LONDON, Sep 15 (IPS) – We must face the challenges ahead with hope and courage. We must rise to the challenge of a world on fire due to climate change, forced displacement, armed conflict and human rights abuses. We must rise to the challenge of girls in Afghanistan being denied their right to education. We must rise to the challenge of a global refugee crisis that is disrupting development gains around the world. We must rise to the challenge of brutal and unconscionable wars in countries like Sudan and Ukraine, which endanger millions of children every day.
By ensuring that every child has access to quality education and by embracing the enormous potential of the human spirit – especially the 224 million girls and boys who are in emergencies and protracted crises and so urgently need our support – we can achieve this accept the challenge. It is an opportunity for girls with disabilities like Sammy in Colombia to find a nurturing place to learn and grow, it is an opportunity for girls who have been forced into child marriage, like Ajak in South Sudan, to regain control over their lives, it is an opportunity for refugees like Jannat in Bangladesh to find hope and dignity again.
As Education Cannot Wait (ECW), the United Nations global fund for education in emergencies, has successfully completed its first strategic planning period and is now entering its second strategic period, we see again and again the power of education in driving the global efforts to deliver results. on the commitments set out in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, the Paris Agreement, the Convention on the Rights of the Child and other crucial international frameworks. By ensuring quality holistic education for the world’s most marginalized and vulnerable children in crisis, we invest in human capital, transform economies, safeguard human rights and build a more peaceful and sustainable future for all.
The performance described in ECW’s 2022 Annual Results Report tells the story of a pioneering global fund that moves with power, speed and agility while achieving quality. Together with a growing number of strategic partners, ECW reached 4.2 million children in 2022 alone. It was also the first time that girls represented more than half of the children reached by ECW’s investments, including 53% of girls at secondary level, which is an important milestone in achieving the ambitious target of 60 % girls. Now in its sixth year of operation, ECW has reached a total of 8.8 million children and adolescents with the safety, power and opportunity of high-quality, inclusive education. During the COVID-19 pandemic, an additional 32.2 million children and adolescents were reached with targeted interventions.
We are also seeing a global advocacy movement reaching critical mass, along with stronger political commitment and increased funding for the sector. In 2022, funding for emergency education was higher than ever before. Total available funding has grown by more than 57% in just three years – from $699 million in 2019 to more than $1.1 billion in 2022.
However, needs have also skyrocketed over the same period. Funding demand for education in emergencies within humanitarian appeals has almost tripled from US$1.1 billion in 2019 to almost US$3 billion by the end of 2022. This means that while donors are stepping up their efforts, the funding gap has actually widened, with only 30 % of education in emergencies were funded in 2022.
With support from major donors – including Germany, the United Kingdom and the United States, as the top three contributors under 25 in total, such as visionary private sector partners such as The LEGO Foundation – ECW High-Level raised $826 million announced. Financing conference in early 2023. Collective resource mobilization efforts from all partners and stakeholders at global, regional and country levels also helped mobilize an additional US$842 million in funding for education in the country, which was contributed in line with ECW’s Multi-Year Resilience Programs in 22 countries, illustrating strong coordination by strategic donor partners working in affected emergencies and protracted crisis contexts.
We must meet this challenge by finding new and innovative ways to finance education. To date, some of ECW’s largest and prospective bilateral and multilateral donors have not yet committed funding for the full 2023-2026 period, and a gap remains in funding from the private sector, foundations and philanthropic donors. In the first half of 2023, ECW faces a funding gap of approximately $670 million to fully finance outcomes under the 2023-2026 Strategic Plan to reach more than 20 million children over the next three years.
The investments will address the diverse impacts of the crisis on education through child-centred approaches tailored to the needs of specific groups affected by the crisis, such as children with disabilities, girls, refugees and vulnerable children in host communities. These investments include academic learning, social and emotional learning, sports, the arts, combined with mental health and psychosocial services, school nutrition, water and sanitation, as well as a protection component.
Since the ECW became operational, we have witnessed the cataclysmic forces of a global pandemic, an increase in armed conflict that has disrupted social and economic security around the world, the unconscionable denial of education for girls in Afghanistan, floods and droughts that have become increasingly devastating have become, endured. by climate change and other crises that are derailing efforts to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals.
Now is the time to come together as one people, one planet, to tackle the challenges ahead. Now is the time to embrace the enormous potential of the human spirit. With education for all, we can ensure that girls like Sammy, Ajak and Jannat can reach their full potential and build a better world for generations to come.
Rt. Hon. Gordon Brown is the United Nations Special Envoy for Global Education
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© Inter Press Service (2023) — All rights reservedOriginal source: Inter Press Service