The journey of an 11-year-old girl named Aschila from a displaced child laborer to a thriving student embodies the profound impact of an innovative educational program reshaping lives across Ethiopia. Caught in a vortex of conflict and climate-induced displacement that has crippled the nation’s infrastructure, millions of children have been robbed of their education and childhood. In response, a comprehensive intervention led by Education Cannot Wait (ECW) and its partners, including World Vision Ethiopia, is demonstrating that restoring access to school requires more than simply rebuilding classrooms. The Multi-Year Resilience Programme (MYRP) champions a “whole-of-child” approach, systematically dismantling the interconnected barriers of hunger, poverty, and insecurity. By addressing the fundamental needs that prevent children from learning, this initiative is not just reopening school doors but restoring a sense of normalcy, dignity, and hope to a generation on the brink.
A Generation at Risk
Ethiopia’s education system is straining under the immense weight of a multifaceted humanitarian crisis. A devastating convergence of internal conflict, severe climate shocks like drought and floods, and widespread economic hardship has resulted in a catastrophic collapse of educational access. By the close of 2024, the nation was grappling with six million internally displaced people and hosting over one million refugees, placing an unbearable burden on already scarce resources. This turmoil has left an estimated nine million children out of school. The physical infrastructure of learning has been decimated, with over 9,000 schools—nearly a fifth of the country’s total—damaged or completely destroyed by conflict and environmental disasters. This widespread destruction has effectively erased safe learning environments for countless young people, leaving them stranded in a state of perpetual uncertainty and vulnerability, unable to access the single most important tool for their future development.
The consequences of this educational vacuum are severe and far-reaching, extending well beyond the loss of learning. Without the protective structure of a school environment, children are acutely exposed to a host of dangers, including forced labor, early marriage, exploitation, and recruitment into armed factions. For displaced families who have lost their homes, livelihoods, and sense of security, the struggle for daily survival eclipses all other concerns, rendering education an unattainable luxury. The urgent need for food and shelter often forces parents into heartbreaking decisions, compelling them to rely on their children’s labor to make ends meet. This reality not only perpetuates a cycle of poverty but also robs an entire generation of its potential, jeopardizing the long-term stability and recovery of the nation. The crisis has created a silent emergency where the future of millions is being decided by their lack of access to a classroom.
More Than a Classroom
Recognizing that a child cannot learn on an empty stomach, the MYRP has implemented a homegrown school feeding program that serves as a cornerstone of its holistic strategy. This initiative provides students with daily meals of bread, tea, and rice, using locally sourced ingredients that not only nourish children but also stimulate the local economy. For many students like Aschila, this reliable source of food is a “game-changer,” providing the physical energy and mental focus required for effective learning. Beyond nutrition, the program addresses the economic desperation that forces children out of school by providing direct cash support to their families. This financial assistance is a critical lifeline, empowering parents to cover basic necessities and rebuild their livelihoods without having to sacrifice their children’s education. As Aschila’s father noted, this support was essential for community members who had lost everything, giving them the financial stability needed to send their children back to school.
Alongside addressing hunger and poverty, the program is dedicated to creating physical environments where children can learn in safety and with dignity. A significant component of the initiative involves rehabilitating classrooms and water points damaged by conflict and neglect, making schools functional and welcoming once again. Furthermore, the construction of new latrines and the establishment of designated safe learning spaces are prioritized to ensure that all students, particularly adolescent girls, have their needs met. A key intervention in this area is the distribution of menstrual hygiene management (MHM) kits, which directly tackles a major barrier to girls’ consistent school attendance. For children who have endured long gaps in their education, the program offers specialized catch-up classes and accelerated learning programs, providing a structured pathway for them to regain lost ground and successfully reintegrate into the formal school system.
A Blueprint for Recovery
The strategic investments in Ethiopia’s educational recovery have yielded clear and measurable results, demonstrating the profound efficacy of the whole-of-child model. Since 2020, ECW has channeled a total of US$88 million into programs targeting internally displaced and refugee children, with a particular emphasis on reaching girls and children with disabilities. This commitment has enabled the MYRP to successfully benefit over 34,000 children, including 16,400 girls, at a remarkably efficient cost of approximately US$65 per child. The success of this model has prompted further investment, including a recent catalyst grant of US$24 million aimed at scaling up the program’s impact. This new funding is designed to increase enrollment in non-formal education, enhance the quality of foundational learning, and smooth the transition for students moving from accelerated programs into the formal school system, solidifying a sustainable pathway to education.
The remarkable success of the MYRP provided a tangible blueprint for restoring education in complex crisis zones, proving that an integrated approach addressing hunger, poverty, and safety created an environment where children could not only return to school but truly thrive. However, this hard-won progress was put in jeopardy by a severe and persistent funding shortfall. The 2024 Humanitarian Response Plan identified an urgent need for US$101 million for the education sector, but less than half of this critical amount was ever secured. This gap translated directly into a lack of essential resources for teacher training, infrastructure repair, and inclusive learning programs. The story of Aschila was a powerful reminder that behind the staggering statistics were individual children whose dreams and potential were reclaimed through this program. The failure to fully fund such proven interventions threatened to undo the vital work that had been accomplished, risking the future of millions who had just begun to rebuild their lives.
