Swiss to provide funds for education projects in crisis situations
Pupils in a primary school in Sri Lanka eating their breakfast.
Keystone / Chamila Karunarathne
The Swiss government has pledged CHF25 million ($25.3 million) to continue its support for the United Nations Education Cannot Wait fund (ECW) for the period 2022-24.
Education is a key element of child protection and creates prospects, offers hope and can save lives, according to a statement on Wednesday.
“A lack of education makes girls and boys more vulnerable to exploitation, violence, psychological stress and recruitment by armed groups,” it said.
Worldwide, 222 million children have no or limited access to education due to armed conflict, forced displacement, natural disasters or other crises. This number has tripled since 2016. The increase is expected to continue due to the impact of the Covid pandemic, the government said.
Switzerland is due to host the ECW high-level funding conference in Geneva next February, making the city an important centre of activity in the field of education in emergencies (EiE), the statement added.
The UN’s ECW fund, set up in 2016, supports the right to education in emergencies and long-term crises.
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