KYIV, Ukraine, Sept. 13, 2024 — On a high-level UN mission to Ukraine this week, Education Cannot Wait (ECW) leadership met with girls and boys impacted by the brutal war and partners on the ground to better understand how the education of some 4 million children across Ukraine has been disrupted.
The visit concluded at the Fourth Summit of First Ladies and Gentlemen with ECW calling on world leaders to commit to protecting education from attack and to scale-up funding to provide life-saving access to safer in-person classes, remote learning opportunities when necessary, and remedial catch-up classes, driven by quality and inclusive education.
“This atrocious war must stop now! For as long as the children, adolescents and teachers in Ukraine suffer this unfathomable horror, schools must be protected from attacks. As a global community we must rise to the challenge before us to ensure that every girl and every boy in Ukraine impacted by this brutal war and the refugees have access to the safety, hope and opportunity that only a quality education can provide,” said Yasmine Sherif, Executive Director of Education Cannot Wait (ECW), the global fund for education in emergencies and protracted crises within the United Nations. “Our investment in education is an investment in recovery, peace, security and justice for Ukraine and beyond. It is an investment in the vast potential of future generations.”
ECW and its strategic donor partners have provided more than US$26.9 million in funding to support quality, holistic education programmes in Ukraine since 2017. Delivered by a consortium of partners including Finn Church Aid, the Kyiv School of Economics, Save the Children and UNICEF – in coordination with the Ukrainian Ministry of Education and Science – the programmes have reached more than 360,000 children, about 65% of whom are girls.
“The support from Education Cannot Wait is critical for children, their parents and teachers who are doing everything they can to keep classrooms open and to continue in-person learning despite the impact of the war across the country,” said Munir Mammadzade, UNICEF Representative to Ukraine.
ECW’s support includes a US$20.4 million allocation to roll out a Multi-Year Resilience Programme in Ukraine. The investment seeks to mobilize millions more in additional funding and reach more than 150,000 children across 10 of Ukraine’s most-impacted areas.
The investments work to improve learning outcomes by providing safer and more accessible physical learning environments, expanding digital learning initiatives and providing alternative education opportunities. To address the challenges facing the girls and boys who are living through this ongoing conflict, there is also a strong focus on mental health and psychosocial support, and targeted support for girls and children living with disabilities.
At last year’s Education Cannot Wait High-Level Financing Conference, the Global Business Coalition for Education (GBCE) pledged to mobilize US$50 million from the business community in support of ECW’s four-year strategic plan. In partnership with GBCE, TheirWorld, HP and Microsoft, US$39 million in partnership and device donation for ECW has already been mobilized, and over 70,000 laptops have been shared with schools, teachers and other people in need, both inside Ukraine and in neighboring countries.
Since the start of the school year in early September, deadly and destructive attacks have again affected education facilities across Ukraine. Approximately 600,000 school-aged children are not able to access in-person learning, and since the start of the war over 1,300 educational facilities have been damaged or destroyed, according to UNICEF. Even when children are in school, the constant threat of bombings and attacks is disrupting the quality and continuity of education for children who have been pushed from their homes, lost loved ones in the fighting, and live under constant threat.
Education Cannot Wait and its strategic partners are calling for US$600 million in additional funding to deliver on the global targets outlined in the Fund’s four-year strategic plan to provide children in crisis-impacted countries everywhere with quality, holistic education, and the hope for a better tomorrow.