Education Cannot Wait Interviews UNICEF Representative in Egypt Jeremy Hopkins

By External Source
Oct 3 2024 (IPS-Partners)

 
Jeremy Hopkins is half Kenyan and half British and graduated with a MA in Arabic and Social Anthropology (Edinburgh) and a MSc in Development Studies (SOAS – University of London). He started his career with WFP in Somalia and then moved to UNICEF also in Somalia as a Child Protection specialist but with an overview on Youth, HIV and C4D portfolios. He worked again as a child protection specialist in Mozambique after which he was a Deputy Representative in Central African Republic, Yemen and Somalia (again!). He has been acting Representative in South Sudan for a short while, Representative in Burundi and is currently Representative in Egypt. Outside the professional realm Jeremy enjoys music, travelling, surfing and photography.

ECW: With more and more families crossing the border in Egypt to flee the brutal conflict in Sudan, the number of refugees and asylum seekers in Egypt is rapidly increasing. A majority are women and children. Why is it important to ensure these crisis-impacted girls and boys can continue their education?

Jeremy Hopkins: With over 725,000 registered refugees and asylum seekers—more than double from a year ago—there are now 246,000 school-aged refugee children in Egypt.

From my experience meeting some of these children, hearing their stories, their journeys, and their hopes for the future, I know that their dreams are just like any other child’s. They long for opportunities to learn, grow, build a better future, and contribute to their families and communities.

These children are incredibly resilient and driven. We must understand that many of these children have endured life-altering experiences – leaving their homes, facing dangerous and uncertain journeys, and now living in a country with language barriers and unfamiliar surroundings. Such displacement often leads to confusion, a loss of identity, and a sense of not belonging. Education becomes the lifeline that gives children a chance to navigate their new world after fleeing unimaginable hardship, helping them understand their circumstances, to develop a sense of self, and envision a hopeful future.

Every child, everywhere, no matter their circumstances, has the right to an education. Providing learning opportunities to refugee children in Egypt is not only about addressing their immediate needs – it’s about giving them the foundation to rebuild their lives. By investing in education for these children, we also help cultivate a more inclusive, harmonious environment for everyone involved including the host community children who can learn to celebrate diversity and difference. By supporting these children’s education, we’re ensuring they have the tools to survive, thrive, and contribute to the society they live in, now and in the future.

ECW: How is UNICEF working with education partners and multi-lateral funds in Egypt to support inclusive equitable quality education for refugees and host community children? What are the key challenges to address?

Jeremy Hopkins: UNICEF is committed to working with partners to build an inclusive, equitable and quality education system that ensures no child – whether refugee or host community – is left behind.

As the lead agency for Education in Emergencies, UNICEF is at the forefront of bridging short-term humanitarian responses with long-term development goals, creating a Humanitarian-Development Nexus.

A key component of our work is advocating with the Government of Egypt to make public education more accessible for refugees and migrants, whilst investing in these same national systems. We engage with policymakers at all levels to promote inclusive policies, ensuring that refugee children can attend public schools and receive the same educational opportunities as their Egyptian peers.

UNICEF also plays a key role in coordinating the education sector by co-chairing the Education Working Group and the Technical Task Team. These platforms allow us to bring together development partners to align efforts and maximize the impact of education initiatives, ensuring a streamlined approach that addresses the diverse needs of both refugee and host community children.

To support children directly, UNICEF has implemented education cash grants, benefiting over thousands of children and their families. We are also enhancing the quality of education in Sudanese Community Learning Centres by offering distance learning and digital resources through the UNICEF Learning Passport, which now has over 55,000 registered users.

Additionally, we have established a sustainable non-formal education model through ‘Learning Spaces’ within host community structures. These spaces provide immediate education responses and programme for integration in public schools for Sudanese, Palestinian, and Egyptian children. So far, more than 14,000 children have benefited from these programmes. We also launched a ‘Teaching Certification Programme’, which not only improves quality education but also creates employment opportunities for 250 refugee teachers.

UNICEF is also working closely with the Egyptian Government to integrate refugees and migrants into the formal public education system. We have mapped public schools that are already serving these students and are implementing a ‘Comprehensive Inclusion Programme’, positioning refugee and migrant children within the broader vulnerable population, alongside girls in rural areas, children at risk of dropping out, and children with disabilities. This inclusive approach has gained strong support from decision-makers because it addresses the needs of all at-risk children, not just refugees. In collaboration with the government and development partners, UNICEF promotes a holistic approach to inclusion, which maximizes impact, enhances cost-effectiveness, and ensures consistent implementation. So far, through these initiatives, we have reached 322,000 children, including 6,200 refugees and migrants, and 2,200 children with disabilities.

Despite significant efforts, several challenges persist in providing education for refugee children in Egypt. Approximately half of the 246,000 school-aged refugee children remain out of school, largely due to the lengthy waiting period for residency permits, which can extend up to 18 months. During this time, children are often unable to enroll in schools, and the additional registration requirements only compound the barriers they face in accessing education.

Strict enforcement of laws governing non-formal learning centres has also led to the closure of many community learning centres, which are crucial for over 150,000 children who rely on them for their education. Without these centres, the education of these children is at serious risk.

Another key challenge is the insufficient global support to address the escalating educational and other critical needs of refugees and migrants in Egypt. It is neither reasonable nor realistic to expect the Government of Egypt to shoulder the cost of integrating migrants and refugees into the national school system. Such responsibilities are shared with the international community and it is important for international development actors to step up with the much needed resources that are required for this work, in an environment where many refugees and migrants risk discrimination and an environment that is already under severe economic pressure

In the face of these challenges, UNICEF remains committed to work alongside the Egyptian Government and development partners to ensure that all children – regardless of their background – have access to inclusive, equitable and quality education. We believe that investing in education today is essential for building a more inclusive, resilient future for both refugee and host communities.

ECW: In your career with the United Nations, you have worked in Burundi, Yemen, Central African Republic, Mozambique, Somalia and other countries severely impacted by armed conflict, forced displacement, climate change and other protracted crises. Why should donors step up funding for Africa’s forgotten crises through multilateral funds such as Education Cannot Wait?

Jeremy Hopkins: Unfortunately, children and their families affected by such conflicts are among the most vulnerable in the world. They endure extreme poverty, severe protection vulnerabilities and they often lack access to basic services. These protracted crises are often overshadowed by more prominent global issues, yet the silent emergency of generations of children deprived of their right to education is a crisis in and of itself. Immediate relief and support are not just necessary—they are a humanitarian imperative.

Multilateral funds like Education Cannot Wait are particularly effective because they pool resources from various donors, ensuring that funds are used equitably, efficiently, and effectively. This collaborative approach maximizes impact and reduces duplication of efforts, ensuring that every dollar spent reaches those who need it most.

ECW: Globally, we are off-track to deliver on many of the goals outlined in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, including the target for universal education. How can we transform our delivery of humanitarian and development aid to fulfill our global commitments to children and adolescents caught in emergencies and protracted crises?

Jeremy Hopkins: Achieving universal 12 years of education by 2030 is a steep challenge and no more so for children and adolescents in emergencies and protracted crises. To get back on track with the SDG4 goals, we first need to reverse the declining trends of aid funding to education.

When it comes to humanitarian crises, education is often neglected for two principle reasons:

• Immediate Needs Prioritization: In crises, immediate needs like food, water, shelter and medical care take precedence. Education is sometimes seen as a secondary concern.
• Resource Constraints: Limited resources and funding often mean that education programmes are underfunded.

But education provides a platform for critical immediate needs and life-saving services. Schools are places to distribute clean water, provide nutrition and vital health services, and share life-saving messages. And when we listen to crisis-affected populations, education regularly tops the number one need. Why? Because education provides the immediate recovery platform for families and communities to build normalcy, to get children and adolescents focused on their mental health, learning, play and wellbeing, and to allow parents to plan for the next step. The learning environment also provides critical access to children who may be suffering from specific protection violations or vulnerabilities and who may need referral to specialist protection services.

As such, as per UNICEF’s Core Commitment for Children, education needs to be much better woven into the humanitarian response fabric so that the benefits of education can reach children and families from the earliest stages of crisis, and ruptures in learning can be averted, whilst critical mental health and psycho-social support and relief that learning offers can be expanded.

Additionally, innovative models of providing remote education based on the home country curriculum such as the Learning Passport, which is reaching over 60,000 children affected by crisis in Egypt – need to be scaled up.

ECW: We all know that ‘readers are leaders’ and that reading skills are key to every child’s education. What are three books that have most influenced you personally and/or professionally, and why would you recommend them to others?

Jeremy Hopkins: Let me offer three books that I have found personally inspirational, and which are, themselves, written by great leaders. I have to start with ‘The Long Walk to Freedom’ by Nelson Mandela. The incredible journey he travelled and his awesome capacity to forgive and reconcile are a life lesson to all of us. ‘The Dignity of Difference’ by Jonathan Sacks is another inspiring read which celebrates the importance of celebrating diversity in an increasingly globalized world. Finally ‘The Life of Pi’ by Yann Martel provides a heart-rending story of living through immense hardship and living to tell the tale. I have found each of these books a fascinating read and would return to them for reference or a re-read at any time. I hope that others will find them similarly inspiring.