Education Connects Families and Fosters Peace and Sustainable Development

International Day of Families Statement by Education Cannot Wait Executive Director Yasmine Sherif

NEW YORK, May 15, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- There is no force more powerful than family. Family binds us together in times of trouble. Family unites generations and connects cultures. Family is a key driver for a world in peace, economic security and growth in all areas of life. Both at micro- and macro-level.  

As we look forward to the Second World Summit for Social Development on this year's International Day of Families, we must recognize the power of education to activate and empower families as agents of change.

With quality education, families foster and inspire human capital of resourceful peacemakers and creative individuals who can drive positive social and economic development. With quality education, an entire generation of girls can grow up to be equal leaders within their communities, within their economies and within their homes.

As we note from the initial draft of the Political Declaration for the Second World Summit for Social Development, education is a key force in our collective commitment to "foster inclusive, equitable and cohesive societies grounded in human dignity, solidarity, tolerance and full participation for all." This commitment – grounded in international law, such as the UN Charter – plays a significant role in quality education. It is through the family that children and adolescents develop the skills and the potential to overcome contemporary challenges, to be a positive contributor to society and to make a mark on the world.

As a bedrock for strong families – and even stronger societies – education must be made available to all. A family without access to quality education will not be empowered to rise up from extreme poverty, end child marriages and other barriers to education, or even have the strength to contribute to their own survival, let alone that of the rest of the world.

Unfortunately, we are falling behind on our commitments – especially on the frontlines of the world's most severe humanitarian crises where conflicts, forced displacement and climate change are pulling families apart and undermining global efforts to deliver on the promises of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Pact for the Future.

Today, low and lower-middle-income countries face a nearly US$100 billion annual financing gap to reach their education targets. Without additional measures by 2030, 94 million children and adolescents will be out of school, 300 million students will lack basic numeracy and literacy skills, and only 1 in 6 countries will achieve goals for universal secondary education, according to the United Nations. Now, add upon this the magnitude of mental health impact, violence, negative role models and a stark sense of disempowerment for every child lacking a family and quality education.

As an innovative model of UN reform, Education Cannot Wait (ECW) and its strategic partners deliver quality education for children in the world's most challenging contexts. In refugee camps in places like Bangladesh, Chad and Uganda, hundreds of thousands of girls and boys receive mental health and psychosocial support, school meals, and learn to read and write. Some are attending school for the very first time. For them, this is a life-transforming opportunity.  

On the frontlines of brutal conflicts in places like the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Gaza, Sudan and Ukraine, ECW and our partners do what we can with what we have to provide the bare minimum of mental health support until hostilities cease, and we can fully invest in the resilience of these families and their children through a holistic quality education. 

In forgotten crises in places like the Central African Republic and Haiti, entire communities are benefiting from vocational skills training, catch-up courses for young mothers and other innovative supports that benefit not just children, but their entire communities.

We cannot achieve sustainable development and peace without families. And we cannot build strong families without education for all. Families offer love, care, emotional support, values, stability and security. The role of the school is to jointly develop these imperatives towards learning and the achievement of the child's potential. Many of the challenges we face today evidence that these imperatives and linkages have broken down. Therefore, building back better requires a reversal.

As world leaders come together to reimagine how humanitarian aid is delivered – with impact, efficiency and effectiveness at the forefront – they must put education first for all families in extreme poverty, brutal wars and climate disasters. Only then can we empower them to rise up from the ashes, restore peace and ensure sustainable development. Families bind us together, all while quality education is the uniting bind that ties us all together as a human family.

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