Almost 200 million young people globally are out of school, with the majority forced out of the classroom because of humanitarian emergencies. As Educo releases a new report examining the education funding gap, executive director Pilar Orenes explains the importance of creating safe spaces for learning for children living in crisis.

At Educo, we work to ensure the right to education in all circumstances and guarantee that children in crisis contexts have the opportunity to enjoy this right and equitable, quality educational processes in spaces that are safe, protective and that guarantee their wellbeing.

Our work in education in emergencies involves responding to the immediate consequences of a crisis, recognising that we are facing protracted, interlinked crises that inevitably require a comprehensive, long-term approach. That is why Educo uses the nexus approach, which allows us to respond to the immediate reality of children and young people, while at the same time promoting longer-term actions to address the structural causes of vulnerabilities.

We put children and their communities at the centre by working hand in hand with local actors who have strong roots in the community. We believe it is vital that the needs and specific problems of children and adolescents affected by crises are gathered, understood, and taken into consideration in the development and implementation of response strategies. We listen to their views on the response to the crisis, encourage them to participate in the decision-making processes that affect their lives and empower them to contribute directly to solutions based on their evolving capacities. We know that this has a positive impact on their recovery, strengthens their resilience to future crises and enables them to be effective humanitarian actors.

Furthermore, in a context of climate crisis and ongoing environmental degradation, it is key to integrate disaster risk reduction and strengthening children’s resilience into education. That is why we address the complexity of disaster risks, taking into account the specific vulnerabilities and capacities of children and adolescents, educational structures, and the communities they live in.

Through our work in this area, we have reached 125,000 children and adolescents and their communities in the last four years and we have done so in four continents with interventions ranging from Latin America to Asia to Sub-Saharan Africa and Europe.

At Educo we know that education is much more than a right; it is the key to returning to the longed-for routine, a place to continue learning, a place to meet up with classmates, to play, to go back to being a child with no other worries. It is the space that takes them away from the terrible reality they are living in, that protects them, gives them shelter and contributes to their wellbeing.

Read Educo’s latest report: Education in Emergences – A Lifeline