In the shadow of a conflict that has uprooted fourteen million people and silenced classrooms for nearly eight million children, Education Cannot Wait has committed twenty-two million dollars to restore learning across three regions of Sudan. The investment, spanning three years and reaching toward two hundred thousand of the most vulnerable young people, recognizes that education in crisis is not a luxury but a form of protection — a way of returning children to routine, dignity, and future possibility. It arrives as part of a wider global reckoning with the scale of educational collapse, one
Education Cannot Wait invests $22M to restore schooling for 200,000 Sudan children
14 million Sudanese have been displaced since April 2023, with 8 million children out of school and 33.7 million requiring humanitarian assistance.
Education is protection; it keeps children away from armed groups and early marriage.
Mark
Why does education matter so much in a crisis? Couldn't resources go to food, shelter, medicine first?
Mimi
Those things are essential, absolutely. But education does something medicine alone cannot—it restores structure, safety, and hope. A child in a classroom has routine again. They're with peers. They're not thinking only about survival. Education is also protection; it keeps children away from recruitment into armed groups, away from child labor, away from early marriage.
Mark
The programme reaches two hundred thousand children. Sudan has eight million out of school. That's a fraction.
Mimi
True. But you have to start somewhere, and you have to start well. This investment focuses on the regions hit hardest and the children most vulnerable—girls, children with disabilities, the displaced. If it works, it becomes a model. If it fails, it wastes resources. The goal is to prove that recovery is possible, even in active conflict.
Mark
Why is it important that nearly half the budget goes to local organizations?
Mimi
Because outsiders don't know the terrain. They don't have relationships with families. They can't navigate local politics or understand what a teacher actually needs to function. Local organizations have trust. They have roots. When the international organizations eventually leave, local capacity remains.
Mark
Some children have missed five hundred days of school. Can they catch up?
Mimi
Not in the traditional sense. But the goal isn't to restore them to where they were. It's to move them forward from where they are now. Some will need remedial support. Some will need to skip grades. The point is to get them learning again, to rebuild their confidence and their sense that the future is possible.
Mark
What happens after three years?
Mimi
That's the real question. This funding ends. The conflict may not. So the programme has to build systems and capacity that can sustain themselves—teachers trained to work in difficult conditions, communities organized to protect schools, local organizations strong enough to continue the work. It's not a solution. It's a foundation.
O Pulso
- Since April 2023, armed conflict has effectively dismantled Sudan's education system, with some children losing the equivalent of nearly 500 days of schooling and no clear end to the disruption in sight.
- The human toll is immense — 14 million displaced, 33.7 million requiring humanitarian aid — and children with disabilities and girls face the sharpest risk of being permanently left behind.
- A $22 million, three-year programme targeting West Darfur, South Kordofan, and Gedaref is now mobilizing to rebuild learning spaces, train teachers, and provide mental health support to nearly 200,000 children.
- Nearly half the programme's budget flows directly to Sudanese-led organizations, a deliberate choice to anchor recovery in local trust and knowledge rather than outside expertise alone.
- The $22 million is seed funding against a $39 million total need, and partners are racing to close the gap ahead of a critical global replenishment conference in Geneva on November 5, 2026.
In the shadow of a conflict that has uprooted fourteen million people and silenced classrooms for nearly eight million children, Education Cannot Wait has committed twenty-two million dollars to restore learning across three regions of Sudan. The investment, spanning three years and reaching toward two hundred thousand of the most vulnerable young people, recognizes that education in crisis is not a luxury but a form of protection — a way of returning children to routine, dignity, and future possibility. It arrives as part of a wider global reckoning with the scale of educational collapse, one that now touches a quarter of a billion children worldwide.
Sudan's classrooms have fallen nearly silent. Since armed conflict erupted in April 2023, roughly eight million children — close to half of all school-age children in the country — have been shut out of education. Some have missed the equivalent of an entire school year. Fourteen million people have been displaced, and more than thirty-three million require humanitarian assistance simply to survive.
Education Cannot Wait, a global fund dedicated to learning in crisis zones, has responded with a twenty-two million dollar commitment over three years, targeting nearly two hundred thousand children across West Darfur, South Kordofan, and Gedaref. The fund's director, Maysa Jalbout, traveled to Sudan and met the generation this crisis has suspended — children carrying trauma, displacement, and the loss of ordinary life. The programme she returned to champion goes beyond reopening buildings: it will create safe learning spaces, train teachers for fractured conditions, supply materials, and provide mental health support to help children begin to heal.
At least sixty percent of beneficiaries will be girls, and ten percent will be children with disabilities — groups most easily overlooked in emergency response. An additional five million dollars has been reserved as a crisis modifier, ready to deploy when new shocks strike. The work is being led by Save the Children alongside Plan International, Lakarmissionen International, and two Sudanese organizations, with nearly half the budget flowing directly to national and local partners. Francesco Lanino of Save the Children put it simply: in a crisis, a classroom is protection. Rudwan Elfaki of the Sudanese-led Alsalam Organisation echoed that lasting recovery must be rooted in local understanding.
The twenty-two million dollars is seed funding toward a total estimated cost of thirty-nine million. It arrives alongside Education Cannot Wait's broader 'Hope Starts Here' campaign, which seeks six hundred million dollars to reach ten million crisis-affected children across eighty-seven countries by 2030. A high-level replenishment conference in Geneva on November 5, 2026 looms as a critical moment. Sudan's children have already lost years they cannot recover. This investment is a bid to ensure they lose no more.
Sudan's education system has nearly stopped functioning. Since April 2023, when armed conflict erupted across the country, roughly eight million children—nearly half of all school-age children in Sudan—have been locked out of classrooms. Some have missed almost an entire school year's worth of instruction. Across the nation, schools sit empty or damaged. Teachers have fled. Families have scattered. The numbers are staggering: fourteen million people have been forced from their homes, and thirty-three point seven million require humanitarian aid just to survive.
Into this collapse, Education Cannot Wait, a global fund focused on education in crisis zones, has committed twenty-two million dollars over three years to restore schooling for nearly two hundred thousand children across three regions: West Darfur, South Kordofan, and Gedaref. The investment is not simply about reopening buildings. It is about creating safe spaces where children can learn again, where teachers can work again, and where communities can begin to rebuild. The fund's director, Maysa Jalbout, visited Sudan recently, meeting with children, teachers, and aid workers on the ground. What she encountered was a generation suspended—children who have endured prolonged displacement, trauma, and the loss of routine.
The three-year programme targets the most vulnerable: internally displaced children, refugees, and families in host communities struggling to absorb them. At least sixty percent of beneficiaries will be girls. Ten percent will be children with disabilities—populations often left behind in crisis response. The work will include establishing both formal and informal learning spaces, providing mental health and psychosocial support to help children process trauma, training teachers to work in these fractured conditions, and supplying learning materials. An additional five million dollars has been set aside as a crisis modifier, allowing rapid deployment of resources when new emergencies or climate shocks strike.
The programme is being led by Save the Children, working alongside Plan International, Lakarmissionen International, and two Sudanese organizations: Alsalam Organisation for Relief and Development and Sadagaat. This structure reflects a deliberate choice to center local knowledge and trust. Nearly half the budget—forty-eight percent—will flow directly to national and local partners rather than international organizations. Francesco Lanino, Save the Children's deputy country director, framed the work plainly: education is protection. In a crisis, a classroom becomes a refuge, a place where children can recover a sense of safety and routine.
Rudwan Elfaki, who leads Alsalam Organisation for Relief and Development, emphasized that lasting change comes from solutions rooted in local understanding. Sudanese organizations know their communities, know what families need, know what teachers can realistically accomplish under duress. The programme will work with families, teachers, and local structures to rebuild learning environments from the ground up.
The twenty-two million dollars announced is seed funding. The total programme cost is estimated at thirty-nine million dollars. Partners are continuing to seek additional resources as the scale of need becomes clearer. This investment arrives as Education Cannot Wait launched a broader global campaign called Hope Starts Here, aimed at raising six hundred million dollars over four years to reach ten million crisis-affected children across eighty-seven countries. The timing is urgent. Globally, two hundred fifty-eight million school-age children now have their education disrupted by conflict, displacement, or disaster. A decade of work by Education Cannot Wait and its partners has reached more than fourteen million children with education and support. The organization is calling on governments, foundations, and private sector actors to dramatically increase funding before a high-level replenishment conference in Geneva on November fifth, 2026.
Sudan's children have already lost years. The investment announced this week is an attempt to ensure they do not lose more.
Citações Notáveis
Education in Sudan has been interrupted by conflict, displacement and unimaginable hardship. Yet it remains one of the most powerful tools we have to protect millions of children, restore hope and support recovery.— Maysa Jalbout, Director of Education Cannot Wait
Lasting impact comes from solutions that are rooted in local knowledge, trust and partnerships with the communities we serve.— Rudwan Elfaki, General Director of Alsalam Organisation for Relief and Development
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Politics & Governance