Education Cannot Wait

A Movement United: Education Cannot Wait Executive Director Joins Global Citizens, Activists and Celebrities on Stage at Global Citizen Festival

today – that's more than the populations of Australia, France, Italy and the United Kingdom combined.

Brutal wars have exacerbated the issue, stretched foreign aid budgets, and derailed progress toward the Sustainable Development Goals. Without additional measures, by 2030 an astonishing 300 million children will lack basic numeracy and literacy skills worldwide. Just as concerning, 1 in 4 young people are either out of school, out of a job, or out of a training programme to join the work force, and girls are twice as likely as boys to be impacted by this critical situation.

The challenges are especially strong in the world's forgotten crises. Approximately half of all out-of-school children in emergencies are concentrated in only eight countries: Afghanistan, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, Mali, Myanmar, Nigeria, Pakistan and Sudan. In Nigeria alone 20 million children are out of school; in Sudan, 18 million children are out of school. Without the safety and protection of a quality education they face an uncertain future, recruitment into armed groups, child marriage and other grave violations of their human rights. Even when they are in school, millions more children are falling further behind.

Despite the growing needs, overall humanitarian funding for education dropped for the first time in over a decade last year, decreasing by 3%, from US$1.2 billion in 2022 to US$1.17 in 2023, according to ECW's Annual Results Report.

Against all odds, ECW and its strategic partners are achieving significant results. Since ECW became operational in 2017, ECW's investments have reached 11 million children and adolescents, including 5.6 million girls and boys in 2023 alone. The global fund is calling on world leaders, businesses, philanthropic foundations and high-net-worth individuals to provide US$600 million in urgent funding to reach 20 million children through the Fund's four-year strategic plan. Financing education is an investment in all of humanity without discrimination.

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