Armed conflicts, forced displacement, climate change and other crises increased the number of crisis-impacted children in need of urgent quality education to 224 million, according to a new
Global Estimates Study issued today by Education Cannot Wait (
ECW), the United Nations global fund for education in emergencies and protracted crises.
Mireia Villar Forner is the United Nations Resident Coordinator in Colombia. Ms. Villar Forner brings more than 25 years of experience, which she acquired within the United Nations and externally, to the position. At the United Nations, she most recently served as Resident Coordinator in Uruguay, where she led the work of the United Nations development system to accelerate the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. She also held senior positions at the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), including that of Resident Representative in Uruguay, Deputy Resident Representative in Bolivia and Deputy Resident Representative in Iraq during the country’s political transition. She also served at the UNDP Liaison Office in Brussels, where she played a key role in strengthening the partnership between the Organization and the European Union. Before that, she worked as the focal point for Latin America and the Caribbean, as well as the Arab States, in UNDP’s Bureau for Crisis Prevention and Recovery, after an assignment as Head of the Programme Section of the Electricity Network Rehabilitation Programme in Northern Iraq. She started her career with the United Nations at UNDP’s Regional Bureau for Arab States. Prior to joining the Organization, Ms. Villar Forner worked in the financial sector in Spain. She holds a master’s degree in foreign service from Georgetown University in the USA, and a bachelor’s degree in economics from the University of Barcelona in Spain.
Children are not targets. Children are not soldiers. Children are not weapons. As we commemorate the
International Day of Innocent Children Victims of Aggression, we call on leaders everywhere to embrace the commitments outlined in the
Convention on the Rights of the Child and the
Safe Schools Declaration to ensure girls and boys everywhere are able to reach their full potential without fear, without intimidation and without violence.
As unprecedentedly fierce armed battles play out on the streets of Khartoum, more than 600 people are dead, thousands injured, and over 1 million displaced.
At this year’s
G7 Hiroshima Summit in Japan, world leaders will have a chance to “uphold the international order based on the rule of law and extend outreach to the Global South.” Education, as a binding force that unites us all in our global efforts to protect human rights and ensure sustainable development, should be front and centre on the G7 Agenda.
Folly Bah Thibault was appointed as
Education Cannot Wait’s Global Champion on 25 April 2023. Through her work for
Al Jazeera, France24, Radio France International and Voice of America, Thibault has become one of the most recognized and respected journalists in the world. Her coverage of some of the world’s most pressing events as a journalist for
Al Jazeera is shedding light on forgotten crises across the globe.
A civilian student named Saber was caught in the crossfire in Khartoum. He had two choices: either flee and lose everything; or die. But within a moment his option to choose was violently denied: he died.
Over the last decades, the global share of women among teaching staff in Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) has increased from nearly 35% in 1990 to close to 45% in 2020.
The acclaimed international journalist
Folly Bah Thibault today accepted her appointment as a Global Champion for Education Cannot Wait (
ECW), the United Nations global fund for education in emergencies and protracted crises.
Colombia's government is expanding its educational response to the Venezuelan regional crisis, and its efforts are supported by Education Cannot Wait (ECW), which announced USD 12 million grant. However, the need is great, and ECW estimates financial support of USD 46.4 million is needed for the multi-year resilience response.
The largest external displacement crisis in Latin America’s recent history is unfolding as countries open their borders to an influx of refugees from Venezuela following unprecedented political turmoil, socio-economic instability, and a humanitarian crisis.
Mr. Khalifa Jassim Al-Kuwari is the Director General of the Qatar Fund for Development (
QFFD), managing the State of Qatar’s foreign aid and international development activities. Since 2014, he led the establishment, strategy-setting, operationalization, partnerships and funding programmes of the Qatar Fund for Development in various developing countries.
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, Filippo Grandi, speaks at the Education Cannot Wait (ECW) High-Level Financing Conference in February 2023 in Geneva. The event mobilized a record US$826 million for ECW and the global challenge to support the education of the 222 million girls and boys living in crises, positioning education in emergencies as a top priority on the international agenda.
Education Cannot Wait (ECW) Executive Director Yasmine Sherif announced today that ECW intends to continue to expand its investments in Colombia. ECW’s support to the current Multi-Year Resilience Programme exceeds US$12 million, and the Fund has allocated an additional US$12 million for the next three-year phase, which, once approved, will bring the overall investment in Colombia to over US$28 million.
Only forty-five days into our new Strategic Plan 2023-2026, Education Cannot Wait secured 55 percent of its total requirement for the coming four years, reaching $826 million at #HLFC2023. This is a significant milestone for education in emergencies and protracted crises, and ECW will continue to pursue fund-raising year-round in the coming four years. The goal is to reach the target of
20 million children and adolescents affected by armed conflicts, climate-induced disasters and forced displacement.
On International Women’s Day, let us remind ourselves of the power of education. We have all benefited from an education that less than a century ago was not a given for a girl and which still remains a distant utopia for millions of young girls.
Today with heavy hearts we mark 365 days of a brutal against Ukraine.
Through this illegal act of aggression, over 450 children have been killed and another 900 injured. The shelling and bombing has damaged 3,000 educational institutions, and completely destroyed 420 schools and learning centers. As many as 5.7 million children have had their education disrupted, with no end in sight.
From southern Ethiopia to northern Kenya and Somalia, the most severe drought in the last 40 years is unfolding. It is simply too hot to go to school on an empty stomach, and close to 3 million children are out of school, with an additional 4 million at risk of dropping out entirely across the Horn of Africa.
It has been more than 500 days since the Taliban regime in Afghanistan shut down schools and shattered the education dreams of girls and women like Somaya Faruqi, who has been forced to leave her homeland to continue her education.
As an unparalleled, unprecedented global education crisis unfolds, an estimated 222 million crisis-impacted children are desperate to learn. As barriers to accessing education increase, darkness beckons, and education is their last hope.
In celebration of the International Day of Women and Girls in Science, Education Cannot Wait (ECW) today named Somaya Faruqi as a new ECW Global Champion.