Please, Donate a scholastic material to enable a vulnerable refugee child to access school
You will be changing today’s and tomorrow’s lives to be better.
Problem Statement
“We have a collective responsibility to ensure education plans take into account the needs of some of the most vulnerable children and youth in the world – refugees, internally displaced children, stateless children and children whose right to education has been compromised by war and insecurity. These children are the keys to a secure and sustainable future, and their education matters for us all.”
- António Guterres, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR)
Education is one of the most valuable building blocks you can give a child in life; it allows children to thrive. Basic literacy and numeracy skills are required to excel in many aspects in life. Without a basic education many people can only find low wage work as they do not possess the educational or technical skills required for other careers. However, many children are unable to receive an education. Refugee children in particular have a five times greater risk of losing years of education than their peers (UNHCR).
Uganda hosts one of the largest refugee populations in the world, with most coming from Burundi, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), and South Sudan. The majority of these people have fled from violent situations and dangerous conditions, and some have lived in refugee camps for many years, or even their whole lives. Kyaka II, in Uganda’s South West, is one such refugee camp. This camp hosts over 113,000 people, almost half of which are under 18 years of age.
In Uganda 96% of primary school aged children are enrolled in school (UNICEF), in Kyaka II, however, this number drops to 71% (UNHCR). While there are multiple schools within walking distance of the camp, many of the children within Kyaka II are, however, unable to attend school due to a lack of financial resources. Many of these children have witnessed or experienced extreme violence. Without an education, they are more likely to fall into lives of drugs, crime, and prostitution, continuing a life of poverty. Girls in particular face many challenges when trying to access an education, and their attendance is generally lower than their male counterparts. Without an education they are more vulnerable to child marriage or a life of prostitution.
“Education provides the keys to a future in which refugees can find solutions for themselves and their communities.” (UNHCR)
To break the cycle of poverty LHI is providing children with the necessary tools and support to receive an education. The program not only ensures that the children are able to enrol in school, but also provides them with the support necessary to stay in school, with the aim of having all participants completing primary level education. Furthermore, to increase the level of gender equality in education, over half of the selected participants will be female.
This initiative works directly towards Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) #4, ensuring that boys and girls have access to education, while creating long term knock on effects in other SDG goals through improved educational outcomes including: decent work and economic growth, reduced inequality, and no poverty. Furthermore, it actively works towards achieving Uganda’s Education Goal of increasing equitable access to and completion rates of primary education, ensuring for gender equity, as well as working towards achieving the Incheon Declaration and the Education 2030 Framework for Action, which stresses the social responsibility countries have to educate refugee children.
By improving the educational outcomes of at risk children in the Kyaka II refugee settlement area, benefits are created not just for the children themselves, but for their families, and their communities as a whole. In an immediate sense, children are supplied with knowledge and psycho-social support, which helps them both through improved education and to move beyond the traumatic events they may have endured. Whereas long term their education can be used towards becoming educated professionals, who in turn can work towards the prevention of disaster, disease, and conflict (Incheon Declaration), making them valuable persons not only within their community but for the whole world.
Please Donate Now to Support our Special Education for the Most Vulnerable Refugee Children (SEMVRC) Project