Education in emergencies
Keeping children safe and learning during emergencies
Children suffer the most during wars, conflicts, and natural disasters. Humanitarian emergencies and protracted crises have disrupted the education of 75 million children between the ages of 3 and 18. Today one in four of the world’s out-of-school children live in countries struck by humanitarian crises. Without access to education, children are at risk of losing their futures.
Together with the EU's humanitarian aid, UNICEF helps children in emergencies access quality education. The EU has become the most important donor worldwide for education in emergencies, with the EU’s humanitarian aid allocating 10% of its total annual budget to this sector.
Current projects include, for example:
- In Nigeria, one of our joint projects aims to restore a sense of normalcy and security for children through the provision of basic formal and non-formal education services, including provision of supplies. Specifically, 10,000 children will access improved quality education and will receive education supplies. 525 teachers will be trained on providing education in emergency settings.
- A joint project in Sudan is targeting 15,000 primary school-aged children and pre-school children from the refugees and host communities. The project helps to increase access to education through improving the quality of learning and offering safe learning spaces for children in affected South Sudanese Refugee- and under-served communities in East Darfur state.
- 4,500 adolescents in Mexico can get access to education and protection services in states affected by violence and organized crime.
Conditional Education Assistance Program
Turkey currently hosts almost three million refugees – more than half of them are children. One of the biggest challenges is helping school-aged children access education: an estimated that 370,000 children cannot attend school.
UNICEF and the EU have joined forces to realise the Conditional Education Assistance Program, aimed at helping refugee children in Turkey continue their education. This project was implemented through a close partnership between the Ministry of Family and Social Policies, the Ministry of National Education, the Disaster and Emergency Management Presidency (AFAD), the Turkish Red Crescent and UNICEF.
The programme helped to keep more than 368,000 refugee children in school by providing their families with bi-monthly cash payments. It represents the largest contribution from the European Union in this field yet.
“Education is a light and all children need it.”
– Esra, 9-year-old Syrian refugee