New UK support will help provide emergency education to 20 million children in crisis

Andrew Mitchell will today (Thursday, 16 February) announce UK funding to help provide education for 20 million children living in humanitarian crises around the world, from Ukraine to Syria.

The £80 million contribution to the work of Education Cannot Wait (ECW) over the next four years will help to keep children safe and offer them education during extreme weather events, conflicts and pandemics. ECW is the UN global fund for education in emergencies and protracted crises.

Since its inception in 2017, the fund has given multi-year support to over 30 crisis-affected countries, trained 87,000 teachers and reached 7 million children and adolescents, of whom 48% were girls. In response to the deadly earthquake in Turkey and Syria, Education Cannot Wait (ECW) has recently announced $7 million in funding to provide vital support for vulnerable children and young people to keep them safe and learning.

The UK is proud to be a co-founding member of ECW and remains a leading donor. These contributions reflect the UK’s commitment to prioritising education in emergencies, including for girls and the most vulnerable.

Andrew Mitchell will make the announcement at a financing conference for ECW in Geneva.  

Minister of State for Development and Africa Andrew Mitchell said:  

“I’ve just returned from Niger where I saw how education is transforming the lives of young people who have been displaced by conflict and food shortages.   

“Educating children and young people affected by crises is one of the biggest challenges we face - from Russia’s illegal invasion of Ukraine, to the recent devastating earthquake in Turkey and Syria and not forgetting a generation of girls being cruelly banned from attending school in Afghanistan.  

“We are renewing our commitment to education in emergencies because we refuse to give up on the 222 million children and adolescents affected by the horrors of war, disaster and displacement. Education can provide a lifeline through to a better future.” 

Today the UK is pledging £80m over the four-year period 2023-2026 to ECW as part of a £90m package to provide support for education in crises. ECW aims to support 20 million children in crisis affected countries during this period.

As well as supporting ECW the UK is investing in other partners to ensure expert education support can be quickly mobilised in the event of a crisis – such as responding to the devastating earthquakes in Turkey and Syria.

Executive Director of Education Cannot Wait Yasmine Sherif said:  

“This ground-breaking pledge from the United Kingdom is a crucial step towards making good on our global promise to deliver on the Sustainable Development Goals in armed conflicts, climate disasters and forced displacement: for the 222 million crisis-affected children and adolescents who urgently need quality education. This is our investment today to empower them and build a better world for generations to come.”   

Children in fragile and conflict-affected countries are more than twice as likely to be out of school than those in countries not affected by conflict. A recent study by ECW estimates that 222 million children affected by crises need educational support.

Girls are particularly affected and are at higher risk of sexual violence and trafficking. In crisis-affected countries, only 27% of refugee girls are enrolled in secondary school.

The UK has a longstanding commitment to support global education needs, spanning early years, primary and secondary education, to higher education and skills.

Today’s pledge will  make an important contribution to the G7 global objective to get 40 million more girls in school by 2026 and 20 million girls reading by the age of ten or the end of primary school. The UK secured agreement to these key global targets during its Presidency of the G7 in 2021. 

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Notes to editors 

• Media are invited to register here to attend in person and/or participate in the virtual press conference 
• ECW is the global fund for education in emergencies and started work in 2017. The UK has been at the forefront of developing ECW and was a founding donor.

• The UK has pledged £80m over the four-year period 2023-2026 to Education Cannot Wait (ECW). This pledge will bring the UK’s total commitment to ECW since 2016 to almost £200 million.
• The £80m funding for ECW is part of an overall £90m package to provide support for education in crises.
• ECW currently operates across 33 crisis-affected countries. It provides both multi-year programmes on education and an emergency first response facility, enabling it to intervene rapidly when children are affected by extreme weather events, conflict or pandemics.

• ECW has announced $7 Million of funding in response to the deadly earthquake in Turkey and Syria to provide children impacted with life-saving access to education.

• During his visit to Geneva, Minister Mitchell will also hold bilateral meetings to discuss the education in emergencies agenda, alongside broader issues including UN reform, climate adaptation and the refugee crisis. Minister Mitchell will meet with UN Special Envoy for Global Education and former UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown to discuss the work of the International Finance Facility for Education. He will also speak with President and CEO of the International Rescue Committee (IRC) and former UK Foreign Secretary, David Miliband, to better understand how the IRC is delivering on behalf of FCDO. There is also a meeting between Minister Mitchell and the German Minister for Economic Cooperation and Development, Svenja Schulze.