School in Yemen “Education Cannot Wait”: $1.5 Billion Needed to Support 20 Million Children Humanitarian Aid
The Education Cannot Wait initiative has supported nearly 11 million children over six years. Education, nutrition, mental health – the assistance provided covered all aspects of the educational process. This was stated at a briefing in New York by Yasmin Sherif, executive director of the Education Cannot Wait foundation.
Multilateral cooperation
She presented a report on the work done. “Last year, which is the subject of this report, we provided 5.6 million children with quality education,” Sherif said. “We used the United Nations humanitarian system and the resident coordinator system to do this. We work in close partnership with the ministries of education [of UN member states]. We work with partners from the UN system, communities, civil society, teachers’ associations.”
Lack of funding
Such multilateral cooperation bears fruit, but, as the speaker noted, this work is undermined by a lack of funding. She cited statistics that allow us to judge the effectiveness of investments in education. Thus, the invested funds led to an increase in academic indicators, as well as improved mental health of schoolchildren.
Today, the Fund sets a goal of increasing the total number of children receiving support to 20 million by 2026, and this requires $1.5 billion, of which only $900 million has been received.
Climate Change
In 2022, the number of climate-related disasters almost doubled, and many of them directly affected the situation in the field of education. According to Sherif, by investing in the construction of schools that are resilient to floods, earthquakes and other disasters, education can be protected from the effects of climate change. In addition, as the speaker noted, it is necessary to invest in environmental education for children.