Canada announces funding to support quality education for children in emergency and crisis situations worldwide

February 16, 2023 – Ottawa, Ontario – Global Affairs Canada

Conflict, climate change and COVID-19 have caused a global education crisis, with an estimated 222 million children and adolescents who are not developing the essential skills and knowledge they need to build and prepare for their futures. Canada is investing in immediate and sustainable programs to ensure access to quality education for children and youth in emergency and crisis situations so that no child is left behind.

The Honourable Harjit S. Sajjan, Minister of International Development and Minister responsible for the Pacific Economic Development Agency of Canada, today announced Canada’s pledge of $87.5 million over 4 years (2023 to 2026) to Education Cannot Wait (ECW), the United Nations global fund for education in emergencies and protracted crises.

Canada’s contribution will support 20 million crisis-affected children in accessing quality education, particularly girls and adolescent girls living in hard-to-reach, fragile or conflict-affected regions. This contribution also includes funding to ECW’s Multi-Year Resilience Programme in Bangladesh, as part of Canada’s strategy to respond to the Rohingya and Myanmar crises. This will help provide education for Rohingya refugees and host communities and reach more than 350,000 children and youth aged 3 to 18 years old in Bangladesh.

Minister Sajjan made the announcement virtually at ECW’s High-Level Financing Conference in Geneva, Switzerland. The conference is mobilizing funding for education in emergencies and protracted crises and generating dialogue between leaders from the private and public sectors, civil society organizations, and youth with lived experience as refugees and displaced persons.