sherif says that the capacity was stretched in Moldova, and many parts of the education system needed development even before the refugee crisis.

With 50,000 children in the country needing to be enrolled, she says, the capacity is “now stretching beyond what was expected. Moldova was not ready for this crisis.”

ECW and its strategic partners US Agency for International Development (USAID),  Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office/UK (FCDO/UK), and Theirworld were looking at the capacity gap, including “urgent mental health and psychosocial services.”

Children in Moldova are taught in Romania, a Latin-derived language, while children in Ukraine speak Russia, a Slavic language – leading to language barriers. This requires additional teachers who can teach in Russia and are trained to handle children in crisis. For refugee children in the rural part of Moldova, access to safe water and sanitation is another pressing need.

Sherif spoke in the backdrop of a high-level mission to Moldova with its strategic partners in a coordinated and joint-up response in Moldova.

ECW has thus far contributed 6.5 million US dollars to support education in emergencies response to the Ukraine refugee crisis.

In March, the organization announced that it had made a grant of 5 million US dollars available for Ukraine’s First Emergency Response.

On April 13, ECW announced a new, initial US$1.5 million allocation to support the education in emergencies response, to be delivered in partnership with the Government of Moldova, to ensure refugee children and youth can access safe and protective learning opportunities.

During the high-level mission, USAID also announced an additional 18 million US dollar contribution to the ECW global trust fund to support ECW education responses in crisis-impacted countries across the globe. After Germany and the UK, this contribution makes the USA the third-largest donor to ECW – the UN global fund for education in emergencies and protracted crises.

With an estimated $30 million funding gap for the emergency education response in Ukraine, ECW has escalated advocacy efforts, calling for donors and other strategic partners to help close the gap.

ECW Mission to Moldova delegation: ECW Director Yasmine Sherif and partners from USAID, FCDO/UK, Theirworld, World Vision, UNICEF and UNHCR at the steps of the UN House in Moldova.
Credit: ECW

UNHCR Representative to Moldova, Francesca Bonelli, says education is key to refugees living with dignity and “is one of the first services requested. We greatly appreciate the support of the Moldovan authorities, teachers, and communities in welcoming refugee learners.”

Theirworld President, Justin van Fleet, says the organization will announce additional funding. Theirworld is a global innovative children’s charity committed to ending the global education crisis and unleashing the potential of the next generation.

The funds, he says, will support refugee education projects in the coming weeks, harnessing the charity’s experiences from other emergencies and campaigning to ensure donors invest 10% of the humanitarian response funding into education.

“COVID-19 school closures have taught us that learning loss amounts to more than days missed in school,” says UNICEF Representative to Moldova Maha Damaj. “In Moldova, UNICEF is working with partners to help refugee children coming from Ukraine reclaim their learning experience in a safe and supportive environment, nurturing their resilience against the traumas of war.”

“As a leading donor to Education Cannot Wait, the UK is committed to protecting the right of all children to education, including those affected by the crisis.  We stand ready to support a coordinated education response for refugee children from Ukraine. Education must be prioritized as an integral part of the ongoing humanitarian response in Ukraine,” says Alicia Herbert, Director of Education, Gender and Equality and Gender Envoy, FCDO.

Whether contributed resources will meet the most pressing needs of affected Ukrainian children in Moldova, Sherif says it all depends on how long it takes to resolve the ongoing conflict in Ukraine.

“More than 400,000 refugees have passed through Moldova. Should hostilities escalate further and new towns such as Odesa are captured, the second wave of refugees will be coming to Moldova and elsewhere,” Sherif says.

“Moldova is currently unprepared for a refugee crisis of this magnitude, and more funding will be required to meet the ongoing capacity gap. I appeal to governments and the private sector not to rest because there can be no peace until everyone has peace.”

IPS UN Bureau Report

Follow @IPSNewsUNBureau
  

Nujeen Mustafa addresses the Global Disability Summit with a message that the world should stop seeing children with disabilities as burdens when they are assets. Credit: @NujeenMustafa/Twitter

By Joyce Chimbi
Nairobi, Kenya, Feb 21 2022 (IPS)

Struggling with stigma and discrimination in an unaccommodating environment, Nujeen Mustafa knows all too well the difficulties children with disabilities face in emergency and protracted crises.

Struggling with stigma and discrimination in an unaccommodating environment, Nujeen Mustafa knows all too well the difficulties children with disabilities face in emergency and protracted crises.

Born in Syria 23 years ago with cerebral palsy, Mustafa had never seen the inside of a classroom until she made a 3,500-mile journey from Syria to Germany in a wheelchair aged 16 years. She entered the German education system in Grade 8 and completed her GCSE at 21. Her compelling story is captured in the book ‘Nujeen, One Girl’s Incredible Journey from War-Torn Syria in a Wheelchair’.

“Back in Syria, I was homeschooled by my older siblings because the infrastructure was not accessible for people with disabilities. My siblings taught me how to read and write. I read books on my own and watched television to compensate for the lack of formal education,” Mustafa tells IPS.

Mustafa addressed the recent Global Disability Summit in a session with Education Cannot Wait Director Yasmine Sherif. The Government of Norway, the Government of Ghana, and the International Disability Alliance co-chaired the summit during which participants committed to “eliminating stigma, barriers, and discrimination against persons with disabilities through legislation, policies and advocacy work done together with organizations of persons with disabilities.”

“Nujeen’s incredible journey is an inspiring story of hope. However, for a majority of children with disabilities in the midst of armed conflict and crises, their stories, unfortunately, don’t end as positively as Nujeen’s,” says Sherif. “We can no longer leave these children, among those left furthest behind, in the shadows.”

Children with disabilities can flourish to their full potential if given access to education, says Nujeen Mustafa. Credit: Joyce Chimbi/IPS

According to UNHCR registration data, an estimated 11.7 million Syrians are displaced. Three percent of the registered Syrian refugee population lives with disabilities.

Globally, the World Health Organization (WHO) statistics show that approximately 20 million out of the 135 million people in need of humanitarian assistance live with some form of disability and lack rehabilitation support and assistive technology.

The WHO says this figure does not include people with conflict-caused disabilities. Within this context, Mustafa says invisible disability is a most pressing issue for people with disabilities and more so children in conflict and crises.

“People in conflict situations or those fleeing conflict are likely to have acquired a disability. Perhaps they lost a leg, an arm, sight, or hearing due to conflict. Of concern, data on refugees or internally displaced persons are not filtered or seen through the disability lens,” she observes.

“Often hidden from society, children with disabilities are, more often than not, much more invisible. Even in rehabilitation or a country’s reconstruction processes, accessibility and inclusion of children with disabilities are not taken into account.”

Research by WHO confirms that volatile and unpredictable safety and security situations in emergency and protracted crises create significant and critical protection gaps.

“Children with disabilities are being left behind the education system because, in crisis situations, there are many competing priorities. I do not believe that enough organizations have the necessary data concerning people, and more so children, with disabilities in emergency and conflict situations,” Mustafa says.

There is, therefore, a great and urgent need to work on mechanisms that could detect invisible disability, which requires significant concerted efforts from individuals, families, humanitarian organizations, and governments.

“We need to prioritize systematic awareness-raising of the specific needs of children with disabilities at the high-level decision-making process. People that can make a difference in the lives of these children do not see them,” she cautions.

“Education is the building block towards a proper future, but children with disabilities are not seen as people worth investing in. There is a perception that education or training will be of no value to these children because there will be no opportunity for them to utilize acquired knowledge.”

As such, UNICEF’s most recent data shows one in every ten children globally have a disability, and nearly half of all children with disabilities are likely to have never attended school.

“My siblings bought me books every school year so that I consume the same content as my peers. This was of high value to me. It helped me cope and come to the realization that perhaps there were some alternative ways for me to get an education similar or close to what my peers had,” Mustafa recalls.

This family support built her confidence and drove her to explore her potential. Today, Mustafa is an author and a disability rights advocate on a global platform, becoming the first Syrian person with a disability to brief the United Nations Security Council in 2019.

Families or caregivers of every child with a disability need to be educated to recognize the potential in their child. To fan this potential, not despite the disability, but because of it.

Education, she emphasizes, is a vital part of building a confident and self-assured individual who is ready to go out, face the world and fulfill their potential.

Mustafa says social barriers and stigma surrounding disability within current education systems must be broken down. This calls for a more comprehensive understanding of who is at school, who is not, and why.

Nujeen Mustafa, a UNHCR Supporter who, at 16, traveled 3,500 miles from Syria to Germany in a steel wheelchair says active participation of children with disabilities is “not a favor but a right”.
Credit: Education Cannot Wait

Placing children with disabilities at the heart of humanitarian crisis response requires the systematic documentation of existing protection gaps.

“We are dealing with a multilayered problem that includes factors such as logistics, management, planning, and implementation of crisis response as well as social barriers,” she says.

Against this backdrop, Mustafa spoke of the frequently unmet needs of vulnerable children with disabilities in conflict and emergencies. She painted the harsh reality of lack of and, at best, great difficulties in accessing safe, quality, and disability-inclusive education.

“I am a firm believer in disability-inclusive education because this is how we eliminate stigma towards people with disability. If people from all walks of life know and interact with one person with a disability and especially at a very young age, perceptions around what is considered the norm will change,” she says.

Mustafa’s own experience with Germany’s education system affirms her belief that under the right conditions, children with disabilities can flourish to their fullest potential to become agents of positive social change.

“Whether it be individual, societies or organizations, we should stop perceiving children with disabilities as burdens – because they are assets. Children with disabilities are not problems to solve.”

Mustafa called upon humanitarian agencies to raise awareness of the importance of education. To ensure that when countries in protracted conflict and emergency crises or fragile peace resume some semblance of education, children with disabilities are not left further behind.

Credit: @LailaOnMars, Twitter

IPS UN Bureau Report

Follow @IPSNewsUNBureau
  

The world should, with urgency, remove the barriers to education for crisis-affected children with disabilities, says Education Cannot Wait Director Yasmine Sherif. Here she is pictured in Lebanon speaking to a young child at an ECW-supported facility. Credit: Education Cannot Wait (ECW)

By Joyce Chimbi
Nairobi, Kenya, Feb 16 2022 (IPS)

Unable to walk, see or hear, and without assistance, the multiple barriers between 240 million children with disabilities and the education system mean nearly half are likely never to have attended school.

“We must reach these children with the fierce urgency of now,” says Yasmine Sherif, Director, Education Cannot Wait, speaking at the Global Disability Summit.

UNICEF research paints a dire picture for millions of children with disabilities worldwide. Forty-nine percent were more likely to have never attended school; 47 percent were more likely to be out of primary school. One-third are likely to be out of lower secondary school, and 27 percent are likely to be out of upper secondary school.

In emergencies and protracted crises in countries like Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Chad, Lebanon, Syria, and many more, Sherif says, “No one is left furthest behind and more vulnerable than a refugee or forcibly displaced child with disabilities.”

At the Global Disability Summit, hosted by the International Disability Alliance (IDA) and the governments of Norway and Ghana, on February 16-17, 2022, Sherif spoke about the harsh reality challenges faced on a daily basis by crisis-affected children with disabilities within current education systems and the urgent need to intervene.

She urged the global community to be concrete in action and not abstract in thinking, calling for a collective response for children with disabilities caught in armed conflicts, forced displacement, climate-induced disasters, and protracted crises. Their inclusion in response and protection interventions need to be systemized through legal frameworks and leveraging on pooled funding.

“Being the only global fund for education in emergencies and protracted crises, ECW cannot accomplish its mission unless all children with disabilities can learn in an inclusive and protected setting along with their peers,” she says.

“Nor will we collectively ensure the right to inclusive, equitable, and quality education for every child if children with disabilities remain behind.”

ECW commits to ensuring that its partners and grantees embed inclusion standards in their investments and act upon them.

“More specifically, ensuring that families of children with disabilities and organizations of persons with disabilities are engaged throughout each programme cycle with adequate budgetary allocation to support and sustain participation. This includes enhancing accountability to the affected population,” she says.

For disability rights groups, activists, experts, and supporters, the ongoing Summit is key in highlighting that the time to make education in emergency and protracted crises settings inclusive is now.

The Summit is pivotal in ensuring that governments, UN entities, and civil society back their commitments to persons with disabilities with adequate resources to implement them.

Sherif spoke in a high-level panel discussion of experts including Gerard Quinn, UN Special Rapporteur on Persons with Disabilities; Peter Maurer, president of the International Committee of the Red Cross; Gillian Triggs, Assistant High Commissioner for Protection, UNHCR and Nadia Hadad, European Disability Forum.

Also in attendance were Johanna Sumuvuori, State Secretary Minister for Foreign Affairs of Finland, and Nujeen Mustafa, a UNHCR Supporter who, at 16, traveled 3,500 miles from Syria to Germany in a steel wheelchair; her compelling story captured in the book ‘Nujeen, One Girl’s Incredible Journey from War-Torn Syria in a Wheelchair’.

Hadad opened with astounding statistics indicating that 41 million people with disabilities would need humanitarian assistance in 2022.

Against this backdrop, Triggs emphasized respect for those displaced by conflict, including internally displaced persons and refugees. She affirmed that disability inclusion remains a priority for UNHCR and that the UN Refugee Agency is firmly committed to doing more to achieve it.

Maurer confirmed that the International Committee of the Red Cross is seriously taking on board the philosophy of inclusion in their humanitarian work, and more so, in conflict situations.

Nujeen Mustafa, a UNHCR Supporter who, at 16, traveled 3,500 miles from Syria to Germany in a steel wheelchair says active participation of children with disabilities is “not a favor but a right”.
Credit: Education Cannot Wait

Mustafa explained she was born with cerebral palsy in Syria, and as a result, society saw a girl without a future. She said conflict situations further exposed the lack of infrastructure, support, and protection for people with disabilities.

Sumuvuori expressed Finland’s commitment to champion the rights and inclusions of persons with disabilities “with a special focus on the rights of women and girls with disabilities. Building on our existing efforts in humanitarian assistance, Finland commits to promoting meaningful participation of persons with disabilities.”

Quinn called for increased visibility for persons with disability, saying that war is not a thing of the past because conflicts were very much alive.

The character of conflict was changing, but it has not gone away. It has become more lethal for those with disabilities, Quinn says.

“This leaves people with disabilities at even greater risk of violence and discrimination. Demand for active and meaningful participation is not a favor but a right for all people living with disabilities,” Mustafa told a community of global participants.

Sherif noted that disability inclusion for children in emergencies and protracted crises requires the removal of economic barriers.

Sherif stresses that families of children with disabilities bear extra costs to send them to school, including transportation and assistive devices.

“Families, therefore, may not afford to send their children to school or may not see the need for it because of widely shared negative attitudes toward children with disabilities and their potential,” Sherif says.

Once children with disabilities in emergencies and protracted crises go to school, says Sherif, they often must overcome inaccessible pathways and navigate schools and temporary learning spaces that are not accessible. Accessible transportation and assistive devices are usually not provided in these contexts.

Without training and support for teachers to adapt the teaching and learning environment to the special needs of vulnerable learners, children with disability struggle to learn the basics. More often than not, few enter higher learning and training.

Sherif says that quality and safety start with inclusion, ensuring that children with disabilities learn along with their peers.

“Ensuring quality education in an inclusive setting necessitates knowledge and capacities, adapted curricula, and targeted interventions such as the provision of specialized material and equipment,” Sherif emphasizes.

“In emergencies and protracted crises, where resources are often scarce, it is fundamental to leverage local resources through partnerships between school personnel and families.”

Sherif concluded by saying it is possible to intervene and maintain educational systems even in the aftermath of conflict to ensure that future generations can escape the cycle of poverty.

• IPS UN Bureau Report

Follow @IPSNewsUNBureau
  

Students attending class at the Souza Gare school in the Littoral region, Cameroon. The school hosts displaced children who have fled the violence in the North-West and South-West regions. The school is supported by ECW. Credit: ECW/Daniel Beloumou

By Busani Bafana
Bulawayo, Zimbabwe, Jan 24 2022 (IPS)

Education lifts millions out of poverty, but because the COVID-19 pandemic wiped out gains made in recent decades, a holistic approach to providing education in crises is crucial, says German Minister for Economic Cooperation and Development, Svenja Schulze.

“Education is a human right and can provide stability and protection for children and adolescents in times of crisis. Yet education is often one of the first services to be suspended, and among the last to be resumed,” Schulze noted following Germany’s announcement of €200 million (US$228.3 million) in new, additional funding to Education Cannot Wait (ECW), a United Nations global fund for education in emergencies and protracted crisis.

“Through Germany’s additional contribution to Education Cannot Wait on the International Day of Education, we intend to make a strong call for more international solidarity to support the education of crisis-affected girls and boys worldwide,” Schulze told IPS. She urged other countries with strong economies, such as G7 partners and private donors to invest in and prioritize education in times of crisis.

German Minister for Economic Cooperation and Development, Svenja Schulze today announced €200 million (US$228.3 million) in new, additional funding to Education Cannot Wait. Credit: Stefanie Loos

Germany’s contribution brings ECW’s Trust Fund to $1.1 billion. Over $1 billion has been leveraged through ECW in-country programmes, making ECW a US$2 billion global fund in just a few years since its establishment in 2016. Appropriately the announcement was made on the International Day of Education with the theme: ‘Changing Course, Transforming Education’.

“This new funding brings Germany’s total contributions to ECW to over €318.8 million ($362.7 million),” ECW’s Director, Yasmine Sherif, told IPS.

“It is a shining example of multilateralism being both bold and results-driven. With this new multi-year announcement, Germany becomes ECW’s number one donor, and Germany becomes the leading donor to commit to multi-year funding,” Sherif says.

IPS reporter Busani Bafana spoke with Schulze and Sherif following the announcement of the new funding. He asked them about the impact of global investments in realizing inclusive and equitable quality education.

Here are excerpts from the interview:

IPS: Why is it important to Germany to invest in multi-year resilience programmes in education through Education Cannot Wait – particularly for vulnerable children and adolescents impacted by armed conflicts, forced displacement, climate-induced disasters, and protracted crises?

Schulze: Germany is committed to the guiding principle of the 2030 Agenda, Leave No One Behind. The international community has agreed to focus on the most vulnerable and reach those who are currently the furthest behind.

Today, one in four school-aged children and adolescents worldwide lives in a country affected by crises. ECW’s multi-year resilience programmes are an appropriate response to the educational needs of crisis-affected children because they bridge the divide between short-term humanitarian interventions and longer-term development cooperation. Education Cannot Wait – the name ECW points out so clearly: now, with COVID-19, we can see the serious consequences of disrupted education even in our own country. For children and youth living in countries affected by crises, the situation is much worse. They need our ongoing assistance, and we need their talents in these challenging times.

With today’s new, additional contribution to ECW, Germany has become ECW’s number one donor – congratulations! What is it about ECW’s mandate and its work with other strategic donors and partners in delivering quality education for crisis-affected children and youth that appeal to Germany? 

Schulze: In order to resolve today’s education challenges, we need multi-stakeholder partnerships. For Germany, ECW is a ground-breaking initiative because it brings together public and private actors in humanitarian aid and development cooperation. By combining innovative short-term and medium-term financing, ECW strengthens the international aid architecture to deliver quality education in emergencies.

Germany is also a strong partner of the Global Partnership for Education (GPE). Last year, we launched the Support Her Education (SHE) Initiative with a pledge of €100 million towards GPE’s Girls’ Education Accelerator. The focus on girls’ education is a priority for us in development as we know that girls can be agents of change for entire societies – just think of Greta Thunberg and her outreach for climate change. As a former Environment Minister, I am very aware of this. So, this money is an investment with a high return. And we will continue to strengthen international partnerships and improve coordination amongst development partners.

IPS: Today, ECW and BMZ announced a major contribution to the ECW global fund for education in emergencies and protracted crises. Do you have a specific plan for this significant contribution? 

Yasmine Sherif, Director of Education Cannot Wait, pictured in Afghanistan during a recent visit, welcomed the donation saying it would give children living in protracted crises an opportunity to be educated.
Credit: ECW/ Omid Fazel

Sherif: The money will be pooled into the ECW Global Trust Fund and delivered via our Multi-Year Resilience Programmes (MYRPs). In all, ECW supports MYRPs in 24 countries along with fast-acting First Emergency Responses (FERs) in 35 countries worldwide. Since ECW was launched, a total of 42 emergency and protracted crisis countries have benefitted from the fund’s investments. Our goal is to scale up our responses to reach even more children and youth with the safety, hope, and opportunity of quality education. This significant and generous contribution by Germany will enable ECW to scale up its added value and results in achieving results-driven and impact-yielding multi-year investments based on the humanitarian-development nexus in crisis-impacted countries and to ensure sustainability, local empowerment, and the Grand Bargain for those left furthest behind.

Education is an inherent human right, but it remains inaccessible to millions of crisis-affected children and adolescents. How successful is ECW in ensuring that this human right becomes a reality?

Global leaders have committed to providing universal and equitable education by 2030 as outlined in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development (SDG4). ECW supports our global efforts to achieve these goals, specifically for the 128 million children and adolescents whose education has been disrupted in their young lives due to conflict, forced displacement, and climate disasters.

Decades of progress in achieving SDG4 have been pushed aside by the multiplying impacts of armed conflicts, forced displacement, climate-induced disasters, COVID-19, and protracted crises. According to UNESCO, as many as 258 million children and youth don’t attend school worldwide. Two out of three students are still impacted by full or partial school closures from COVID-19. Girls are particularly at risk, with estimates projecting that between 11 million and 20 million girls will not return to school after the pandemic. And over 617 million children and adolescents cannot read or do basic math. That’s more than the total population of Germany, the United Kingdom, and the United States combined.

As you mention, ECW has a $1 billion funding gap for education in emergencies and protracted crises. How do you plan to close this gap?

Sherif: In just five years, ECW has met and surpassed its goals for resource mobilization. Part of our mission is underscoring the value of education in achieving our global goals for sustainable development. For every $1 spent on girls’ education, we generate approximately $2.80 in return. Making sure girls finish secondary education could boost the GDP of developing countries by 10 percent over the next decade.

As we’ve seen from Germany’s generous contribution today, key public donors are rising to this challenge and prioritizing education in their official development or/and humanitarian assistance. Now it’s time for others to follow suit, and we certainly hope Germany’s leadership will inspire them to do so.

The private sector needs to step up too. In a world where football teams sell for billions of dollars and billionaires fly themselves into space, how is it possible that we are not finding the resources to send every child to school?

Investing in a child’s education means investing in all of humanity. It is time to transform our perception of the world, our priorities, and how we shoulder our responsibility as a human family. I encourage world leaders and the private sector to join ECW’s movement to support crisis-affected children to realize their human right to quality, inclusive education.

ECW recently approved a $91.7 million Multi-Year Resilience Programmes investment in Bangladesh, Burundi, Lebanon, Libya, Pakistan, and Sudan. How many children are being reached through these investments? 

Sherif: We recently announced a total of S$91.7 million in catalytic grant financing for new and expanded Multi-Year Resilience Programmes in Bangladesh, Burundi, Lebanon, Libya, Pakistan, and Sudan. All but Bangladesh are new multi-year investments, accelerating ECW’s growing expansion into countries impacted by protracted crises. These new multi-year investments announcements add to the multi-year catalytic grant announced earlier in 2021 for Iraq.

Across all countries, the catalytic grants aim to reach over 900,000 vulnerable children and adolescents, of whom 58 percent are girls. Half of the children and adolescents targeted are refugees or internally displaced, and 13 percent are children with disabilities.

These grants aim to leverage an additional US$250 million worth of public and private donors’ funding aligned to the multi-year programmes in these countries to reach a total of 3.3 million crisis-affected children.

You have traveled to schools where children access education in a safe environment for the first time. What impressed you most about the children, the teachers, and the parents?

Sherif: The vastness of human potential is what impresses me most when I meet with children, teachers, and their parents in places like Afghanistan, Burkina Faso, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Lebanon, and beyond. If you teach a girl to read, she can lift up a nation. If you teach a boy to write, he can build a better world. In these places – truly the world’s toughest contexts – all that these children want is the opportunity to go to school, to learn, to grow, to thrive. When we deny their human right to an education, we are denying our own humanity. We can, and we must all do better for them, by working together.

We can still say Happy New Year … what is the biggest challenge for ECW at this stage in January 2022?

Sherif: Together with governments, UN agencies, civil society organizations, public donors, the private sector, and local communities, we need to transform the way we think about delivering education in emergencies and protracted crises. No single stakeholder can do it alone. At this year’s Transforming Education Summit, convened by UN Secretary-General António Guterres, we will ask ourselves how we can avert a generational catastrophe and rethink our education systems and financing to make good on our commitments and promises.

Are you optimistic that the world can achieve the SDGs, particularly SDG #4?

Sherif: Yes, I am optimistic by nature, but also realistic as this will require a global moonshot to achieve the SDGs by the 2030 deadline. We can do it. But every nation, every government, every person truly needs to come together to commit to them and deliver on our promises.

Follow @IPSNewsUNBureau
  

Yasmine Sherif, Director of Education Cannot Wait, on a recent visit to a refugee site in the village of Modale, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo where children's education is being supported.  Sherif says for those living in protracted crises, the risks of GBV are compounded. Courtesy: Education Cannot Wait

By Joyce Chimbi
Nairobi, Dec 9 2021 (IPS)

The statistics are dire: One in three women have experienced a form of gender-based violence in their lifetime, be it sexual violence, physical violence, or child marriage. The message is clear: Women and girls deserve a safer, brighter future – free from gender-based violence.

For those living in protracted crises, the risks are compounded as these often create new risks for girls forced to travel long distances to and from schools and learning spaces, or the lack of safe and gender-segregated WASH facilities. These risks, in turn, often compel families to keep their girls out of school and even to marry them off as children to reduce the risk of gender-based violence in and around schools.

This is why Education Cannot Wait (ECW) – the UN global fund for education in emergencies – has become the first global fund to join the Call to Action on Protection from Gender-Based Violence in Emergencies. The ‘Call to Action’ is a multi-stakeholder initiative to transform how gender-based violence is addressed in humanitarian emergencies. ECW made the announcement during the ‘16 Days of Activism against Violence against Women and Girls’ campaign that kicked off on November 25 and ends on December 10.

“To no one is the campaign so real as it is for girls and adolescent girls who want to go to school, but face gender-based violence in emergency and protracted crisis contexts. These girls fear for their lives, they fear for their security, and they desperately need safe learning spaces so they can reach their full potential and be assured of their inherent human right to live free from fear and violence and to quality education,” said Yasmine Sherif, Director of Education Cannot Wait.

Yasmine Sherif, the Director of Education Cannot Wait, says girls often fear for their lives and are in desperate need of safe spaces so they can reach their full potential. Credit: ECW

Sherif is talking about the one in four children in Africa who live in conflict zones. She is also referring to UNESCO projections which show that 9 million girls between 6-11 years of age – compared with 6 million boys of the same age – living in sub-Saharan Africa will never go to school. These estimates were before the COVID-19 pandemic. Now, with school closures and COVID-19 restrictions, the situation has worsened.

The United Nations estimates that women and girls together account for 72 per cent of all human trafficking victims reported globally. Three out of four child trafficking victims are girls. A majority of women and girls are trafficked for the purpose of sexual exploitation. Globally, 15 million adolescent girls, aged 15–19 years, have experienced forced sex.

ECW points out that in armed conflicts, forced displacement, climate-induced disasters and protracted crises, gender-based violence risks are exacerbated, increasing the challenges already faced by girls, adolescent girls and women, as they are disproportionately affected by the impact of emergencies on education.

Although education is a fundamental human right for all children and adolescents, ECW finds that families are more likely to prioritize boys’ education, choosing not to pay for girls’ school fees, uniforms and other supplies as a result of the economic impact of armed conflicts, forced displacement and other crises.

Sherif and other experts in girls’ education emphasize that better-designed education programmes with a strong, gender-sensitive, protection component can help mitigate such risk – by keeping girls and women safer and supporting them when they experience gender-based violence. This provides them with the skills and knowledge they need to improve their own lives.

Joining forces with more than 95 stakeholders including governments, UN agencies, international NGOs, donors, and local civil society organizations, ECW “aims to contribute to change and foster accountability from the humanitarian system to address gender-based violence from the earliest phases of a crisis.”

All girls have a fundamental right to access safe, quality and inclusive education. Education Cannot Wait believes women and girls need a brighter future, without fear of gender-based violence. Credit: Joyce Chimbi

As the United Nations global fund for education in emergencies and protracted crises, ECW is positioned to make and implement bold commitments to support gender-based violence risk mitigation.

The 16 Days campaign, which this year has the theme, ‘Orange the world: End violence against women now!’, has become an important rallying point to raise awareness and make a difference.

Mary Chepkwony, a field coordinator for the Kenya-based Rural Women Peace Link tells IPS that bold commitments to safeguard the rights of women, girls and adolescent girls are timely and critical.

“Gender-based violence cases are on an unprecedented increase, hence the need to strengthen local- and rural-based women organizations to improve the safety and security of women and girls,” she says.

Concerns are rife that COVID-19-driven economic insecurity is increasing girls and women’s vulnerability to gender-based violence in homes globally. Additionally, school-related gender-based violence is a major obstacle to universal schooling and the right to education for girls.

Meaningful partnerships with local women organizations are crucial for the design and implementation of safe, quality and inclusive education to ensure that girls are not left behind.

“This week, Education Cannot Wait launched two new guidance notes on gender-based violence risk mitigation measures and meaningful engagement of local women organizations,” says Sherif. These guidance notes will help ECW and its partners to support commitments to eliminate gender-based violence risks among women, girls and adolescent girls.

These short and practical guidance notes are based on global best practices and are being systematically integrated in the design and implementation of EWC-supported investments.

“We firmly believe that education in emergencies and protracted crises can greatly contribute to reducing the incidence of gender-based violence by creating safer education in emergency programming. Girls’ access, retention, and learning outcomes can only increase, creating a lasting positive impact on their communities,” says Sherif.

She explains that education in emergencies programming and protection – particularly gender-based violence risk mitigation – reinforce each other and when combined, can lead to positive outcomes for girls and their communities.

Chepkwony applauds these efforts, saying ongoing risk mitigation efforts around the world are a step in the right direction for the safety of women and girls.

ECW already supports these risk mitigation measures across its broad global portfolio. For instance, in Syria and Somalia, referral mechanisms to the gender-based violence sub-cluster were established to ensure disclosure of cases are dealt with according to best practice.

Follow @IPSNewsUNBureau
  

Yasmine Sherif, Director of Education Cannot Wait and Jan Egeland, Secretary General of the Norwegian Refugee Council meet students at the Souza Gare school in the Littoral region, Cameroon. The school hosts displaced children who have fled the violence in the North-West and South-West regions. Credit: ECW/Daniel Beloumou

By Joyce Chimbi
Yaoundé, Cameroon, Dec 3 2021 (IPS)

Education is under attack in Cameroon. As one of the most complex humanitarian crises in the world unfolds, Education Cannot Wait’s director Yasmine Sherif and the Secretary-General of the Norwegian Refugee Council, Jan Egeland, say the children are pawns for grown men in a political conflict.

In an exclusive interview with IPS from Cameroon, where Sherif and Egeland are on a four-day visit, they told of the impact of this ongoing conflict between armed groups and government forces in this central African country.

“The situation in Cameroon is devastating, and education is under attack. Only last week, an attack in a school killed four children and one teacher. A girl had their fingers chopped off for attending school. The result is fear. Fear of going to school,” says Sherif.

Egeland agrees that children are the victims of violence that has nothing to do with them.

“Conflict between grown-ups on political, cultural, and governance issues that are very real and very important to settle are not being settled in negotiations. They are being settled by armed violence against children and life-threatening attacks on their places of learning,” he says.

In the face of threats, harassment, violence, kidnapping, and death targeted at teachers and school-going children, two out of three schools are closed in the North-West and South-West regions, the epicenter of the ongoing conflict between armed groups and government forces in this Central African country.

There is heightened alarm that the situation has placed an entire generation of children in Cameroon’s North-West and South-West regions at risk of losing lifelong learning opportunities.

Girl writing on a blackboard at the Souza Gare school in the Littoral region, Cameroon. The school hosts displaced children who have fled the violence in the North-West and South-West regions. Credit: ECW/Daniel Beloumou

Sherif, who heads ECW, the global fund for education in emergencies and protracted crises, and Egeland have urged all involved to end violence against children.

Hundreds of civilians, including children, have been killed since January 2020 in the North-West and South-West regions. Armed groups and government forces are in violent conflict, and the risks and needs of children impacted by the conflict have increased.

“This is among the most complex humanitarian crises in the world today. Children and youth are having to flee their homes and schools, are threatened with violence and kidnapping, and are being forced into early childhood marriage and recruited into armed groups,” says Sherif.

“We call for urgent support from donors to respond to this forgotten crisis. We call for the respect of human rights and adherence to the principles of international humanitarian law and the Safe Schools Declaration – and for partners to redouble efforts so all children and adolescents can get back to the safety, protection, and hope that quality learning environments provide.”

Sherif says nine out of 10 regions of Cameroon continue to be impacted by one of three complex humanitarian crises, including the North-West and South-West crisis, conflict in the Far North, and a refugee crisis of those fleeing Cameroon.

Children are devastatingly affected as over one million children need urgent education support. While impressed by their resilience, courage, and hunger for education, Sherif says this is not enough to keep them in school.

“The children will need protection, school meals, health and psychosocial support, and tools for teachers to do their job,” she says.

To address these multiple emergencies, made worse by COVID-19 and climate change, Sherif says ECW is working hand-in-hand with organizations in Cameroon, the Ministry of Basic Education, Ministry of Secondary Education and UN agencies, the Norwegian Refugee Council, and civil society education partners to build a multi-year resilience programme in Cameroon.

Egeland tells IPS that the partnerships are timely and critical because what is happening in North-West and South-West regions in Cameroon deserves international outrage.

Yasmine Sherif, Director of Education Cannot Wait and Jan Egeland, Secretary-General of the Norwegian Refugee Council meet with Joseph Dion NGute, Prime Minister of Cameroon. Credit: Cameroon, Prime Minister’s Office

He says more than 700,000 children in Cameroon are “either completely out of school because they lost their school at gunpoint or because they ended up with 90 others in cramped classrooms in the few remaining schools. Children should never be pawns for grown men in political conflict.”

Sherif fears that even more children will exit the education system and not return.

“I feel very strongly about improving and reinforcing the education rights of all children in Cameroon. Just because you live in Cameroon does not mean that you cannot go to school. Legal provisions for children impacted by conflict must be activated,” she says.

With many schools remaining closed or non-operational, Sherif says there is cause for worry. In the absence of urgent, timely, and practical risk management interventions such as building walls around schools and reinforcing on-school security, an entire generation of children in Cameroon could become illiterate.

For schools to reopen, Egeland says that children must be exempted from political grievances. Keeping with international law, he says safe zones or areas established in armed conflict for the protection of civilians must be declared, and genuine negotiation between warring groups activated.

He says negotiations are much needed as the situation is now out of hand – five years since renewed tensions between the government and armed groups imploded into an emergency crisis.

On his visit to Cameroon three years ago, Egeland says an estimated 500,000 people were displaced. Today, the figure has risen to over 700,000 people.

“Then, hundreds of thousands of children were out of school for a second year running. Today, the children are out of school for the fifth year running,” he says.

Sherif says the situation is untenable and that a resilient, safe and secure learning environment is the most pressing need for children in Cameroon.

“ECW is contributing US$25 million over three years and calls for other donors to fill the gap, which is estimated at US$50 million. When fully funded, the programme will provide approximately 250,000 children and adolescents with access to safe and protective learning environments in the most-affected areas,” she says.

Egeland says such investments are much needed.

He told IPS the turmoil had not dimmed the children’s dreams of a bright future in nursing, medicine, and law.

There is an urgent need for the international community to focus on Cameroon – a forgotten and neglected conflict.

“Cameroon should no longer be the most neglected in terms of funding per person in need. The country is significantly underfunded despite the ongoing humanitarian crisis and increasing vulnerabilities for children,” he cautioned.

He further says that warring groups must be encouraged to reach compromises because the end of the ongoing conflict will be a beginning full of immense opportunities for Cameroonian children.

Meanwhile, Sherif says the situation is so dire that school-going children dress in camouflage, so violent armed groups do not target them. They need secure environments now – their education cannot wait.

Follow @IPSNewsUNBureau
  

Yasmine Sherif, Director of Education Cannot Wait, on a recent visit to a refugee site in the village of Modale, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo where children's education is being supported.  Sherif says for those living in protracted crises, the risks of GBV are compounded. Courtesy: Education Cannot Wait

By Alison Kentish
NEW YORK/GENEVA, Oct 5 2021 (IPS)

The COVID-19 pandemic has changed the face of education globally, but for children in emergencies and protracted crises, its blow has been particularly devastating.

Education Cannot Wait (ECW), the global fund that brings teaching and learning to children and adolescents in emergencies and crises, has said that 2020 was ‘exceptionally challenging.’

ECW released its Annual Results Report, Winning the Human Race today, October 5, World Teachers’ Day.

“The pandemic acted as a risk multiplier, as it not only created new challenges but also amplified existing challenges and risks for the most vulnerable groups, especially girls and children and adolescents with disabilities,” the report stated.

“With COVID-19 upending entire societies and socio-economic systems, 2020 is remembered as a uniquely challenging year in modern history. While close to 90 percent of learners worldwide saw their education disrupted – with nearly one year lost in schooling for one billion children – those who were already marginalized and left furthest behind in crisis contexts are paying a heavier price,” said UN Special Envoy for Global Education, Gordon Brown.

“An entire generation faces irreversible loss. Among them, an estimated 20 million displaced girls, particularly adolescent girls, are at risk of permanently dropping out of school, not only losing the opportunity to learn, but also the protection that education offers against gender-based violence, child marriage, sexual exploitation, and human trafficking.”

For the past nearly 5 years, Education Cannot Wait has worked tirelessly to minimize disruption in learning for close to 5 million children in some of the world’s most dire emergency and crisis zones in countries like Afghanistan, Syria, Palestine, and Yemen.

“Without immediate additional significant financial investments to support education in emergencies and protracted crises, entire generations will be lost. COVID-19 has compounded the already existing devastation of conflicts, climate-related disasters, and forced displacement from Afghanistan, Syria, Yemen, to the Sahel, Central African Republic, Ethiopia, South Sudan, and Venezuela – to name but a few of the 38 crises where ECW is working with partners to deliver on the right of every girl and boy to a safe, quality education,” said Yasmine Sherif, Director of Education Cannot Wait.

As the world honors teachers at a challenging time for education, the latest ECW report is confirming that the global fund has recruited close to 150,000 teachers to help fill the gaps in education for children in crucial crisis settings.

ECW ensures that the teachers have access to resources and receive training in education in emergencies and protracted crises (EiEPC). The educators are also trained in the provision of mental and psycho-social support, gender, and inclusion.

When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, ECW acted proactively and decisively. Soon after the World Health Organization’s March 11, 2020 pandemic declaration, ECW initiated 85 grant packages in 32 countries. According to the annual report, ‘US$23.0 million was mobilized from the First Emergency Response (FER) reserve within 21 days, and a further US$22.4 million was approved in July 2020 – a total of US$45.4 million.’

It was the fund’s most rapid disbursement of funds and a concerted effort to protect the world’s children furthest behind. Over 29 million children and adolescents benefitted, with girls making up 51 percent of that figure.

With Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 4 ensuring inclusive and equitable quality education and promoting lifelong opportunities for all as a guide, ECW has pivoted through the pandemic; scaling up resources and support for distance-learning amid school closures, promoting COVID-19 protocols, and supplying health and hygiene products.

In some countries, like Afghanistan, home visits ensured that the pandemic did not derail children’s learning.

In Yemen, ECW partner UNICEF donated electronic learning materials to over 330,000 children.

In Iraq, ECW and its partners embraced technology and used applications such as WhatsApp and Viber to communicate, send lessons, and support over 5,000 students.

Children in protracted crises in Afghanistan, Chad, Palestine, and Uganda received health and hygiene lessons, while emergency funds supported a range of continuing education programs.

ECW credits its rapid response and impact during the pandemic to the flexibility of the fund, and the resilience of its partners, communities, and the children and adolescents its serves. However, interrupted education and learning in the face of armed conflicts, forced displacement and climate, and food crises, and a pandemic pushing millions more into poverty, financing will remain a major challenge.

“If we are going to advance in our quest for the human race, our global community must play a pivotal role in making the notion of our ‘shared humanity’ a reality. This means providing these children with at least 12 years of quality education. This is an investment in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals, an investment in peace, an investment in our future, and an investment in our universal human rights,” Sherif said.

ECW’s vision is to bring quality and inclusive education to at least two-thirds of children in the world’s most acute and urgent crisis regions.

According to the report, ECW has raised US$828.3 million through the ECW Trust Fund, and with its partners, helped leverage US$1 billion worth of programs aligned with ECW’s Multi-Year Resilience Programmes in close to 18 countries.

The fund has been a lifeline for millions of children in the grips of war, displacement, humanitarian and emergency crises. The fund has proven that even in the world’s worst crisis-affected countries, children and adolescents do not have to be left behind. On the contrary, they should, according to ECW, be the first in line for empowerment and global support.

“Working together with our partners, the scope of our collective achievements is unequivocal: less than 5 years into existence, ECW has demonstrated its proof of concept through concrete results for crisis-affected children and youth. I call on world leaders, the private sector, and our global community to urgently and generously support Education Cannot Wait in reaching the millions of children that are already falling through the cracks,” said Sherif.

Follow @IPSNewsUNBureau