Through Education Cannot Wait’s New Global Campaign, Youth are Connecting Climate Action with Education Action to Build a Better World
Make no doubt about it, climate change is disrupting the education of every girl and boy on the planet. But for the children caught in the world’s most pressing humanitarian crises – in places like Pakistan, where floods in 2022 damaged over 27,000 schools, in South-Eastern Africa, where Cyclone Freddy triggered 1.4 million displacements across six countries in 2023, or in Ethiopia, where 800,000 people have been forced from their homes as a result of a decades-long drought – the situation is even more dire.
Linking Climate and Education
As part of a worldwide movement to leave no child behind, Education Cannot Wait is calling on young people everywhere to act #RightHereRightNow to connect climate action with education action.
The campaign launched at last year’s Climate Talks in Dubai seeks to mobilize US$150 million in new funding to reach 2 million children impacted by the converging threats of climate change, armed conflicts and forced displacement.
Ethiopia sits on the frontlines of the climate crisis. As a result of climate change, poverty, ongoing conflict and other factors, 13 million children are out of school.
Stories of Hope
There is hope. With support from an Education Cannot Wait-funded programme delivered by World Vision in collaboration with UNICEF, girls like 12-year-old Nakurchel are back in school and thriving thanks to school feeding initiatives and innovative accelerated learning programs.
“I used to feel so worthless and left behind, but now I know that I am capable of achieving great things. Education has given me wings to fly,” says Nakurchel.
Young people everywhere can show their support for girls and boys like Nakurchel by calling on world leaders to act #RightHereRightNow to support #EducationCannotWait. #ShareTheirVoices today.
Education Cannot Wait is the Global Fund for Education in Emergencies and Protracted Crises.
