South Sudan: ECW funded Multi Year Resilience Program unlocks US$2 Million Education in Emergency Funds..

Students attending classes at one of the schools in Renk. Photo: Save the Children

JUBA, SOUTH SUDAN: Education Cannot Wait’s (ECW)  funded  Multi-Year Resilience Programme (MYRP) for South Sudan, which is being implemented by Save the Children, Fin Church Aid, and the Norwegian Refugee Council allocated US$2 million from its crisis modifier funds to meet the education needs of over 300,000 returnees and refugees who managed to escape the conflict in Sudan.

The funds announced in April 2023, will be used to support the continuity of safe education for learners who fled the conflict and settled in South Sudan. Children will have access to safe learning spaces, learning materials, and  teacher training. Owing to the traumatic experiences that these returnees and refuges have gone through during the conflict and their hazardous journey to South Sudan, mental health and psychosocial support will also be provided to help them recover.

Since conflict broke out in Sudan a year ago, the humanitarian crisis at the border of South Sudan and Sudan has continued to escalate, with approximately 1,000 people arriving daily. The conflict  in Sudan has shattered the dreams of many children who aspire to receive education.  Save the Children visited Renk in March 2024 to witness the situation of the returnees and refugees and spoke to a few children who have joined temporary schools there.

One of the children, Aguer, who is 13 years old, was studying in Sudan’s capital, Khartoum, but his education was disrupted when the conflict broke out in April 2023. He and his family fled back to South Sudan.

Aguer shared his story: “I came from Sudan; I came because of the war. I was studying to become an engineer. Since the war broke out, we stayed for months without going to school, and now we came here to study so that I could become an engineer. In this school, the English is not bad; if it rains, there is no way for people to come to school."

[1]An estimated 2 million internally displaced and returnees children, along with nearly 41,000 teachers, all require education-related humanitarian aid in South Sudan. These needs are diverse and necessitate comprehensive, multi-sectoral interventions, particularly in hard-to-reach areas.

Pornpun Jib Rabiltossaporn, Country Director, Save the Children in South Sudan:

“Children who drop out of school are more likely to be recruited into labour, to be abused and exploited, and to be victims of early, forced, and child marriage. Save the Children calls for the protection of children's learning and wellbeing in conflict-affected areas by committing to funding and supporting emergency interventions to ensure communities feel safe, protected, and supported in opening schools and beginning the teaching and learning process in a conducive and secure environment.”

The Multi-Year Resilience Programme for South Sudan, funded by ECW, is working to ensure that learning is accessible to all girls and boys, including internally displaced children, refugees, returnees, and those with disabilities.  In June 2023, [2]Education Cannot Wait’s (ECW) Executive Director Yasmine Sherif announced an additional US$40 million in catalytic grant funding to extend ECW’s Multi-Year Resilience Programme in South Sudan for another three years. The total ECW funding for South Sudan now exceeds US$74 million.

For more details and interview arrangements, contact:  Estella John Estella.John@savethechildren.org