Creating urgency for education in emergencies and protracted crises
An estimated 75 million school-age children and youth — already impacted by armed conflicts, forced displacement, natural disasters, and protracted crises — are now doubly hit by the COVID-19 pandemic. These children and youth are in desperate need of education support, either in danger of, or already missing out on their education.
More donor funding and political commitment are needed to ensure these vulnerable girls and boys can access quality education. The inherent human right to education is most at risk during emergencies — but it is also the exact time when it is needed the most. Beyond learning, education provides safety, protection, opportunity, and hope — and in too many cases is nothing less than life-saving.
On the occasion of International Youth Day on Aug. 12, Education Cannot Wait and Devex co-hosted a dynamic, high-level global discussion engaging key stakeholders around this crucial issue. The event highlighted some of the challenges and showcased solutions to deliver a more collaborative and rapid response to education in emergencies and protracted crises needs of affected children and youth.
“Hope dies not only when a refugee ship is lost at sea, or when a convoy can’t get through to a besieged town, but hope dies when young people cannot plan and prepare for the future because there is no school to go to, there is no education that is within their grasp,” said Gordon Brown, United Nations special envoy for global education, chair of the ECW High-Level Steering Group, and former U.K. prime minister.
Ensuring no one is left behind
UNHCR high profile supporter and Syrian youth advocate for refugees Nujeen Mustafa underlined that education is an inherent right and that it is “unacceptable and inexcusable” for millions of children and young people to be denied this right. Recounting her story and the difficulties she faced in accessing learning opportunities as a girl with disability growing up in Syria, she called on policymakers not to see children from conflict zones as “a burden or a problem to solve” but rather as “treasures” who should be valued and provided with the opportunities they deserve.
Norway’s Minister of International Development Dag Ulstein stressed that “we are in the midst of a crisis that we never thought would come, which makes it even more difficult for the most marginalized ones to access education, especially in areas affected by conflict and crises.” Ulstein reaffirmed Norway’s commitment to education in emergencies and protracted crises saying “no one should be left behind.”
“Education is a lifeline for refugee children and youth,” said UNHCR Deputy High Commissioner Kelly T. Clements. She highlighted how COVID-19 is making it even more difficult for refugees to access education, especially for those who lack the necessary connectivity for remote learning or for those who can no longer access the specialized support they need. Clements stressed the urgency of increasing support, in particular for refugee girls, who face heightened risks of child marriage, early pregnancy, and sexual violence.
The importance of strong collaboration
During the event, Education Cannot Wait Director Yasmine Sherif presented key highlights of the new ECW 2019 annual results report, showing how stronger collaboration and multilateral efforts are key to achieving inclusive, equitable quality education outcomes for children and youth in crisis settings.
She underscored ECW’s flexibility and lean structure as instrumental to increasing the speed of education emergency responses and accountability to crisis-affected communities. Sherif also stressed encouraging funding trends with close to $800 million mobilized to date by ECW at both the global level and with ECW-supported country-based programs. In addition, a growing share of global humanitarian funding is being allocated to education: from 2.6% in 2015 to 5.1% in 2019.
Despite this progress, she noted that “much more remains to be done,” and appealed to donors to urgently contribute an additional $310 million to ECW. “We are about to enter a new phase where education will be put at the forefront. If we all work together, we can take this to the next level,” she said.
“If girls cannot attend school and access traditional education, then we need to take education to girls where they are: in their villages, in their homes.”
Providing education for refugees and youth in crisis
Rangina Hamidi, Afghanistan’s first female minister of education post-Taliban era, added that “if my education had waited, I would not be the minister of education today in Afghanistan.” She also related how her father’s determination for his daughters to be educated led him to seek refuge with his family in the United States. Hamidi stressed that 3.7 million children are out of school today in Afghanistan, 60% of whom are girls.
She said the COVID-19 pandemic must be seized as an opportunity to be creative and think beyond the traditional provision of education. “If girls cannot attend school and access traditional education, then we need to take education to girls where they are: in their villages, in their homes,” she said. “We have successful results that show that when you take education to their communities, girls do get educated.”
During the panel conversation, UNHCR DAFI scholar and youth advocate for refugees Deborah Kalumbi recounted how she was forced to flee her home in Goma, Democratic Republic of the Congo, for Zambia, and the challenges she faced in accessing education in a different language in her new country. “Education helped me embrace and accept my new life,” she said.
Delivering on the promise of education
UNICEF Executive Director Henrietta Fore stressed that “education is the foundation of all humanitarian and development responses” and must be addressed as a continuum from the first day of an emergency through to recovery and longer-term development.
“Education is the greatest asset we can give to young people,” she said, calling on all event participants to join forces to connect every child and young person to learning in the coming years — including through access to distance learning and digital skills.
In the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, Canada’s Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of International Development Kamal Khera stressed the importance of seizing the opportunity of school re-openings to create better and more resilient education systems that provide access to the most marginalized children and youth, and including refugees in national education systems.
“Education Cannot Wait has been a leader in demonstrating how education programming can be quickly and efficiently rolled out within the humanitarian, development, and peace nexus,” she added.
There was also a strong call to action for world leaders and policymakers to deliver on their commitments to the Sustainable Development Goals from Theirworld President Justin Van Fleet.
“We have the technology and the resources we need, we have all the partners, and we know what needs to be done,” he said. “We know that education is what unlocks the solution to the pandemic: economic growth, jobs for young people, better health, nutrition, and we know that investing in early years is what gives a child the best start in life.”
Norwegian Refugee Council Secretary-General Jan Egeland wrapped up the discussion by stressing the importance of recognizing achievements in the field of education in emergencies and protracted crises in recent years.
However, Egeland stated that youth between 15 years old and 24 years old have often been excluded from this progress and are largely “out of education, out of livelihoods and out of hope” and that they must urgently be prioritized.
Egeland also underscored the massive setback of the pandemic.
“The crisis is profound, therefore the investment in alternative education, remote education, and new technology has to be much bigger,” he said, concluding his remarks with a message from children: “We need education as much as we need food; it is a question of survival.”
Watch the event recording to learn more about the links between education, peace, and development, and catch up on the discussion on how to boost access to education for children and youth living in crisis-affected countries. You can join the conversation online using the hashtags #ECWResults and #StrongerTogetherInCrises.
Download the full ECW annual report and its executive summary.
Photos: Education Cannot Wait
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