MEPs urge Commission to support global fund for education in emergencies
This week Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) called on the European Commission to affirm its commitment to education in emergencies and pledge at least EUR 160 million to Education Cannot Wait (ECW) - the global fund for education in emergencies - at the organisation’s High-Level Financing Conference in Geneva next month.
The cross-party letter to the Commission President, Ursula von der Leyen was sent by a group of eight MEPs.*
“Armed conflict, natural disasters, food insecurity and COVID have disrupted, denied, and in some cases completely destroyed the education of millions of children around the world,” said Mr. Victor Negrescu.
ECW’s latest research shows that 222 million children and adolescents affected by emergencies and protracted crises are now in urgent need of education support. This is up from 75 million since similar estimates were made in 2015.
“Thankfully in Afghanistan, the Sahel, Syria, Yemen, and Ukraine along with more than twenty other crisis contexts, ECW is playing a vital role in ensuring children can go to school.
“We are writing to ask that the European Commission provide at least €160 million to ECW over the 2023-26 period. This would directly provide over 2 million children in an emergency or protracted crisis with quality education,” said Mr Negrescu.
“The EU is a global leader in education in emergencies and we want it to continue to lead on this critical issue. In doing so, the EU has an opportunity to help answer the call of millions of vulnerable girls and boys around the world who are awaiting our collective action,” said X MEP.
“Civil society strongly welcomes such a strong cross-party consensus among members of the European Parliament from various European countries who recognise the threat to education from crises, especially in the poorest parts of the world.” said Joseph Nhan-O’Reilly, IPNEd’s Executive Director.
Late last year 11 non-government organisations wrote to the Commission President calling on the EU to help ensure that Education Cannot Wait is fully funded for its next operational period.
Hosted by ECW and Switzerland, and co-convened by Colombia, Germany, Niger, Norway and South Sudan, the Education Cannot Wait High-Level Financing Conference in Geneva in February provides the opportunity to deliver on our promise of education for all and raise US$1.5 billion to ensure Education Cannot Wait can deliver its new Strategic Plan over the next four years.
* MEPs signing the letter came from Renew Europe, the Progressive Alliance of Socialists & Democrats, the Greens, the European People’s Party, the European Conservatives and Reformists Group and the Left.
