Jesuit Refugee Service Report Confirms Education Is a Life Saving Intervention for Refugees

WASHINGTON, May 19, 2016 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- In the new report Providing Hope, Investing in the Future: Education in Emergencies & Protracted Crises, Jesuit Refugee Service (JRS) confirms that education is a life-saving intervention for children and adolescents who are forcibly displaced from their homes. In emergencies where many agencies provide basic humanitarian assistance, JRS is on the ground organizing educational and recreational activities to heal trauma, promote human dignity, and build skills. 

"This report highlights the need to prioritize education for refugees and those displaced by conflict and crisis and ensure that these important programs receive the resources and political support they deserve," said Giulia McPherson, JRS/USA's Assistant Policy Director and author of the report.

Today, more than 75 million children and young people have their education disrupted or destroyed by emergencies and prolonged crises. Attacks on schools, wars, natural disasters and the largest refugee crisis since World War II have increased the need for education in emergencies. 

Despite this need, less than two percent of all humanitarian funding has gone to education every year since 2010. But, that can change. Next week the World Humanitarian Summit will convene in Istanbul to tackle the most significant challenges facing the global humanitarian sector.

During the Summit, the Education Cannot Wait Fund will be launched. This effort aims to mobilize and coordinate support for programs that meet the educational needs of children and youth affected by crisis.

"If we do not act (affected youth) will become victims of child labor, child trafficking and child marriage and they will be a discontented generation of young people, a lost generation," former British Prime Minster Gordon Brown said while previewing the Fund.

"We see the hope that education provides in times of great despair, when the people we serve think the world has forgotten them," said JRS West Africa Regional Director Fr. Eric Goeh-Akue S.J.

JRS International Director Fr. Thomas H. Smolich S.J. will participate in the Summit during a panel co-hosted by JRS, Theirworld, UNRWA, INEE, the Global Campaign for Education, and War Child. The panel event — "Delivering Quality Education in Emergencies: What Needs To Be Done" — is May 23.

With access to quality education, individuals can better fulfill their own potential and fully contribute to the growth, strength and stability of society.

SOURCE Jesuit Refugee Service

Related Links

http://www.jrsusa.org