With rising violence, forced displacement and insecurity, 1.2
million Haitian children are in urgent need of life-saving
education support.
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti, July 26,
2024 /PRNewswire/ -- During a high-level UN
mission to Haiti, Education Cannot
Wait Executive Director Yasmine
Sherif announced a fast-acting US$2.5
million First Emergency Response grant that will provide
life-saving access to quality education for girls and boys impacted
by the rise in violence, insecurity and forced displacement that
has pushed millions of children into harm's way. Total ECW funding
in Haiti now tops US$15.8 million.
The 12-month grant will be delivered by UNICEF in collaboration
with the World Food Programme and other local and international
partners. The innovative programme will reach close to 75,000
children and adolescents in the hard-hit Ouest and Artibonite
Departments.
"World leaders must not turn their backs on the girls and boys
of Haiti. These children, teachers
and families have seen their human rights and human dignity ripped
from their hands by brutal acts of violence, disorder and chaos.
With the power of education, we can protect these girls and boys
from the grave risks of sexual violence, forced recruitment in
armed groups and other human rights violations. With the power of
education, we can lift up an entire nation from a never-ending
cycle of hunger, poverty, economic uncertainty and violence," said
Yasmine Sherif, Executive Director
of Education Cannot Wait (ECW), the global fund for education in
emergencies and protracted crises within the United Nations.
The investment includes innovative cash-transfers,
back-to-school incentives, school feeding programmes, early
childhood education, disability inclusion, transformative gender
approaches, mental health and psychosocial support, environmental
sensitization activities, and other holistic education offerings
designed to ensure girls and boys have access to safe and
protective quality learning environments.
"The education crisis unfolding in Haiti is seriously close to becoming an
education tragedy. While enrolment rates were already low before
the latest escalation of violence, school closures and mass
displacement are robbing thousands more children of their
opportunity to learn. Hence, UNICEF is grateful to Education Cannot
Wait for the continued support and commitment to ensure every child
in Haiti has access to quality and
safe learning," said Bruno Maes,
UNICEF Representative in Haiti.
Haiti is witnessing
unprecedented levels of lawlessness and brutality at the hands of
coalitions of armed groups. The compounding impacts of climate
change, recurring cyclones and the most recent earthquake are
making matters even worse.
In all, nearly half of Haiti's
population – some 5.5 million people – are in need of humanitarian
aid, and 5 million people are facing acute food insecurity. Nearly
580,000 people are displaced nationwide, a 60% increase since the
end of February.
Armed groups are targeting schools and hospitals, with
concerning reports of ruthless forms of sexual violence, including
gang rape. The UN estimates that 30% to 50% of armed group members
could be children.
The Education Cluster estimates that 1.2 million school-aged
children are in urgent need of quality education. Schools are being
closed or used as displacement centers across the country. An
estimated 919 schools are closed in the Ouest (home to the capital
Port-au-Prince) and Artibonite
Departments alone – meaning that 10% of all schools are closed in
these areas.
Despite these urgent needs, according to OCHA, the US$30 million requirement for the education
response as part of the country's humanitarian response plan is
only 27% funded.
Education Cannot Wait and its global strategic partners are
calling on world leaders to urgently mobilize an additional
US$600 million toward the Fund's
three-year strategic plan. With these new resources, ECW can expand
its investments in Haiti, and
across crisis-impacted countries worldwide, to reach 20 million
girls and boys with the safety, power and opportunity that only a
quality education can provide.
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SOURCE Education Cannot Wait