PRESS RELEASE
Kenya: EU’s Humanitarian Aid supports over 96,000 school children in Kakuma and Dadaab refugee camps
NAIROBI, 10 January 2022:
An EU Humanitarian Aid-funded education project, implemented by the Lutheran World Federation and aimed at improving access to safe and quality learning opportunities, has benefitted more than 96,000 students in the Kakuma and Dadaab refugee camps. For this project, the LWF received EUR 510,642.43 from the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF). This contribution was part of larger funding of €2.8 million from the European Union’s Humanitarian Aid to UNICEF, awarded to ensure access to quality child protection and education for the most at-risk children and adolescents in the Dadaab and Kakuma refugee settlements.
The project helped improve enrolment and retention, by conducting community-based campaigns and awareness-raising activities. 41 classrooms were rehabilitated and 770 desks procured, providing additional learning spaces. More than 9,800 textbooks, including on the Competency-Based Curriculum, were supplied and 410 teachers trained.
In addition, the project trained the Boards of Management in 43 primary schools in both locations, ensuring community involvement and contribution to the education of their children.
Providing education to refugee children has suffered many setbacks, with the continued influx of asylum seekers from neighbouring countries adding pressure to the already-stretched facilities and resources: The Kakuma and Dadaab refugee camps host 408,836 refugees and asylum seekers. Children in the two refugee camps face many challenges in accessing education: overcrowded classrooms, inadequate water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) facilities, limited teaching and learning materials and inadequately qualified teachers, in addition to the challenge of enrolling in school at the correct age.
“With children of school-going age in Kenya’s refugee camps accounting for 56% of the camp population, more efforts and resources need to be directed towards education,” said Joseph Mutamba, Technical Advisor for Child Protection and Education for LWF Kenya-Somalia Programme, “With the EU’s support, over 96,000 children living in the Kakuma and Dadaab refugee camps had access to education and training in safe conditions.”
LWF is UNHCR’s lead implementing partner in charge of pre-school and primary education in the Kakuma and Dadaab refugee camps. With continuous humanitarian aid support from UNHCR, UNICEF and the EU and other partners, LWF continues to uphold the right to education through the direct provision of basic education services in situations of displacement, ensuring learning and development opportunities to children forced to flee their homes due to conflict or natural disasters
About EU Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid
The EU – Member States and EU institutions collectively – is among the leading donors of humanitarian aid in the world. Relief assistance is an expression of European solidarity with people in need all around the world. It aims to save lives, prevent and alleviate human suffering, and safeguard the integrity and human dignity of populations affected by natural and human-induced disasters and crises.
Through the European Commission’s Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations department, the European Union helps over 120 million victims of conflict and disasters every year. With headquarters in Brussels and a global network of field offices, the EU assists the most vulnerable people on the basis of humanitarian needs.
About Lutheran World Federation
LWF World Service is the humanitarian and development arm of the Lutheran World Federation (LWF), a global community uniting 148 Christian churches in the Lutheran tradition in 99 countries worldwide. These churches have mandated the World Service to assist those in need without discrimination. As an international faith-based humanitarian organization, LWF World Service works in 25 countries in Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Middle East, serving more than 2.25 million people in need.
The LWF Kenya-Somalia Programme works primarily with displacement-affected communities (refugees, internally displaced persons (IDPs) and host communities) in the three countries. The resilience of the people it serves, and the hope when seeing them improve the quality of their life, individually and collectively, motivates work on the programme. This is done through supporting people to meet their basic needs and achieve their full potential in an environment that supports justice, peace, dignity, diversity and respect for everyone, refugees and host communities alike, and enables the people to claim their universal human rights.
visit: https://kenyasomalia.lutheranworld.org/
About UNICEF
UNICEF works in 190 countries and territories to help children survive and thrive, from early childhood through adolescence. The world’s largest provider of vaccines for developing countries, UNICEF supports child health and nutrition, good water and sanitation, quality basic education for all boys and girls, and the protection of children from violence, exploitation, and AIDS. UNICEF is funded entirely by the voluntary contributions of individuals, businesses, foundations and governments. For more information about UNICEF and its work visit: www.unicef.org
