The Somaliland Government, Education Cannot Wait and UNICEF Somaliland launched a multi-year programme today to increase access to quality education for children and youth impacted by ongoing crises in Somaliland.
Education Cannot Wait is providing a $6.7 million seed funding allocation to kickstart activities and to catalyse contributions from additional donors to cover the remaining $57.3 million required to implement the full programme over three years. The ECW investment will support 18,000 girls and boys per year with and with a target to reach 54,000 children a year with more funding supporting the total programme budget of USD 64 million 2019-2022.
“The Somaliland government is proud to be in partnership with Education Cannot Wait (ECW). With over 50 per cent of children out of school, the ECW investment will support 18,000 girls and boys per year to access quality education services, equipping them with the knowledge and skills to positively contribute to the social, political and economic development of their communities,” said Somaliland Vice President, HE. Abdirahman Abdillahi Ismail.
“The Somaliland Ministry of Education is highly appreciative of ECW’s support for this multi-year resilience programme that will give a longer term funding to emergency affected children to complete primary education. The Government is committed to provide quality education to all children,” said Honourable Minister of Education and Science, Osman Jama Adam. Access to education in Somaliland remains extremely limited. The national primary net attendance ratio is estimated at 49 per cent for boys and 40 per cent for girls. Somaliland children are the most affected with more than 51 per cent of children are out of school. Only 16 per cent of Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) children and 26 per cent in rural communities are enrolled in primary schools. Drought, food insecurity, poverty and inequality also hinder efforts to get more Somaliland children and youth in schools.
