' Girls' Rights Gazette 2018 Issue No. 2 | Plan International

Girls' Rights Gazette 2018 Issue No. 2

With an editorial by European Commissioner for Humanitarian Aid and Crisis Management, Christos Stylianides, on the EU’s commitment to securing access to education in times of emergencies and protracted crises for all children, especially girls and children with disabilities - Education is the foundation for everything else. This is my core belief. Education is also a fundamental right and an important tool for protection in humanitarian crises. Regrettably and despite its importance, access to quality education is being denied to tens of millions of children by increasingly protracted conflicts, forced displacement, violence, climate change, and disasters. As a result, we have sadly witnessed lost generations affecting the stability and development of entire regions. We have no other option but to address this major issue head on. We owe it to all vulnerable children around the globe.

On the global level, and whilst education in humanitarian contexts, still remains underfunded and under prioritised, the European Commission has consistently stepped up funding to education in crises in the last few years. When I took up office at the end of 2014, education amounted to 1% of the humanitarian budget. Today 8% of our humanitarian funding (EUR 86 million for 2018) is dedicated to education in emergencies, considerably above the global average of less than 3%. By the end of this year, EU funded projects will have supported over 5.5 million girls and boys around the world. And this is only our humanitarian support. Development cooperation and instruments like the different EU Trust Funds (for example the Madad trust Fund for the Syria crisis) are devoting significant funding to education. Of course, this requires increased coordination to make sure our funding is most effective and complementary. 

Here you can read the online version of the Girls' Rights Gazette 2018 Issue No. 2 that appeared on 27th September 2018.

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