NEW YORK / HAITI – A UN-backed global fund that supports education in emergencies will provide $2.5 million to ensure that thousands of children affected by gang violence in Haiti can attend school in safety.
Yasmine Sherif, executive director of Education Cannot Wait (ECW), announced the grant on Friday in the capital, Port-au-Prince, during a high-level UN mission to the Caribbean country.
The aim is to reach nearly 75,000 children and adolescents in the hard-hit departments of Ouest, home to the capital city, and Artibonite.
The power of education
Sherif urged world leaders not to turn their backs on the boys and girls of Haiti.
“With the power of education, we can protect these girls and boys from the grave risks of sexual violence, forced recruitment in armed groups and other human rights violations,” she said. “With the power of education, we can lift up an entire nation from a never-ending cycle of hunger, poverty, economic uncertainty and violence.”
The UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) will deliver the grant in collaboration with the UN World Food Programme (WFP), and other local and international partners.
The funding will support back-to-school incentives, school feeding programmes, early childhood education, disability inclusion, mental health and psychosocial support, cash transfers to families in need, and other support, to enable children’s access to safe learning environments.
Dire humanitarian needs
Haiti is experiencing unprecedented levels of lawlessness and brutality at the hands of coalitions of armed groups. The situation is compounded by climate change, recurring cyclones and earthquakes, including a devastating one in 2021 that claimed over 2,300 lives and caused severe damage.
Nearly half the population, some 5.5 million people, are dependent on humanitarian aid, while five million are facing acute hunger. Nearly 580,000 Haitians are displaced, a 60 per cent increase since the end of February.
The armed groups are targeting schools and hospitals, with concerning reports of ruthless forms of sexual violence, including gang rape. They are also accused of forced recruitment of children, with estimates that 30 percent to 50 percent of their members could be children.
Education crisis unfolding
Furthermore, estimates indicate that 1.2 million school-aged children urgently need quality education.
Schools are being closed or used as displacement centres across the country. Around 919 schools are closed in Ouest and Artibonite departments alone, representing 10 per cent of all schools in these areas.
“The education crisis unfolding in Haiti is seriously close to becoming an education tragedy,” said Bruno Maes, UNICEF representative in the country.
“While enrolment rates were already low before the latest escalation of violence, school closures and mass displacement are robbing thousands more children of their opportunity to learn.”
Expanding investment globally
The grant brings total ECW funding in Haiti to more than $15.8 million.
Despite the urgent needs, ECW said the $30 million requirement for education response in Haiti – part of an overall humanitarian plan for the country – is less than 30 per cent funded, according to the UN humanitarian affairs office, OCHA.
ECW supports quality education for refugee, internally displaced and other crisis-affected children. The fund and partners are calling on world leaders to urgently mobilize an additional $600 million toward its three-year strategic plan.
These new resources will allow the fund to expand investments in Haiti and other crisis regions, to reach 20 million girls and boys.
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