#NotLost: Time for action for Syria’s children
On the fifth anniversary of the Syria conflict, we’re taking a deep dive into the technical details of funding to educate Syria’s children. Read below to find out where we stand today and what needs to happen next.
Six weeks ago, Malala and Muzoon Almellehan spoke at the Supporting Syria conference in London. Their message was clear: Syria’s future is #notlost — not yet, not if world leaders invest in children right now.
They called on donor countries — some of the world’s wealthiest nations — to give $ 1.4 billion USD a year to educate the 3.5 million Syrian children who are out of school or whose education is at risk and not leave less wealthy refugee host countries to bear most of the burden.
In February, Malala Fund asked leaders to make this the year in which all Syrian children affected by the conflict went back to school — to make this the year the world stands with Syria’s children and honours their determination to continue learning so that they might one day rebuild their country.
The conference delivered, but only in part: nearly half of the $1.4 billion was raised for education this year.
Five countries — Germany, the UK, Norway, Qatar and Luxembourg — made commitments to education that went beyond their fair share. The United States came close, committing $290 million for education in 2016, against a fair share ask of $317 million.
Though not earmarking funding specifically for education, Finland identified it as a priority and met its fair share for the overall response. Others — France, Japan and Italy — noted education as a priority but fell short in their overall commitments. Some, like Russia, who arguably have the resources and responsibility to contribute to aid efforts in the region were noticeable by their absence.
But six weeks on from the conference, there are troubling signs that the sense of urgency is disappearing and a growing concern that countries may not fulfill their promises.
New analysis from Development Initiatives, commissioned by Malala Fund, shows that only 11% of the funds pledged for the overall 2016 Syria response at the conference — just $680 million of $5.9 billion — have been recorded on the UN’s Financial Tracking System (FTS). Of this, only $304 million is recorded as “committed.”
This number represents the amount of promises made at the February conference that have become binding contributions — an important designation because it allows agencies to begin spending money to put response plans in place.
Simply put, money committed means children can start going back to school. But only 5% of what wealthy nations pledged in February to help Syrians has been committed in the six weeks since they made their promises.
Due to the way data is recorded on the FTS, it is impossible to tell exactly how much has been committed specifically to education since the conference. But, whichever way you cut it, the figure undoubtedly falls short of the $1.4 billion needed to get all children into school by the end of the 2016 / 2017 school year. Just $4.5 million is recorded specifically for the education sector. $51.4 million is identified as “multi-sector,” of which a proportion will be for education.
Of the donors who made strong education commitments in February, only the United States and Germany have so far committed funding for the Syria response through the UN FTS, with the US contributing over 75% of funds committed since the conference.
Given the protracted nature of the Syria crisis and the need for a longer-term international response, the Supporting Syria Conference sought to elicit both increased short-term humanitarian and longer-term development funding from donors. Consequently, not all funding pledged at the conference was humanitarian and therefore is not expected to appear on the FTS. However, there is a considerable and worrying shortfall between humanitarian funding pledged, both overall and for education, and funding reported to date.
Since the Supporting Syria conference, we’ve seen very few additional funding commitments to the response overall and to education in particular, whether from humanitarian or development aid.
The lack of new commitments and failure to quickly deliver money promised in February is worrying for a number of reasons.
First, we know from past humanitarian appeals that the majority of funding from donors is committed in the first six months of the year. If we don’t see significant new commitments in the next few months, we are likely to be left with only half the funding we need for education this year.
Second, in order to address current need quickly and put in place quality education provision for all Syrian children by the end of the 2016 / 2017 school year, education funding needs to be delivered as soon possible so the necessary investments in things like school buildings, textbooks and teachers can be made.
Finally, the majority of education-specific commitments made at the Supporting Syria conference were in support of Syrian refugee children living in Turkey, Jordan or Lebanon. But 2.1 million Syrian remain out of school within Syria itself. Specific commitments to meet the education needs of these children were notably absent in February. $516 million has been identified as the annual amount needed to fill this gap. The FTS records just $4.5 million having been committed since the conference — less than 1% of what is needed.
One thing is clear: the international community cannot sleepwalk through the sixth year of conflict. Now is not a time for donor fatigue but a time for accelerated action to disrupt the cycle of violence and guard the hope that lies in Syria’s children.
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