UN Education Fund Reaches 8.3 Million Children Amid Funding Gaps

Education Cannot Wait (ECW), the United Nations global fund for education in emergencies, reached 8.3 million children and adolescents affected by crises in 33 countries in 2024, bringing the total number served since its creation to 14 million. In its 2024 Annual Results Report, Investing in Futures, the organization highlights advances and challenges at the midpoint of its 2023–2026 strategic plan.

The report showed measurable improvements, including higher enrollment and retention rates, and gains in both academic and socio-emotional skills. It also noted shifts in gender norms contributing to more equitable participation. Of those reached last year, 51% were girls and 43% were refugees or internally displaced.

Despite these achievements, education remains one of the least-funded areas of humanitarian aid. In 2024, only 30% of the funding needs for education in humanitarian appeals were met, even though education represented just 5.4% of overall global humanitarian requirements.

Sigrid Kaag, Chair, ECW’s High-Level Steering Group, says that the results reflect the strength of ECW’s strategic model and the commitment of its coalition. “This is not just coordination; it is joint action that translates into collective impact,” she says, while urging renewed financial contributions from public and private partners.

The report underscored ECW’s rapid-response and multi-year programming model, which bridges humanitarian, development, and peace efforts. Over 100 partners, including host governments, UN agencies, civil society organizations, philanthropic foundations, and private sector actors, worked together in 2024 to expand access to education in crisis settings.

Funding allocations reflected ECW’s focus on underserved regions. Of the US$202 million spent in 2024, 39% supported “forgotten crises” in countries such as Bangladesh, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Haiti, Lebanon, Mali, Myanmar, Nigeria, and South Sudan.

The report also highlights the growing intersection of climate change and education. Between 2023 and 2024, 3.4 million children benefited from programs that support climate adaptation.

Still, financial gaps threaten ECW’s goals. By the end of 2024, ECW had mobilized US$934 million, about two-thirds of its 2023–2026 resource mobilization target. Unpaid contributions total US$113 million, and an additional US$567 million is required to meet the US$1.5 billion goal.

Kaag warns that without decisive action, millions of children risk being left without access to education. Estimates place the number of children and adolescents in crisis situations needing urgent education support at 234 million, an 18% increase compared with three years ago.