In response to the ongoing situation forcing Venezuelans from their homes, Education Cannot Wait (ECW) announced US$27.2 million in catalytic investment grants for multi-year resilience programmes in Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru; these countries are receiving large numbers of children and their families fleeing violence and instability in Venezuela. The three-year education multi-year resilience programmes will reach over 350,000 Venezuelan and host-community children and youth.
“The dire situation in Venezuela has tragically forced approximately 5 million refugees and migrants, as of March 2020, outside their country of origin, and millions of girls and boys out of their schools, to seek safety in other countries in the region. These children and youth can now continue their education in their host communities, and this provides them with protection and hope in their future. This is precisely what they need now. Their education cannot wait until this protracted crisis is over. We need collective action and urgently call on public and private-sector donors to fully fund Education Cannot Wait’s comprehensive joint education programme for refugees and others forcibly displaced, as well as their host-communities in Colombia, Ecuador and Peru,” said Yasmine Sherif, Director of Education Cannot Wait.
This investment builds on results delivered through ECW’s US$7 million first emergency response in 2019 to address the region’s largest exodus in recent history.
Original source: Education Cannot Wait
