A safe place to learn

Every child has the right to an education free from fear of discrimination, violence or attack. We work to provide refugees, girls, children with disabilities and other underserved young people with the education they deserve.

75million children around the world have their education disrupted by conflict or emergencies

Discrimination, emergencies and conflicts threaten the ability of young people to have a safe place to learn, jeopardising their chances of a quality education. It makes the 132 million girls already not in school more vulnerable to exploitation, abuse and violence. It further excludes the 50% of children with disabilities who currently get no education.

Children whose lives are affected by conflict or emergencies can suffer grave long-term consequences. A child who is out of school for more than a year is unlikely to return, placing the entire future of their education at risk.

In emergency situations, education can give refugee children a sense of structure, direction and security. Getting children back into school quickly after a crisis can prevent them from falling into child labour, child marriage, exploitation and recruitment by armed groups.

Theirworld is pioneering approaches to provide education to children in emergencies and fight exclusion. But international political will and financial support for quality education targeted at the most vulnerable must increase dramatically. 

How the Education Cannot Wait fund aims to raise money and support from public and private sources to make sure children in crises can get back into school as quickly as possible.


More on why this matters

Oleksandr, a young refugee from Ukraine, at at a nonformal education centre in Greece.

We work with international and community partners to help young people learn in safety

7 Safe Place to Learn projects currently active

Click on a country to see which projects are active there

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Leap together

Leap together

We partner with local organisation Chance for Childhood to identify and cater to special learning needs among children who live on the streets. The programme also helps communities create environments where young people with different needs feel safer.

Small Grants Programme

Small Grants Programme

Theirworld’s Small Grants Programme gives grants of up to £10,000 to registered charities and non-profits helping disadvantaged and overlooked young people in the UK and around the world.

All children in education
all children in education greece

All children in education

Working alongside the Greek government, UNICEF and local community organisations, Theirworld has invested more than $5 million to address the refugee education crisis in the Greek mainland and Islands.

Heal together
heal together greece

Heal together

In Greece, Theirworld works with Amna Refugee Healing Network, to help extend its Baytna Hubs programme to more partner organisations, using a sustainable approach to the delivery of early childhood education.

Trauma informed schools
trauma informed schools turkey

Trauma informed schools

Theirworld partners with Maya Vakfi in Turkey to deliver a programme which helps students cope with traumatic experiences and gives teachers the skills to understand and address their needs.

Education Innovation Awards

Education Innovation Awards

Theirworld’s Education Innovation Awards offers non-profits, NGOs and charities the chance to secure scale-up grants and resources to help their work in reaching overlooked youth and children.

MBA Project with Edinburgh Business School
Lebanon MBA scholarship participant

MBA Project with Edinburgh Business School

Theirworld partnered with Scotland’s Edinburgh Business School to offer 20 fully-funded Master of Business Administration (MBA) scholarships to refugees living in Lebanon and vulnerable Lebanese citizens.

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€1.35 million extra funding secured for refugee children on the Greek islands during Covd-19

Education in emergencies

300,000 refugee children are now in school as a result of Theirworld’s innovation of double-shift schools

Double-shift schools

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