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Add to Preferred SourcesThe education system in Niger faces major challenges: COVID-19, climate change, insecurity, armed attacks on schools and other factors are pushing refugees and internally displaced girls and boys out of school and into the shadows and margins of society.
To address these immediate, critical challenges – and to support Niger in achieving its goals for equitable and inclusive quality education as outlined in the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals – Education Cannot Wait (ECW) announced an additional US$1 million grant to the UN Refugee Agency in Niger.
“The uprooted children and adolescents and their host-communities in Tillabéri and Tahoua endure unspeakable suffering. Reports allege terror, kidnapped teachers, and burnt down schools. We must not only condemn such attacks, but we also need to take action” said Yasmine Sherif, Director of Education Cannot Wait, the global fund for education in emergencies and protracted crises. “We can all take action and Education Cannot Wait is therefore partnering with UNHCR in Nigeria to support their admirable efforts on the ground to deliver education combined with protection now.
“The beginning of 2021 has been particularly dramatic, with several attacks having forced tens of thousands of people to flee, and depriving children of the school,” says Alessandra Morelli, UNHCR Representative to Niger. We are grateful for this strategic partnership with ECW, which will contribute to the objectives of UNHCR’s refugee education strategy that aims to support access to inclusive, equitable, and quality education in national systems, create conditions in which children and young people can learn, thrive, be more resilient, and become agents of peaceful coexistence who contribute to their society,” Morelli added.
The 12-month grant will be implemented by UNHCR in partnership with the Government of Niger and other key stakeholders. Building on ECW’s recently announced US$11.1 million in catalytic grant funding for Niger’s multi-year resilience programme, the fast-acting investment will reach over 6,000 crisis-affected girls and boys in the Tillabéri and Tahoua regions of Niger.
The new programme will: expand COVID-19 prevention measures with the rehabilitation of water and sanitation facilities; help build and rehabilitate classrooms and learning centres; and provide teachers and students with the training, tools, and resources they need to respond to the unique needs of children and youth who have been displaced by ongoing violence in the region. The programme has a specific focus on ensuring access to learning opportunities for girls and children with disabilities.
Niger hosts the largest number of refugees and internally displaced people (IDPs) in the Central Sahel. At the end of 2020, UNHCR Niger registered 573,059 refugees, IDPs, and asylum seekers in Niger, resulting from years of widespread insecurity and armed attacks. The Tillabéri and Tahoua regions in particular continue to face an unpredictable and volatile security environment, which has led to the displacement of 138,229 Niger citizens, adding to the already existing caseload of 60,244 Malian refugees in both regions as well as an estimated 7,000 Burkinabe refugees in the Niger-Burkina border area. The start of 2021 saw renewed attacks and secondary forced displacement.
Original source: Education Cannot Wait