Project profile — Support to Education Cannot Wait 2017-2018

The project provides support to Education Cannot Wait (ECW), a global fund that aims to transform the delivery of education in emergencies. ECW focuses on joining governments, humanitarian actors and development efforts for a more rapid response to the educational needs of children and youth affected by crises. The fund is innovative through its focus on developing new approaches to bridge the gap between humanitarian assistance and development in the education sector, and engaging the global business community through innovative financing. It is designed to increase political mobilization, raise multi-year funding, improve coordination of different stakeholders, and strengthen organizations’ capacity and accountability for education responses during crises. The fund aims to reach 1.4 million children and youth in the first year of operations, working towards the ultimate goal of reaching an estimated total of 75 million affected children and youth through ECW (and other delivery mechanisms) by 2030. Support to ECW is advancing a focus on the poorest and most vulnerable, including out of school children and youth, and helping to support fragile states.

The expected outcomes for the project include: (1) marginalized groups supported by ECW (particularly girls and young women, disabled children and youth, refugees, internally-displaced persons and minorities) have access to safe, high-quality and inclusive learning environments; (2) in ECW-supported areas and populations, more girls, boys, young women, and young men, are enrolled in school; (3) ECW-supported girls, boys, young women and men achieve improved learning outcomes; and (4) ECW-supported boys and girls receive safe, conflict and disaster-sensitive education.

Results achieved as of July 2019 include : (1) 1,413,936 children were reached and enrolled in school (of which 689,817 were girls). Of this group, 459,393 were refugees, 200,476 were internally displaced and 754,067 were children affected by other crises; (2) 1,035,970 children (of which 499,681 were girls) were in primary school, 284,453 were in secondary school (of which 141,599 were girls), and 93,514 were in pre-primary (of which 48,537 were girls); (3) 19,992 teachers were trained (of which 8,827 were women). Of this group, 5,703 teachers (30 per cent of whom are women) were recruited and received financial support; and (4) 1,788 latrines were built or rehabilitated (of which 59% were gender segregated) and 2,798 classrooms were built or rehabilitated. These measures have improved the school environment, contributing to improved learning outcomes for children and young people.