Additional funding is urgently needed to ensure safe, inclusive and equitable access to quality education for refugees and vulnerable children in the host society.
CAIRO, August 23, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — UNHCR Egypt currently has over 748,000 refugees and asylum seekers registered. Most of them are women and children who recently arrived in Egypt fleeing the brutal conflict that broke out in Sudan in April 2023. Since the conflict began, the number of registered Sudanese refugees has increased almost seven-fold and is expected to continue to rise.
“In the spirit of responsibility sharing enshrined in the Global Compact on Refugees, I call on international donors to step up their support. Needs are fast outpacing the response. Additional resources are urgently required to ensure that refugee and host community children in Egypt and other refugee receiving countries in the region can attend school and continue learning. The future of the entire region is at stake.” ~ECW Executive Director Yasmine Sherif
The need is growing exponentially and the resources of the Egyptian government, UN agencies and other strategic partners to provide safe, secure and high-quality learning spaces for refugee children and the host community are becoming increasingly scarce.
Sudan’s Regional Refugee Response Plan allocates $109 million to address the education needs of refugees across the region by 2024. So far, only 20% of this amount has been mobilized, including $4.3 million – just 40% of Egypt’s needs.
Education Cannot Wait (ECW), UNHCR and UNICEF This week, during a high-level UN mission in Egypt, they highlighted the funding shortage and called on the international community to increase its support for children displaced by the armed conflict both in Sudan itself and in neighboring countries.
While the Egyptian government has already made significant efforts to provide refugees with access to education, according to a recent study by UNICEF and the World Bank, approximately 54% of the 9,000 children arriving each month are currently out of school.
“Families fleeing the brutal conflict in Sudan have experienced unspeakable violence and watched helplessly as their lives have been completely shattered. For girls and boys uprooted by the internal armed conflict, education is literally a lifeline. It offers protection and a sense of normality amidst chaos, and gives them the resources they need to overcome trauma and thrive again,” said Yasmine Sherif, Executive Director of Education Cannot Wait, the United Nations’ global fund for education in emergencies and protracted crises. “In the spirit of shared responsibility enshrined in the Global Compact on Refugees, I call on international donors to step up their support. The needs far exceed our capacity to respond. We urgently need additional resources to ensure that refugee children and children from host communities in Egypt and other host countries in the region can attend school and continue learning. The future of the entire region is at stake,” she said.
“Forcibly displaced children must not be denied their fundamental right to education. Their flight from conflict must not be an obstacle to safeguarding their rights. UNHCR, ECW and UNICEF remain committed to children’s education and their future,” said Dr Hanan Hamdan, UNHCR Representative to the Egyptian Government and the League of Arab States. “It is therefore imperative that we continue to support Egypt as a host country. The country has shown remarkable resilience and generosity, but the increasing number of displaced people requires an increase in international assistance. By strengthening Egypt’s capacity to support refugees, we can ensure that more children have access to education and a better future,” she added.
Jeremy Hopkins, UNICEF Representative in Egypt, said: “UNICEF is committed to ensuring that conflict-affected Sudanese children have the opportunity to return to school. In Egypt, UNICEF, under the leadership of the Egyptian government and in collaboration with sister UN agencies and development partners, is working tirelessly to create inclusive learning environments and strengthen sustainable education systems and services through the use of innovative learning spaces and the Comprehensive Inclusion Programme. This not only benefits displaced Sudanese children, it also supports host communities by ensuring access to quality education for all children.” He added: “UNICEF calls on the international community to stand in solidarity with displaced Sudanese children whose education is at stake and to provide the necessary resources and support to strengthen national systems that ensure that both Egyptian and non-Egyptian children can exercise their right to education.”
During the significant ECW mission to Egypt, the ECW delegation met with key strategic partners – including donors, UN agencies, and local and international NGOs – and with Sudanese refugees to gain an overview of the scope of needs and current educational offerings from aid organizations.
In December 2023, ECW announced a First aid grant of two million US dollars in Egypt. The 12-month grant, provided through a partnership between UNHCR and UNICEF, will support over 20,000 Sudanese refugees in the governorates of Aswan, Cairo, Giza and Alexandria.
Activities supported by the grant include out-of-school education, cash grants, promoting social cohesion with host communities, mental health and psychosocial support, and construction and renovation of public schools hosting refugee children, benefiting both refugee children and children of host communities.
In addition to Egypt, ECW has provided $8 million in first aid grants in the Central African Republicim Chadin Ethiopia and in South Sudan to meet the urgent protection and education needs of children fleeing the armed conflict in Sudan.
Im Sudan ECW has provided $28.7 million in multi-year grants and emergency funding that have already reached more than 100,000 girls and boys affected by the crisis.
ECW calls on world leaders to increase funding for regional refugee response and other forgotten crises around the world. ECW urges public and private donors to mobilise an additional US$600 million to Strategic plans 2023–2026 To reach 20 million girls and boys affected by the crisis with safe, quality education.
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