New York: Dubai Cares will donate Dh36.7 million over the next five years to fund research into how to education children caught up in conflicts.
The research plan, called the Evidence for Education in Emergencies (E3), was signed between Dubai Cares and the Inter-Agency Network for Education in Emergencies (INEE).
The plan’s launch was announced on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York last week, at an event attended by 90 education experts and policymakers.
The deal comes as spiralling regional crises in Syria, Libya and Yemen crank up pressure on humanitarian agencies, which are faced with substantial shortfalls in funding across all sectors.
Last year, conditions worsened with forced displacement reaching its highest level since the end of the Second World War.
Today, one in 113 people is either a refugee, internally displaced, or seeking asylum, and more than half of the world’s refugees are children. The average length of displacement today has reached 17 years and the average length of conflict today is 37 years.
At the same time, emergency relief in all sectors is extending into longer-term humanitarian support.
“Clearly there are worsening problems throughout the Middle East and beyond,” said Dubai Cares chief Tareq Al Gurg.
Vulnerable children
“Children are particularly vulnerable, with their education often impacted or denied altogether.”
While billions of dollars are spent every year on aid, just one per cent of this amount is allocated to education, Al Gurg said.
The new raft of funding from Dubai Cares will help find ways to educate children during emergencies.
The funding “will also allow humanitarian and philanthropic organisations such as Dubai Cares to make evidence-based decisions when allocating funds to aid programmes”, Al Gurg added.
According to the UN children’s agency, Unicef, refugee children are five times more likely to be out of school than non-refugees.
The funding comes after aid group network members around the world “echoed the request for solid evidence on which to base their policies and programmes”, said Dean Brooks, INEE’s chief.
“Dubai Cares’ E3 is a direct and very welcome response to this request,” he added.
Also on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly, Dubai Cares signed an Dh11 million partnership deal with Unesco, the UN body charged with preserving world heritage.
The deal is aimed to support developing countries ensure inclusive and equitable quality education. The deal was signed between Al Gurg and Unesco chief Irina Bokova.
Bokova, a Bulgarian politician, is currently in the race to become the next UN secretary-general.
