Furtuna (5) is getting the early education she deserves, and she loves counting with children at the Mahabre Dego Primary School, Tigray Region, Ethiopia. ECW and strategic partners’ investments in the country provide much-needed support for young crisis-affected girls and boys to have a better start in life through quality early education. Credit: ECW/Tesfaye

By Joyce Chimbi
ADDIS ABABA & NAIROBI, Dec 9 2024 (IPS)

Ethiopia’s education system is buckling under the weight of complex, competing challenges. The aftermath of a deadly war in the north, ongoing violence, climate-induced disasters, and widespread forced displacements have converged to push as many as 9 million children out of school. With close to 18 percent of schools in the country destroyed or damaged and persisting intercommunal conflicts in various regions, there are fears that many might never find their way back to school.

“In the absence of education, both boys and girls may be mobilized into militant groups, and frequently, girls will be subjected to child marriage. The choice is to provide them with an education, as it is the pathway to their future and contribution to their society and also as a protection mechanism,” says Yasmine Sherif, Executive Director of Education Cannot Wait (ECW), the global fund for education in emergencies and protracted crises in the United Nations. “Being out-of-school puts them in harm’s way and onto the path of abuse, violations, and the destruction of their lives, their communities, and eventually their country. We must ensure that no child is left behind in the education system. Investing in the very real potential of Ethiopia’s young generation is not an option—it is an absolute necessity.”

Sherif traveled to the Tigray region in the first week of December 2024 together with the ECW Global Champion and Finance Minister of Denmark, Nicolai Wammen. ECW’s high-level delegation saw first-hand the devastating effects of the deadly three-year conflict between the Ethiopian central government and the northernmost region of Tigray, Ethiopia.

The aftermath and recovery process are such that, amid limited resources, the country is putting back the pieces of a broken education infrastructure to jumpstart an education system that had come to a complete halt. At the end of their joint visit, the two called for bold donor action to deliver the promise of a quality education to millions of crisis-impacted children.

“We have a multi-year investment and great partners on the ground, including a very supportive government. We work with UN agencies, including UNICEF, and civil society organizations such as Save the Children, the Norwegian Refugee Council, Image1Day and other local Ethiopian organizations,” Sherif told IPS.

The ECW delegation visited schools benefiting from funding by ECW and strategic partners, met children, parents, and teachers, and saw first-hand the impact of ECW-supported programmes. In one school alone, enrollment increased by an impressive 20 percent last year due to a comprehensive package of interventions funded by ECW.

“It is heartwarming to witness the life-transforming power of quality education in the most complex crisis situations. I met strong and resilient girls and boys who are returning to learning, healing and thriving thanks to ECW’s support. However, conflicts, climate change and other crises continue to push millions of children out of school every year—in Ethiopia and beyond. Business as usual will not meet this challenge. I encourage private sector partners to join ECW’s efforts and invest in new and innovative financing strategies to fill the widening gap,” said Nicolai Wammen, Minister of Finance, Denmark, and ECW Global Champion.

Sherif says the delegation saw significant progress in supported schools, such as “rehabilitated infrastructure and others rebuilt from scratch. We saw learning supplies, teachers who are well trained and sensitized, and professionals offering mental health and psychosocial services. There is a strong academic curriculum. Included in the national curriculum are critical issues of peacebuilding, ethics, and the arts. Education is ongoing in primary and secondary schools but also in pre-primary and early childhood development schools. Children with disabilities also benefit from targeted supports and inclusive education.”

Overall, they witnessed a protective learning environment that included systematic implementation of a referral identification of children in need and distribution of assistive devices, and children in need of assistance integrated with their peers, which promotes their inclusion and improves their social and learning skills.

There were girls’ clubs too for pursuit of shared and common interests. Teachers are trained on gender-sensitive issues, and there is systematic implementation of menstrual hygiene for adolescent girls, designated sanitation areas for girls, and promotion of water and sanitation.

“The children are receiving quality, safe, and inclusive holistic education. Having gone through mental health and psychosocial support through ECW investment, they are confident and expressive of their dreams. This is what investment in education can do, and we can do even more through bold donor action to reach every child with quality education and prospects for lifelong learning and earning,” Sherif observes.

But the challenges are still significantly complex and pressing, and resources are scarce.

Ethiopia also hosts the third largest refugee population in Africa, significantly exacerbating the country’s educational challenges. There were over 200,000 new arrivals from Sudan and Somalia in 2023-2024 alone, further increasing pressure on existing resources.

After a visit that revealed the numerous challenges Ethiopian children face and their unwavering determination to learn, ECW announced a USD 5 million First Emergency Response grant, increasing its total investments in the country to USD 93 million since 2017.

Of the new USD 5 million grant, UNICEF will be the implementing partner for USD 4 million. A local organization, Imagine 1Day, will implement the remaining USD 1 million. The organizations will work together with their partners to address urgent needs in the Oromia and Afar regions, where renewed conflict, intercommunal violence, drought and displacement have further disrupted education services in recent months.

These emergency interventions will build on the USD 24 million Multi-Year Resilience Programme announced last month by ECW, targeting needs in the Amhara, Somalia, and Tigray regions.

“Imagine1Day is deeply grateful for this Education Cannot Wait First Emergency Response grant. With this generous support, we will provide over 13,000 out-of-school children in the Afar region—60 percent of whom are girls and 13 percent are children with disabilities—with access to safe learning environments. This project will not only enhance their well-being but also empower them to reach their full potential. Given that education in emergencies in Ethiopia has been severely underfunded, this grant is crucial in ensuring that crisis-affected children receive the education and support they need to build a brighter future,” said Dr. Seid Aman, Country Director of Imagine1Day.

To date, ECW’s combined multi-year and emergency investments in Ethiopia have reached more than 550,000 children and adolescents, providing a comprehensive range of supports—school rehabilitation, teacher training, mental health and psychosocial support, inclusive education, school feeding, gender transformative initiatives, early childhood education, and more. ECW’s support focuses on the most vulnerable, including girls, children from refugee, displaced and host community communities, and children with disabilities.

ECW’s investments are aligned to the Ethiopia Humanitarian Response Plan and the Ethiopia Education Sector Development Programme VI, a detailed planning document that provides a comprehensive outlook of the roadmap that the country’s education sector is taking. The Global Fund urgently calls for additional resources to fill the USD 64 million funding gap to meet the requirements for the acute education needs in the 2024 Humanitarian Response Plan for Ethiopia.

Working in emergency and protracted crisis settings across the globe, ECW supports quality education outcomes for refugee, internally displaced, and other crisis-affected girls and boys, so no one is left behind.

IPS UN Bureau Report