Conference: More than 770 million euros for UN education fund

At a conference in Geneva, the international community collected pledges of more than 770 million euros for educational opportunities for children in need. The money is intended to help ensure that schools in the affected countries are also available in the event of disasters and wars. This also includes 210 million euros from the federal government. Germany is by far the largest donor to a fund set up by the United Nations in 2016 called Education Cannot Wait.

A total of around 1.5 billion dollars (at today’s rate: 1.4 billion euros) are to be raised for programs in 44 countries by 2026. The money does not go to governments but to local partners who build schools and provide teaching materials, meals and psychosocial support.

Number of children in emergency situations is increasing

“The children did not cause the crises in the world, but they suffer the most from them,” said Federal Development Minister Svenja Schulze (SPD) of the German Press Agency. “Around the world, 222 million school-age children are affected by conflict, protracted crises and emergencies – three times as many as in 2016. We cannot afford to lose this generation.”

Afghan activists called for girls and women not to be forgotten after the Islamist Taliban returned to power. The Taliban, who have been in power again since summer 2021, exclude girls and women from social life and forbid them to attend secondary schools. “Just talking and doing nothing is not enough,” said 20-year-old Somaya Faruqi. For example, “underground schools” would have to be funded.

“To survive you need hope – and education”

Schools are a lifeline in the chaos for children in emergency situations. Fatuma, 9, for example, has lived in constant fear of marauding gangs in the drought-stricken Somali region of Ethiopia. Her family of five siblings was constantly displaced. With help from the UN, she has now found a place where she can go to school for the first time – with one warm meal a day and clean water, something that cannot be taken for granted in the region. Fatuma now says: “When I grow up and have finished my studies, I want to be a teacher.

When children are forced to flee as a result of disasters such as earthquakes or conflicts, it is first a matter of bare survival. School is often not the most important thing. This has fatal consequences – often for life, because people fall into a poverty trap.

“Of course you need food, clean water, medical care, a roof over your head to survive,” said the executive director of the fund, Yasmine Sherif, of the dpa. “But you also need hope to survive, and that comes with education.” Girls are protected from sexual violence at school, while boys who go to school are less likely to join militias or gangs. “We always talk about dignity and that people need to be able to help themselves in the long term,” Sherif said. “How is that supposed to work if you can’t read and write?”

Every lost school year has immediate consequences

Education experts assume that every lost school year later reduces income opportunities by around ten percent. In addition, parents with more school knowledge about health, hygiene and nutrition raise healthier families.

Roho (13) from Ethiopia was displaced as a small child in a conflict region. The father left the family, the mother was left alone with eight children. Roho had to work in the field. There was never any money for school uniforms and materials. Now she’s studying in a fund-supported special program for seniors, covering three school classes in a matter of months. She is highly motivated: “I want to be an engineer,” she says.