ECW US$22M Sudan education investment

Education Cannot Wait (ECW), the global fund for education in crises, announced a new US$22 million multi-year investment to restore safe, quality and inclusive education for nearly 200,000 crisis-affected children and adolescents in West Darfur, South Kordofan and Gedaref, Sudan. The announcement follows a high-level mission to Sudan by ECW Director Maysa Jalbout. The three-year programme will target internally displaced children, refugees and vulnerable host communities, with at least 60% girls and 10% children with disabilities. It will establish safe learning environments, provide mental health and psychosocial support, strengthen teacher capacity, and improve access to learning materials. A US$5 million crisis modifier will enable rapid responses to emergencies. Implementation will be led by Save the Children in partnership with Plan International, Lakarmissionen International, and local partners Alsalam Organisation for Relief and Development (AORD) and Sadagaat. Nearly 48% of the budget will go to national and local partners. ECW's investment provides seed funding towards a total programme requirement of US$39 million. The investment comes days after the launch of ECW's global campaign 'Hope Starts Here' to mobilise US$600 million to reach 10 million crisis-affected children over four years. The campaign will culminate in ECW's High-Level Replenishment Conference in Geneva on 5 November 2026, hosted by Switzerland. Sudan faces the world's largest humanitarian and displacement crisis, with 14 million people displaced and 33.7 million requiring assistance since conflict erupted in April 2023. At least 8 million children remain out of school.