The United Nations Office at Geneva
Multimedia Newsroom
Edited News | UNICEF , UNOG , UNITED NATIONS
UNOG Bi-Weekly Press Briefing: 128 Million Children In Need Of Education - ECW
As the number of children and youth in desperate need of education skyrockets with the Covid-19 pandemic, ECW (Education Cannot Wait) welcomes significant new funding from Germany
The number of children who have lost access to education across the world has almost doubled since before the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the head of the global UN fund that deals with delivering education in emergency situations.
Yasmine Sherif, Director of Education Cannot Wait (ECW), said that as recently as 2016, the number of “children and youth who did not access education because of conflict and crisis and refuge were estimated at 75 million, of whom 39 million were girls. Today, as a result of Covid-19, we have reached a number of 128 million children and youth, half of them girls, who are not accessing education.”
Speaking at a press briefing at the UN in Geneva, Ms. Sherif thanked the people and government of Germany who announced yesterday, on International Day for Education, Monday 24 January, an additional contribution of 200 million Euro in funding for Education Cannot Wait (ECW), reaching a total of 318 Euro million in funding from Germany.
“Education is key to tackle the challenges of our time. Sustainable development, environmental transformation and social cohesion, just to name a few. However, Covid-19 has threatened all progress we have made. We experienced a huge backlash, and this is also true with education” said Katharina Stasch, the Ambassador of Germany to the UN in Geneva.
The new funding brings the ECW’s total Trust Fund to over USD 1.1 billion for crisis-affected children and youth – a seemingly large number but nowhere near what is still needed to address the problem on a global scale.
With over USD 1 billion leveraged through ECW in-country programmes, this makes ECW a more than 2-billion USD global fund in just a few short years since its establishment.
“Thanks to the German contribution, we broke that record yesterday,” Ms. Sherif said.
“We are making a difference to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals,” Ms. Sherif added, in an urgent plea for partners to step up and pledge an addition one billion USD to meet emergency education needs. “And we call on all member states in the U.N., host governments to cooperate with us, governments who are able to provide the funding, and many are private sectors, please help us reach the next funding target: USD 1 billion”, the ECW Director added.
Germany is currently the top contributor to ECW, followed by the United Kingdom and Denmark.
-ends-
- Exterior wide shot, United Nations Palace of Nations, Geneva. UN flags flying.
- Wide shot of press room UN Geneva.
- SOUNDBITE (English) Yasmine Sherif, Director of Education Cannot Wait (ECW): “Back then, the estimated children and youth who did not access education because of conflict and crisis and refuge were estimated at 75 million, of whom 39 million were girls. That was back in 2016. Today, as a result of COVID-19, we have reached a number of 128 million children and youth, half of them girls, who are not accessing education.”
- Cutaway, Wide Shot of press room
- SOUNDBITE (English) Ambassador Katharina Stasch, Germany's Permanent Representative to the UN in Geneva: “Education is key to tackle the challenges of our time. Sustainable development, environmental transformation and social cohesion, just to name a few. However, COVID-19 has threatened all progress we have made. We experienced a huge backlash, and this is also true with education.”
- Cutaway, Close shot of cameraman
- SOUNDBITE (English) Yasmine Sherif, Director of Education Cannot Wait (ECW): “Thanks to the German contribution, we broke that record yesterday. USD 1.1 billion in our Trust Fund and an additional excess of 1 billion in income through missions against our programs, making Education Cannot Wait (ECW) an over USD 2 billion fund in less than five years.“
- Cutaway, Medium lateral shot of speakers at podium
- SOUNDBITE (English) Yasmine Sherif, Director of Education Cannot Wait (ECW): “We are making a difference to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals. And we call on all member states in the U.N., host governments to cooperate with us, governments who are able to provide the funding, and many are private sector, please help us reach the next funding target: USD 1 billion.”
- Cutaway, Medium shot of participants
Similar Stories
1
1
1
Edited News | WHO
Gaza: Hospitals continue to overflow with people injured while seeking food - WHO
As besieged Palestinian civilians face widespread malnutrition and starvation, hospitals in the Strip are increasingly overwhelmed by the influx of victims of shootings and other injuries at food distribution areas, warns the World Health Organization.
1
1
1
Edited News | UNHCR , WHO , UNMAS
Urgent help is needed to halt a deadly cholera outbreak that is sweeping across Sudan, UN agencies said on Friday, while warning that communities continue to be terrorized by parties to the conflict even as they flee violence.
2
2
1
2
Press Conferences , Edited News , Images | UNEP
Negotiations got under way at UN Geneva on Tuesday to agree on a legally binding treaty to curb plastic pollution, with delegates from nearly 180 countries attending.
1
1
1
Edited News | OCHA , UNICEF
Gaza: Hundreds of trucks per day of free aid needed “for months”, in addition to commercial supplies - OCHA
Despite the tactical pauses Israel introduced last week to allow some safe passage for humanitarian convoys, the amount of aid that has entered Gaza remains by far insufficient for the starving population, and UN trucks continue to face impediments on their way to delivering aid.
1
1
1
Edited News | UN WOMEN
Aid agencies echoed wider warnings of growing signs of widespread starvation in Gaza on Tuesday, as UN-partnered international food security experts released their most dire assessment yet of the situation in the wartorn enclave.
1
1
1
Edited News | IOM , UNDP , UNHCR
Sudan: urgent help needed as more than 1.3 million war-displaced people begin to return home
As conflict rages on across parts of Sudan, pockets of relative safety have emerged in the past four month, spurring more than one million internally displaced Sudanese to make their way home, says the International Organization for Migration (IOM). A further 320,000 cross-border refugees have come back to Sudan since last year, mainly from Egypt and South Sudan, to assess the current situation before deciding to return to their country for good.
1
1
1
Edited News | UNRWA , WHO
Gaza: SOS messages describe people fainting from hunger; UN health worker detained
Worrying alerts from United Nations staff in Gaza who have been fainting from hunger and exhaustion over the past 48 hours have increased fears for people’s survival in the devastated enclave, UN humanitarians said on Tuesday.
1
1
1
Edited News | UNHCR , UNOG
Over 11.6 million refugees risk losing aid access due to funding cuts, says UNHCR
Approximately one in three refugees and other vulnerable individuals normally supported by the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) are expected to lose out from funding cuts, it said on Friday.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR
Ravina Shamdasani, Spokesperson for the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, made the following announcement on the Office’s opening of a new mission in Bangladesh.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR
“The surge in the number of Afghans forced or compelled to return to Afghanistan this year is creating a multi-layered human rights crisis requiring the urgent attention of the international community,” UN Human Rights spokesperson Ravina Shamdasani said on Friday.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR , UNOG
UN Human Rights Chief Volker Türk on Friday called for accountability and justice for the killings and other gross human rights violations and abuses in the southern city of Suweida.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR , UNHCR
Syria: hundreds killed in Sweida, ‘widespread’ violations as civilians flee for their lives
Amid violent clashes in southern Syria’s Sweida governorate, a picture of grave human rights abuses and rising humanitarian needs is emerging by the hour, the UN said on Friday.