The United Nations Education Cannot Wait (ECW) fund requires urgent financial assistance to help 222 million crisis-affected children worldwide to access education
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 03rd February, 2023) The United Nations Education Cannot Wait (ECW) fund requires urgent financial assistance to help 222 million crisis-affected children worldwide to access education.
"Right now, 222 million crisis-affected children and adolescents need urgent education support and more than half of those are girls. It is critical that Education Cannot Wait is fully funded to ensure our global strategic partners, such as Plan International, are able to continue their impactful work to provide the safety, hope and opportunity of an education to the world's most vulnerable girls and boys," ECW Director Yasmine Sherif said.
According to ECW, global conflicts, climate change and other crises "have tripled the number of crisis-impacted children" and adolescents that need education support from 75 million in 2015 to the current estimate of 222 million. The climate crisis, in particular, is disrupting the education of 40 million children every year.
ECW's four-year strategic plan requires $1.5 billion in additional funding in order to reach an additional 20 million children in need. Irish Minister of State With Responsibility for International Development Sean Fleming and CEO of independent humanitarian organization Plan International Stephen Omollo supported the call to boost funding for education in emergencies.
The fund intends to urge donor governments to increase humanitarian aid to education at the upcoming ECW High-Level Financing Conference in Geneva, Switzerland, on February 16-17.
