EU-UN cash transfer plan for education aims to reach 230,000 refugee children in Turkey

The European Union and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) have launched a large-scale cash transfer project to increase the number of refugee children attending school in Turkey.

“Education in emergency situations is a top EU priority. Our moral duty is to save this generation of refugee children and invest in their future,” said EU Commissioner for Humanitarian Aid and Crisis Management, Christos Stylianides, in a joint press release [2] on EU’s largest-ever humanitarian contribution, valued at 34 million euro, to the Conditional Cash Transfer for Education (CCTE) project.

“Thanks to the EUs generosity and Turkey’s leadership, UNICEF and our partners are already helping thousands of children to go to school and learn. The CCTE will help us reach 230,000 children – a major step in preventing a lost generation,” said UNICEF Executive Director Anthony Lake.

Turkey is currently host to more than three million refugees, almost half of whom are children. Of them, half a million are already enrolled in school. However, an estimated over 370,000 remain out of school.

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By May 2017, bimonthly cash-transfers will be made to vulnerable refugee families whose children attend school regularly. The project also includes a strategic child protection component in order to ensure the continued school enrolment and attendance of the most vulnerable refugee children as well as their referral to complementary child protection services as required.

The CCTE project will be implemented jointly by the Government of Turkey, UNICEF and the Turkish Red Crescent.