MEDIA ADVISORY: 8 December 2020
EDUCATION CANNOT WAIT INVITES BEIRUT-BASED JOURNALISTS TO ACCOMPANY HIGH-LEVEL UN MISSION IN LEBANON: 8-14 DECEMBER
Education Cannot Wait’s mission to Lebanon focuses on: mobilizing new resources to accelerate a multi-year education response; assessing ongoing school rehabilitations in Beirut and ECW’s COVID-19 education in emergency response
Lebanon Mission Dates: 8-14 December 2020 – Key mission objectives and background
Education Cannot Wait (ECW), the UNICEF-hosted, global fund for education in emergencies and protracted crises, is conducting an advocacy mission to Lebanon from 8-14 December, led by ECW’s Director, Yasmine Sherif, accompanied by ECW’s Chief, Strategic Partnerships, Nasser Faqih, and ECW’s Chief, Humanitarian Liaison, Maarten Barends.
ECW is among the first responders in crisis and invests in education for refugees, internally displaced, host-communities and other children and adolescents affected by crisis. The ECW delegation will be following up on ECW’s investments in: education emergency response to COVID-19; school rehabilitations following the Beirut explosion; and, the continuing education challenges for refugees, host-community and Lebanese children.
ECW’s Director, Yasmine Sherif, is available for media interviews: either at site locations in Lebanon, and/or in person/by phone in Beirut after each day’s field trips – throughout 8-14 December. Journalists are welcome to be part of the visit to any of the locations noted in the itinerary outline below.
ECW’s media/comms liaison officer on the ground in Lebanon for the mission is Simon Balsom, who can be reached in Beirut at: +96176969417 and by email: [email protected]; and Kent Page, who can be reached in New York at: 1-917-302-1735 and by email: [email protected].
ECW’s partners include: Government of Lebanon, Lebanese Ministry of Education and Higher Education, UNRWA, UNESCO, UNICEF, UNHCR, UNIC, Save the Children, AVSI, NRC and IRC.
Outline of the ECW Mission Itinerary
8-9 Dec: ECW high-level meetings, with Minister of Education, UN Resident Coordinator & Humanitarian Coordinator, UN agency and civil society organization representatives, and donor missions.
10 Dec: UNESCO-ECW visit in Beirut to focus on school damage and school rehabilitations following the Beirut explosions; a UNESCO-ECW press conference at 10:30 am at Achrafiyeh 3rd Public School in Geitawi, Beirut. Graduation ceremony of DOPs counsellors. Please see UNESCO Media Advisory of 7 Dec.
11 Dec: CSO-ECW visit to Akkar, with civil society partners, incl. AVSI, SAVE, IRC, NRC, focused on ECW’s COVID19 education in emergency response for displaced, refugee and host community children.
12 Dec: UNRWA-ECW focused visit to ECW-supported schools/learning centres in Ein El Hilweh Camp.
14 Dec: ECW-Partners visit to Beqaa Valley to informal education & community-based schools for displaced children.
Additional Information
- Education Cannot Wait (ECW) First Emergency Response. In early September 2020, ECW approved US$1.5 million in education in emergency funding in response to the 4 August Beirut explosion. The explosion damaged ~140 schools and affected at least 55,000 Lebanese and non-Lebanese students. Through ECW’s first emergency response window, UNESCO is rehabilitating 40 schools and supporting 30,000 students to resume learning. Learn More
- An ongoing education crisis. Compounding economic, health and political crises are putting over a million children and youth at risk in Lebanon. Analysis from ECW’s 2019 Annual Report indicates that approximately 631,209 Syrian children and 447,400 vulnerable Lebanese children faced challenges accessing education in 2019. This number was further increased as a result of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.
- Multi-Year Resilience Programme. The mission provides an opportunity to mobilize new resources for the planned ECW-funded multi-year resilience education programme in Lebanon. The response addresses the compounding impacts of the explosion, COVID-19, and continued education needs of vulnerable refugee, displaced and host community children and youth. The new programme seeks to catalyze a comprehensive education in emergencies response for vulnerable children and youth in Lebanon, and to bridge the humanitarian-development-peace nexus to create long-term solutions and reach Sustainable Development Goal 4: ensure inclusive and equitable quality education for all.
- Follow live. Live updates from the field will be provided on Twitter via @EduCannotWait.
COVID-19 Precautions: The Education Cannot Wait (ECW) delegation will respect a full quarantine from 4-7 December, with testing, per COVID-19 protocols. Following testing and quarantine, strict adherence with WHO guidelines will be followed, including the use of masks and social distancing.
About
Education Cannot Wait (ECW):
ECW is the first global fund dedicated to education in emergencies and
protracted crisis. It was launched by international humanitarian and
development aid actors, along with public and private donors, to address the
urgent education needs of 75 million children and youth in conflict and crisis
settings. ECW’s investment modalities are designed to usher in a more
collaborative approach among actors on the ground, ensuring relief and
development organizations join forces to achieve education outcomes. Education
Cannot Wait is hosted by UNICEF.