Baroness Uddin – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Uddin on 2016-02-01.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what action they are taking to encourage countries hosting Syrian refugees in the region to allow non-governmental organisations to provide non-formal education opportunities.

Baroness Verma

The UK remains at the forefront of the response to the crisis in Syria and the region. We have doubled our commitment and have now pledged a total of more than £2.3 billion, our largest ever response to a single humanitarian crisis. The UK is funding Non-Formal Education via UNICEF in Jordan and Lebanon which is implemented by national non-governmental organisations.

We helped launch and mobilise international support for the No Lost Generation Initiative. The aim of Initiative is to improve quality formal and non-formal learning opportunities for children that are out of school. As part of this support, the UK has allocated £115 million to provide protection, psychosocial support and education for children affected by the crisis in Syria and the region. As a result over 251,000 children have received formal and informal education inside Syria and in the region.

At the Supporting Syria and the Region Conference in London on 4 February, leaders came together to pledge more than $11 billion, the largest amount raised in one day for a humanitarian crisis. On education, leaders committed that by the end of the 2016/17 school year, 1.7 million children – all refugee children and vulnerable children in host communities – will be in quality education with equal access for girls and boys. This includes enrolment in either a formal school or a non-formal, informal or other alternative education programme that meets national or international standards.