As conflict and displacement continue to severely affect the population of Sudan, the Global Partnership for Education (GPE) has approved accelerated funding of $20 million to help more than 285,000 children continue to learn in Sudan.
Over the next 18 months, the funds will help deliver urgent and vital education support to children in selected localities in the six states most affected by displacements: White Nile, Gezira, Kassala, River Nile, Sennar, and South Kordofan. The two grants of $10 million each will be implemented by UNICEF and Save the Children respectively, along with Sudanese nongovernmental organizations.
“The children of Sudan have been suffering since the conflict started, with more than 5 million people having to flee their homes, including over 1 million children,“ said Laura Frigenti, CEO of the Global Partnership for Education. “The programs funded by the grants will work with communities and schools to support children to learn. But as October starts, schools have yet to reopen in Sudan. We call on all authorities to enable schools to open where it is safe to do so, to give children the hope of a brighter future.”
The grants will support both displaced and host populations and will fund a range of essential interventions, including creating safe learning spaces, improving water and sanitation for children, distributing textbooks and games to support literacy and numeracy learning, training teachers and volunteers, offering catch up classes, psychosocial services for children, providing school grants and engaging communities to support the schools.
The GPE grants complement the $5 million emergency response from Education Cannot Wait for Sudan, as well as ongoing efforts of the European Union, ECHO, and Sudanese NGOs supporting education in Sudan.
