TIWN
New Delhi, April 14 (TIWN): Expanding on the $5 million Ukraine First Emergency Response grant announced in March, 'Education Cannot Wait' (ECW) on Thursday announced a new, initial $1.5 million allocation to support the education in emergencies response for the Ukraine refugee crisis in Moldova while on mission with strategic partners.
Investments will also benefit children in the host communities. The development of the grant will be facilitated through the coordination mechanism established for the education response.
During the high-level mission, the US Agency for International Development (USAID) announced an additional $18 million contribution to the ECW global trust fund to further support ECW education responses in crisis-impacted countries across the globe.
This contribution makes the US the third largest donor to ECW -- the United Nations global fund for education in emergencies and protracted crises -- after Germany and the UK.
With an estimated $30 million funding gap for the emergency education response in Ukraine, ECW calls on donors and strategic partners to urgently provide additional funding to respond to the vast humanitarian crisis unfolding across the region.
According to recent reports, approximately 400,000 people have crossed the border into Moldova fleeing the escalation of the conflict in Ukraine since February. While the majority continued their journey towards other neighboring countries and Western Europe, Moldova hosts today an estimated 100,000 refugees. These include about 50,000 refugee girls and boys, of whom only 1,800 are currently enrolled in school.
"Refugee children from Ukraine have fled a brutal war and have arrived dispossessed and traumatized in Moldova. They are very vulnerable and need immediate support. Public schools are open to refugee children, however the capacity is over-stretched and there is a need for urgent mental health and psycho-social services, sanitation, and teachers to respond to the influx of pre-school and school-aged refugee children," said Yasmine Sherif, Director of Education Cannot Wait.
"With a coordinated and joint response in place in Moldova, we can act with speed and therefore we act now."
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