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Latest news

"The children of Eastern Ghouta have already suffered through five years of siege and violence. They have been denied education, food, healthcare and forced to live in basements for months on end to shelter from attacks. Now, as thousands of people flee their homes, those who have survived the bombardment face an uncertain future." Save the Children's Syria Response Director, Sonia Khush.

READ THE LATEST PRESS RELEASE, READ THE LATEST FACT SHEET

"It feels like the end of the world"

Syria: By the numbers. It's one thing to see the statistics. After 7 years of war, Syria is now the #1 most dangerous country to be a child. Not only that, but grave child rights violations continue. That means killing, maiming, sexual violence, abduction, recruitment into combat, attacks on schools and hospitals, and denial of humanitarian access. In fact, some 5.3 million Syrian children need our help right now.

Syria: In their words. It's quite another to hear Syria's children express the realities of war in their own words. "There is no food and we can't go outside. the planes are bombing," says a terrified child. "One of my friends died in front of me - and I saw the blood," cries another. According to a young boy in besieged Eastern Ghouta, "It feels like the end of the world."
By any account, Syria's 7-year war is re-defining childhood.

IS ANYONE THERE?

Watch a horrific bombing caught on video during a recent humanitarian aid mission. #7WordsForSyria

SYRIA: BY THE NUMBERS

Learn the latest statistics - and what they mean for Syria's children.

Syria is the most dangerous place to be a child - of all conflicted-affected countries in the world

Children suffer all 6 "grave violations" - against children in conflict, as defined by the UN

5.3 million children need humanitarian aid now - even in Syria's so-called "de-escalation zones"

SYRIA: IN THEIR WORDS

See how Syria's 7-year war is re-defining what it means to be a child.

OUR SYRIA CRISIS RESPONSE

Thanks to generous supporters like you, Save the Children has worked in Syria and throughout the Middle East for decades. Since 2012, we've led a large, complex response to the war in Syria, reaching children and families in besieged areas, as well as in refugee camps and host communities.

Inside Syria, we're on the ground, ensuring children are safe, cared for and learning. We're providing lifesaving services and supplies. We're tending to children's physical and psychological needs. And we're setting up safe places for children in crisis to learn and play, critical for child development. Despite extreme humanitarian challenges, we've helped 2.5 million people in Syria, including 1.7 million children.

We're also working to draw the world's attention to this crisis, ensuring children's voices are heard and their issues given urgent priority, as we continue to call for immediate humanitarian access and a peaceful resolution to this conflict.
Save the Children is doing whatever it takes to end this war on childhood - so Syria's children have a future.

BE A HERO IN THE LIFE OF A Refugee Child

Children make up more than half of the world's 22.5 million refugees*. Many have known nothing but war, deprivation and fear. They aren't in school and often struggle to find the basic essentials - their lives and futures at risk.

You can help. By sponsoring a refugee child in Egypt, like Karim**, you can be a hero in his life and in the lives of other children in his community. With your steady support, they'll finally have the chance to grow up healthy, learning and safe.

Because every child, everywhere, deserves a future.
*Source: UNHCR
**Name changed for protection

How to Help Children in Syria

Donate
Support Save the Children's mission. Donate to help children in Syria, and around the world, survive and thrive.

Sponsor a Refugee Child
Be the hero in the life of a child in need. Sponsor a child and help them grow up healthy, educated and safe.

Shop Gift Catalog
Give a unique and meaningful gift that will bring joy - and change lives. Find something for everyone on your list.

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"The children of Eastern Ghouta have already suffered through five years of siege and violence. They have been denied education, food, healthcare and forced to live in basements for months on end to shelter from attacks. Now, as thousands of people flee their homes, those who have survived the bombardment face an uncertain future."

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Paper Cranes and the Children's Peace Monument

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Anyone may place paper cranes to the Children's Peace Monument in Peace Memorial Park. However, if you are unable to come to the park, we will be happy to offer your cranes to the monument on your behalf. Please send your cranes to the following address.

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Millions of kids lose access to free or reduced-price meals during the summer. Take action and inspire empathy in the classroom and at home.

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Donate to Malala Fund #GivingTuesday 2017

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This #GivingTuesday, we know what is on the line: the future for 130 million out-of-school girls. With your support, Malala Fund breaks down the barriers keeping girls out of school. Donate today to help every girl learn and lead.

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Newsela | For water-poor Kenyans, swipe of a smart card brings gallons of relief

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Water in Nairobi's slums has been largely managed by cartels, costing far more than in the city's most affluent areas. A new innovation may just end all that.

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Newsela | For water-poor Kenyans, swipe of a smart card brings gallons of relief

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Water in Nairobi's slums has been largely managed by cartels, costing far more than in the city's most affluent areas. A new innovation may just end all that.

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Newsela | For water-poor Kenyans, swipe of a smart card brings gallons of relief

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Water in Nairobi's slums has been largely managed by cartels, costing far more than in the city's most affluent areas. A new innovation may just end all that.

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Newsela | U.S. education officials to gather info on discrimination against Muslims

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Newsela | Most Syrian refugee children work or stay home instead of going to school

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Many children must choose work over education

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Newsela | An organic on-campus farm connects kids to agriculture and growing food

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Newsela | An organic on-campus farm connects kids to agriculture and growing food

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Newsela | In Texas, middle school exercise program focuses on fitness

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Functional Fitness program is reinvigorating physical education in Texas middle schools

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Newsela | More schools seeing new curriculum, funding that favor Native Americans

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State education initiatives are including Native American supports, curriculum and language like never before.

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Newsela | Elementary school students learn journalism, help children's hospital

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Newsela | Instructional Content Platform

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Newsela is an Instructional Content Platform that supercharges reading engagement and learning in every subject.

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Newsela | School garden helps improve student health - and grades

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Newsela | School garden helps improve student health - and grades

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Newsela | School garden helps improve student health - and grades

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Newsela | Opinion: Tanzania's focus on schools proving to be a wise investment

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Newsela | Mrs. Obama battles for healthy school lunches; Congress agrees on bill

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First lady Michelle Obama has made childhood nutrition a top priority. Republicans in Congress have finally compromised with Democrats on a bill designed to make school lunches healthier.

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Newsela | He wrote 120 letters to tell students how special they are. Some cried.

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Teacher handwrites 120 letters to former students.

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Newsela | He wrote 120 letters to tell students how special they are. Some cried.

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Teacher handwrites 120 letters to former students.

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Newsela | As refugees flee Syria, Germany equips schools for flood of students

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Newsela | Chicago teens confronted with new wave of Islamophobia speak up

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Teens find that Islamophobia does not just come from adults.

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Newsela | Children's books with human characters can make a big difference

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Reading books with people as the main characters can make a big impact on a child's generosity and willingness to share.

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Newsela | Parents say students shouldn't have to breathe Beijing's toxic air in class

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Air pollution problem grows almost daily in China's smoggy Beijing.

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Newsela | Opinion: Teenagers, give your brains a break. Don't skip breakfast!

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Newsela | Opinion: Teenagers, give your brains a break. Don't skip breakfast!

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Newsela | Opinion: Teenagers, give your brains a break. Don't skip breakfast!

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Newsela | Impact of "Sesame Street" similar to preschool, long-range study finds

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Newsela | Dancing gives 11-year-old boy a leg up on ADHD

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In 2005, Specialist Justin Cliburn deployed to Iraq with the Oklahoma Army National Guard. While serving in Baghdad, Justin formed an unlikely friendship with two Iraqi boys who lived nearby. At StoryCorps, Justin speaks with his wife, Deanne, about the lasting impression the boys left on his life.

This story comes from StoryCorps Military Voices Initiative, which aims to bridge the gap between veterans and civilians. Told in the voices of veterans and their family members, these films honor the service and sacrifice of the military community and tells them that we-as a nation-are listening.
Para subtítulos en español, haga click en el ícono de YouTube en la esquina derecha, y escoja "Spanish" bajo la opción de "settings" y "subtitles/CC."

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In 2005, Specialist Justin Cliburn deployed to Iraq with the Oklahoma Army National Guard. While serving in Baghdad, Justin formed an unlikely friendship with two Iraqi boys who lived nearby. At StoryCorps, Justin speaks with his wife, Deanne, about the lasting impression the boys left on his life.

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Wangari Maathai | The Green Belt Movement

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Wangari Maathai (1940-2011) was the founder of the Green Belt Movement and the 2004 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate. She authored four books: The Green Belt Movement; Unbowed: A Memoir; The Challenge for Africa; and Replenishing the Earth.

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Fasala is a 27-year-old woman who works as a farmer in Ethiopia. "I am illiterate," she said. "But I want my child to become an educated person. Now he will be able to become a wise boy and maybe, one day, a health professional."

Fasala's child is lucky. He had just caught up with his vaccinations in a village in the Benishangul-Gumuz Region of Ethiopia, where only 57% of children under two years have received the basic vaccines against life-threatening childhood diseases and 13% have not received any at all.

The region has been one of the places grappling with the types of challenges that have stymied immunization coverage globally. While coverage increased quickly around the world over the last two decades, it has recently stagnated. Twenty percent of children are still caught behind a myriad of barriers affecting them and their families, including limited awareness of the immunization schedule, low confidence in the health system, low capacity among health workers, lack of access to services as well as stock-outs of vaccines and supplies.

Luckily, the immunization of Fasala's child is not an isolated success story. At the International Rescue Committee, we've recognized that monitoring the immunization status of every child and individually tracing them in case they are overdue for a specific vaccine is critical, particularly in fragile states and hard-to-reach areas.

Proactively tracking immunization status at the individual level and conducting adequate follow-up helps prompt better, data-driven, decision-making and allows health workers to have a more accurate sense of which villages are most in need of immunization services and when. While the benefits of this approach are clear, it is often dismissed as too difficult.

But the IRC's experience continues to confirm that this strategy is not only necessary - but has real impact. In Uganda, the IRC has developed and is currently testing a mobile phone-based data platform, called mReach. mReach tracks all vaccine-eligible children and automatically flags defaulting children for health workers to get them back on schedule. It shares individual child immunization status data across health centers, in case parents choose to visit different locations and allows health workers to map immunization coverage by village in order to more accurate identify, and plan for, where services are needed most.

In Ethiopia, limited network connectivity prompted the IRC Ethiopia health team to develop complementary tools to mReach: a color-coded health calendar for parents to track appointments at home and a paper-based defaulter tracing tool, enabling health workers to collaborate with the community to trace and subsequently immunize children missing any vaccines. In 2016, of the 2,830 defaulting children identified, 84% were successfully immunized with the vaccines they had missed. A formative evaluation of this strategy concluded that it contributed to a 15-21% increase in the immunization coverage in project areas of Benishangul-Gumuz, in less than 3 years.

Using innovative tools to help community-based health workers trace children who have defaulted on immunization visits has proven possible in a variety of contexts, and is most successful when communities are highly engaged in the process. This has enabled the IRC to increase local immunization coverage while also sensitizing both community and facility-based health workers to use all interactions with children under 1 year to ensure they are up to date with their immunization schedule.

The global strides in immunization are to be celebrated, as should the immunization of Fasala's child. But only when such assurances of a healthier future are within reach for every child, regardless of where they live, can the global health community consider its work done. Challenges are certainly before us, but so are indications of real opportunities to close the global immunization gap. We must continue to exhibit the creativity, commitment and courage to close the gap, one child at a time.
This post was authored by IRC Technical Advisors Justine Landegger and Comfort Olorunsaiye.
Learn more about World Immunization Week.

Read about immunization in Uganda.

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Closing the global immunization gap, one child at a time

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Fasala is a 27-year-old woman who works as a farmer in Ethiopia. "I am illiterate," she said. "But I want my child to become an educated person. Now he will be able to become a wise boy and maybe, one day, a health professional." Fasala's child is lucky.

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From the International Rescue Committee's Policy & Practice team focused on humanitarian reform and effectiveness to achieve better outcomes for people whose lives have been shattered by conflict and disaster. #BetterAid.

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"Now is not the time to be banning refugees, it's the time to be embracing people who are victims of terror. It's a test of our humanity. It's a test of our character." - David Miliband.

International Rescue Committee president David Miliband says our global refugee crisis is unprecedented, but solvable. In an interview streamed from the TED2017 speaker series, Miliband outlines concrete solutions and urges global leaders, aid agencies and ordinary citizens to do our part.

Watch the interview, and stay tuned for his full TED2017 talk.

Read more about it: http://bit.ly/2qbVXWr #TED2017

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"Now is not the time to be banning refugees, it's the time to be embracing people who are victims of terror. It's a test of our humanity. It's a test of our character." - David Miliband. International Rescue Committee president David Miliband says our global refugee crisis is unprecedented, but solvable.

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An independent public opinion poll commissioned by the International Rescue Committee (IRC) and conducted by SocialSphere, Inc. of Cambridge, MA, finds that Americans know the least about extreme hunger but find it to be the most important issue among those tested. Of all generations in the United States, millennials are the most concerned about solving the crisis.

"More than any other group of Americans, millennials recognize the severity of the hunger crisis and are ready to take on the responsibility of being members of a global community," said David Miliband, president and CEO of the IRC. "In a world that is connected now more than ever, their values are guiding them to step up, and use their voices and their activism to call attention of all age groups to this crisis."

The crisis

Twenty million people face extreme hunger in Yemen, Somalia, South Sudan, and Nigeria because of a deadly combination of drought and conflict. Drastic cuts to the United States foreign aid budget proposed by the Trump administration for 2018 could more than double the impact of famine.

"More than 20M are at risk of starving to death. Will the world step up?" Must-read @WashingtonPost editorial: https://t.co/Un2Aa46dkr
- IRC Intl Rescue Comm (@theIRC) July 18, 2017

​

The findings

Among the findings of the poll:

Near-famine, which is affecting 20 million people in Africa and the Middle East, is likely the least reported but most important major issue of our time. While very few Americans are aware of the issue, once they are briefed on it, it immediately rises to a top global concern compared to five other global issues.

Most registered voters agree that foreign aid from wealthy nations like the U.S. is needed now more than ever, especially since it is proven to help prevent disasters that would end up costing far more if neglected-like the Ebola outbreak in West Africa.

More than any other group of Americans, millennials recognize the severity of the hunger crisis and are ready to take on the responsibility of being members of a global community.

Millennials see humanitarian aid as a defining issue for their generation and the U.S. While they are the only generation to believe the U.S. has a moral obligation to assist other people in need wherever they are, they understand famine is man-made and therefore solvable.

With the travel ban's imminent implementation, including a halting to refugees without "bona fide" U.S. ties, nearly half of registered voters know "a lot" about President Trump's executive order restricting travel and immigration from Iraq, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen. This is the highest level of awareness among the issues measured in the poll.
​Read the full poll results.
How the IRC helps

The IRC is on the frontlines, continuing to scale up an emergency response in the hardest hit countries, but the situation is dire. We are raising the alarm that the proposed cuts to the FY18 U.S. foreign aid budget would have devastating consequences-including potentially doubling the number of people at risk of starvation. We are also calling on all G20 members to step up and take an active role in tackling the root causes of hunger to end this crisis.

How you can help

Make a tax-deductible donation today to support the IRC. We are providing emergency health care, nutrition support and other critical services to families who are struggling to survive in these crisis areas. Your gift will also assist us in our efforts to save lives around the world. Donate now.

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Ending famine is defining global issue for millennials

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An independent public opinion poll commissioned by the International Rescue Committee (IRC) and conducted by SocialSphere, Inc. of Cambridge, MA, finds that Americans know the least about extreme hunger but find it to be the most important issue among those tested. Of all generations in the United States, millennials are the most concerned about solving the crisis.

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Mohammed Omadi and his family, from Afghanistan, came face-to-face with death when they crossed the Aegean Sea to seek refuge in Greece. Their flimsy, overcrowded boat capsized and they lost everything before being rescued. "Our passports and all of our money which we had hidden in our bags, all gone," recalls Mohammed.

More than 60,000 refugees fleeing war, poverty and persecution in Asia, the Middle East and Africa are stranded in Greece. While the European Union has promised to relocate people, throughout the past year most refugees were stuck in inadequate temporary shelters.

The IRC runs a variety of programs designed to improve conditions and help refugees survive economically. One of the simplest, cheapest and most innovative is to give cash allowances directly to refugees and let them decide how best to take care of themselves.

Traditionally, aid is provided by governments or relief agencies in the form of in-kind donations such as blankets, heaters and bags of rice. While this is helpful in an immediate emergency, it does little to empower people or rebuild lives.

In Greece, the IRC distributes pre-paid debit cards that enable families like the Omadis to buy items that are culturally appropriate. After receiving their cards, families can purchase groceries and household items of their choice at shops that accept Visa. Each month, the cards are credited an amount between $100 and $350, depending on the family's size.

For the Omadis, who live in a refugee camp in a suburb of Athens, cash relief is a small step toward regaining control of their lives. And pre-paid cards have the added advantage of reducing waste. Numerous studies have shown that a high percentage of in-kind aid is thrown away or resold at a loss.

"With cash I can go to the market and buy food I know my children will like so that nothing is wasted," says Mohammed. "Food that will last for a month."

Cash in the hands of refugees also stimulates the local economy and helps to forge economic and social ties between refugees and local shopkeepers. The Omadis have built a relationship with Harris, a store owner who was once himself a refugee from Albania. "I can see they are good people," he says. "The [pre-paid cards] are very helpful for the market and for my shop, too. Just as I and others were able to try and build a life here, I strongly believe that these people can make it."

For the Omadi family, the IRC cash program has been a lifeline. Explains Mohammed: "My daughter would ask me, 'You promised we would go to a better place. Why did you lie?' I explain I didn't lie. Things will improve gradually, step-by step. And they are."
The IRC's emergency financial assistance programming in Greece is funded by the European Commission.

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Why cash is better aid for refugees: one family's story

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Mohammed Omadi and his family, from Afghanistan, came face-to-face with death when they crossed the Aegean Sea to seek refuge in Greece. Their flimsy, overcrowded boat capsized and they lost everything before being rescued. "Our passports and all of our money which we had hidden in our bags, all gone," recalls Mohammed.

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Mohammed Omadi and his family, from Afghanistan, came face-to-face with death when they crossed the Aegean Sea to seek refuge in Greece. Their flimsy, overcrowded boat capsized and they lost everything before being rescued. "Our passports and all of our money which we had hidden in our bags, all gone," recalls Mohammed.

More than 60,000 refugees fleeing war, poverty and persecution in Asia, the Middle East and Africa are stranded in Greece. While the European Union has promised to relocate people, throughout the past year most refugees were stuck in inadequate temporary shelters.

The IRC runs a variety of programs designed to improve conditions and help refugees survive economically. One of the simplest, cheapest and most innovative is to give cash allowances directly to refugees and let them decide how best to take care of themselves.

Traditionally, aid is provided by governments or relief agencies in the form of in-kind donations such as blankets, heaters and bags of rice. While this is helpful in an immediate emergency, it does little to empower people or rebuild lives.

In Greece, the IRC distributes pre-paid debit cards that enable families like the Omadis to buy items that are culturally appropriate. After receiving their cards, families can purchase groceries and household items of their choice at shops that accept Visa. Each month, the cards are credited an amount between $100 and $350, depending on the family's size.

For the Omadis, who live in a refugee camp in a suburb of Athens, cash relief is a small step toward regaining control of their lives. And pre-paid cards have the added advantage of reducing waste. Numerous studies have shown that a high percentage of in-kind aid is thrown away or resold at a loss.

"With cash I can go to the market and buy food I know my children will like so that nothing is wasted," says Mohammed. "Food that will last for a month."

Cash in the hands of refugees also stimulates the local economy and helps to forge economic and social ties between refugees and local shopkeepers. The Omadis have built a relationship with Harris, a store owner who was once himself a refugee from Albania. "I can see they are good people," he says. "The [pre-paid cards] are very helpful for the market and for my shop, too. Just as I and others were able to try and build a life here, I strongly believe that these people can make it."

For the Omadi family, the IRC cash program has been a lifeline. Explains Mohammed: "My daughter would ask me, 'You promised we would go to a better place. Why did you lie?' I explain I didn't lie. Things will improve gradually, step-by step. And they are."
The IRC's emergency financial assistance programming in Greece is funded by the European Commission.

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Why cash is better aid for refugees: one family's story

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Mohammed Omadi and his family, from Afghanistan, came face-to-face with death when they crossed the Aegean Sea to seek refuge in Greece. Their flimsy, overcrowded boat capsized and they lost everything before being rescued. "Our passports and all of our money which we had hidden in our bags, all gone," recalls Mohammed.

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Breaking down barriers for women and girls

Women and girls in crisis zones face discrimination, violence, and a lack of equal opportunities that threaten their lives and rob them of their potential at a rate greater than men. Learn how the International Rescue Committee is working to change their futures.

Our commitment to gender equality

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Millions of people across the world don't have control over important choices that affect their lives, such as where they live, how they live, and how they are governed. Women and girls, in particular, struggle to advocate for their rights and make their voices heard.

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Breaking down barriers for women and girls

Women and girls in crisis zones face discrimination, violence, and a lack of equal opportunities that threaten their lives and rob them of their potential at a rate greater than men. Learn how the International Rescue Committee is working to change their futures.

Our commitment to gender equality

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Millions of people across the world don't have control over important choices that affect their lives, such as where they live, how they live, and how they are governed. Women and girls, in particular, struggle to advocate for their rights and make their voices heard.

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The IRC provides direct assistance for people as they try to feed their families and find a safe place to live, and we work to improve livelihoods opportunities for long-term economic wellbeing.

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Economic wellbeing means people have their most basic survival needs met and have sustainable income and assets so they can prosper. During and after crises, people may be forced to make short-term decisions to survive-such as pulling children out of school to work-that will have long-term negative consequences.

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3 ways the IRC and Sesame Street will bring education to Syrian children

With $100 million awarded in the MacArthur Foundation's 100andChange competition, the International Rescue Committee and Sesame Street will reach more than nine million refugee children in the Middle East with education and hope.

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Education is the ultimate empowerment tool for children, their families and communities to survive and recover from conflict or crisis; it is what enables people to drive their own health, safety and prosperity. Of the 62 million children out of school across the world, over half live in conflict-affected countries, yet resources for them remain low.

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If people cannot find safety, they will struggle to improve their lives. The International Rescue Committee helps those who are recovering from conflict and disaster seek protection from harm, build safer communities, and understand their human rights.

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Each year, millions of people-particularly women and children-are subject to violence and abuse, and struggle to feel safe in their homes and communities. Trapped in countries plagued by crisis, many cannot access the resources they need to ensure their own safety and recover from abuse.

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Nightline: Inside Yemen's civil war

"Nightline" reports from war-torn Yemen, where three years of conflict have left nearly three million people homeless and 22 million in need of humanitarian aid. The story shows IRC teams reaching remote villages to provide lifesaving aid.

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Each year, millions of people, particularly women and children, die from preventable causes in countries affected by violent conflict and natural disasters. Most of these deaths are the result of disruptions related to crisis: poor sanitation, shortages of food and medicine, and inadequate prevention.

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The war in Syria has raged on for six years, causing a staggering 11 million people to flee for their lives - the largest refugee crisis of our time. More than six million are displaced inside the country, and nearly five million have fled to nearby countries in search of safety. But many, including the 1.7 million Syrians registered in neighbouring Jordan and Lebanon, are living in precarious circumstances.

On 4 February 2016, the international community came together at the Supporting Syria and the Region conference in London, hosted by the Governments of the United Kingdom, Germany, Kuwait, Norway and the United Nations (UN) to bring more resources and assistance to meet the immediate and longer-term needs of those affected by the crisis. Participants of the conference stepped up in significant ways: donors pledged US$12 billion in new financing until 2020 plus US$40 million in new loans, and the World Bank negotiated ground-breaking concessional financing agreements with Jordan, Lebanon and Turkey. The conference outcomes and pledges were reflected in three distinct agreements with Jordan, Lebanon and Turkey known as 'compacts'.

The one year anniversary is an important moment to reflect on progress against these compact agreements, and determine how to ensure better outcomes for refugees and host communities in the immediate and longer-term. This report evaluates progress against the Jordan Compact to date and outlines the lessons the International Rescue Committee (IRC) has learned through its work on refugee livelihoods, including its Million Jobs Challenge initiative. Based on these findings, we aim to inform governments, humanitarian and development stakeholders on the challenges still facing Syrian refugees in Jordan who are trying to find work.

We commend the Jordan Compact partners for bringing new financing and making strides towards necessary policy changes; however, progress towards improving economic opportunities for refugees and vulnerable Jordanians has been slow and uneven. The Compact is a new type of partnership which perhaps explains some of this. It also reflects, in part, the economic, social and structural challenges in the Jordanian context, such as high unemployment rates and a poor investment climate, as well as revealing weaknesses in the Compact's design and management.

At the same time, there are opportunities to improve the Compact and better align efforts with the facts on the ground, including refugees' experiences with the work permit and business formalisation processes, and the specific vulnerabilities that women face in search of safe and decent work. We support the overall approach of the Compact because it has the potential to bring real improvement to the lives of refugees in Jordan however, it is important to be clear that this is not a substitute for donor countries meeting their obligations to host refugees within their own borders.

Recommendations

Donor governments must step up their action on sharing responsibility for hosting refugees. Jordan hosts 87.45 refugees for every 1,000 inhabitants, while the United Kingdom hosts just 1.90 per 1,000, Germany hosts 3.92 per 1,000, and Kuwait hosts 0.19 per 1,000 and Norway hosts 9.67 per 1,000.

The IRC strongly supports the Jordan Compact because, if properly and faithfully implemented, it has the potential to bring real improvement for refugees in Jordan. However, additional financial aid and progress on improving lives and livelihoods in Jordan - or indeed anywhere else - is not a substitute for donor countries meeting their obligations to host refugees within their own borders.

In the midst of the global protracted displacement crisis, the Supporting Syria and the Region Conference provided an opportunity to pledge action for those affected by the Syrian war through new aid, and by opening up access to jobs for refugees. The Jordan Compact provides an innovative and meaningful way for the Government of Jordan and development and humanitarian actors to generate an agreed pathway for job creation. However, one year on, a close examination of progress so far reveals implementation has not matched its potential. There is much at stake and, as the crisis draws into its seventh year, it is imperative the opportunity is not squandered.

Compact partners including the Government of Jordan and development and humanitarian actors must learn from experience to date and reform their way of doing business to deliver fully on their commitments to refugees and Jordanians. To ensure the greatest impact, they should review progress against the Compact annually and make adjustments, starting now by implementing the below recommendations. A "test and learn approach" should be adopted to increasing formal employment, implementing innovative ideas at small scale, rigorously evaluating their impact, and scaling up the interventions that work while abandoning those do not. Financing should support this approach; donors must ensure that funding for pilots and evaluations is available throughout the lifecycle of the Compact.

The IRC recommends that the following actions are taken in 2017-
To overcome policy barriers faced by refugees, the Government of Jordan should:

Implement a Protection Guarantee to help existing rights become a lived reality, by ensuring refugees have safe, accessible and affordable pathways to obtain Ministry of Interior documentation that allows freedom of movement, and provides a credible basis for formal recourse in the event of exploitation, harassment, or abuse.

Immediately delink work permits from one job/employer and expand the number of sectors and professions open to refugees, en route to a general right to work for refugees.

Rapidly simplify, incentivise and promote business formalisation processes, especially by improving availability of credit information and access to credit.

To improve the design and implementation of the Jordan Compact, donors, in conjunction with the Government of Jordan, should:

Support self-employment opportunities by:

Introducing a Business Booster Package - including cash grant programmes - to stimulate the creation of new enterprises and promote the growth of existing ones; and

Exploring opportunities in the gig economy and other freelance work that allow for flexible hours and choice.

Expand new trade access policies to qualifying firms outside SEZs that agree to meet the current requirement of employing at least 15 per cent of refugees by year one and 20 per cent by year two.

Favour investment in SEZs that are most proximate to refugee and host residential areas to maximise linkages with the local economy and in sectors such as technology, that offer higher quality job opportunities.

Implement gender-specific employment solutions that reflect the unique constraints faced by women in accessing employment, and enhance support for female labour force participation so that the number of work permits held by women grows from four per cent to at least 15 per cent by the end of 2017.

Provide refugees with the material support and information needed to access employment opportunities, such as subsidised transportation and childcare; for example, ensure that SEZs have childcare on site, provide bus passes or free travel for employees, and create a digital portal for employment information.

To improve the management of the Jordan Compact, partners should:

Consult refugees to better understand and address their unique constraints and needs, and then design interventions that can help them overcome those barriers.

Develop an accountability mechanism with an annual review and adjustment process for key actors including Government of Jordan ministries, the World Bank, donor governments and UN agencies, setting out key tasks and measures for implementation for each Compact promise and dates for milestones to be met.

Available documents & links

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In search of work: creating jobs for Syrian refugees

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The war in Syria has raged on for six years, causing a staggering 11 million people to flee for their lives - the largest refugee crisis of our time. More than six million are displaced inside the country, and nearly five million have fled to nearby countries in search of safety.

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Take a close look at the photo above, of the woman protesting violence against journalists in Mexico City last June. The New York Times used her photo in an Opinion piece about widespread human rights violations in Mexico.

Is the woman in the photo expressing her views in an effective way? Why or why not? What are different ways that nonviolent protesters can communicate their message to the larger public and effect change?

Have you ever participated in a peaceful protest? What did it feel like while you were protesting, and what was it that led you to take a stand?
Find many more ways to use our Picture Prompt feature in this lesson plan.

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Take a close look at the photo above, of the woman protesting violence against journalists in Mexico City last June. The New York Times used her photo in an Opinion piece about widespread human rights violations in Mexico. Is the woman in the photo expressing her views in an effective way?

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Top 10 Nonviolent Protests - Photo Essays

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Forty years after John Lennon and Yoko Ono's first "bed-in for peace," a look back at some of the most iconic acts of peaceful resistance

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Amnesty International USA's members include volunteer leaders who are experts on human rights in specific countries - and who fight for human rights around the world.

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Every day, all over the world, people are forced to leave their homes in search of safety someplace else. They are forced to flee to escape persecution and torture or other severe human rights abuses, armed conflict and horrific violence. They might have been targeted because of who they are, what they do, who they love, or what they believe. For example, for their ethnicity, race, nationality, religion, sexual orientation or gender identity, or political opinions. Often, they are permanently displaced and are never able to return home.
Welcoming refugees
President Donald Trump has continued to cut the U.S. refugee admissions number to historic lows, most recently setting the number of refugees to be admitted in Fiscal Year 2020 to 18,000, the lowest number in the history of the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program since it was established in 1980.

He has also signed an Executive Order that would allow state and local jurisdictions to deny refugees to be resettled in their community, despite having been approved for resettlement and having a community waiting to receive them.

Even though the majority of people in the United States support welcoming refugees, the Trump Administration has cruelly stripped away our most cherished values of welcome. Through the Longer Table Initiative, Amnesty International USA and its supporters have been working to stand with refugees and welcome them through community sponsorship and other initiatives.
Welcoming asylum-seekers
Asylum-seekers have the same rights as all other human beings - to seek safety and to receive a fair process. Yet, people seeking asylum in the U.S. are turned away when they ask for safety at the southern border or even deported without ever even having their claims heard in an immigration court. They are forced to return to countries where they may be tortured, imprisoned, or even killed.

Others are sometimes held in detention without easy access to attorneys or charged with crimes for entering the country to ask for asylum. Children might be jailed, either with their parents or forcibly separated from their families for indefinite periods of time. Secretive tent courts place people in danger simply for the act of seeking safety in the U.S.

Asylum agreements with third countries force people to seek safety in countries where they will not be safe and asylum bans limit people's ability to even ask for asylum. The so-called 'Remain in Mexico' policy forces people seeking safety as well as migrants to wait indefinitely in Mexico, in dangerous conditions and without easy access to lawyers as they fight for their asylum cases.

Through executive orders and policies, the Trump administration has been working to make seeking safety in the United States as hard as possible, if not impossible. Current policies are based on fear-mongering, racism, hatred, and xenophobia instead of humanity and compassion. U.S. policies cannot continue to punish asylum-seekers for exercising the rights that they have - join us and stand against these policies.

Read the latest news on asylum-seekers and refugees.

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I WELCOME: STANDING WITH REFUGEES AND ASYLUM-SEEKERS - Amnesty International USA

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Every day, all over the world, people are forced to leave their homes in search of safety someplace else. They are forced to flee to escape persecution and torture or other severe human rights abuses, armed conflict and horrific violence. They might have been targeted because of who they are, what they do, who they love, or what they believe.

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All kinds of people help make sure that everyone's human rights are respected.

These human rights defenders protect our freedom of expression, our access to health care and clean water, our ability to protest peacefully, and all of our other fundamental human rights.

Human rights are increasingly under attack in the United States and around the world. That's why human rights defenders are needed - and that's why Amnesty International is working to protect them.

THE PROBLEM

Individual cases

Human rights defenders face threats, intimidation and imprisonment. Governments around the world, including in the United States, prevent them from speaking out or imprison them because of their peaceful activism.

Worldwide, at least 156 human rights defenders died in detention or were killed in 2015.

At least 61 countries put people in prison simply for exercising their rights and freedoms.

At least 113 countries restricted freedom of expression and the press in 2015.

The right to protest

Governments around the world have long tried to restrict people's human right to protest peacefully, often as part of broader crackdowns on human rights. In the United States, there is a sharp increase in attempts to limit and even criminalize peaceful protest.

Bills have been introduced in 19 states to restrict the right to protest.

On the federal level, the Department of Justice and Congress may consider policies to restrict the right to protest.

AMNESTY IN ACTION

Changing lives and policies

For more than 55 years, Amnesty International has fought for - and won - the freedom of people around the world who were imprisoned for their activism, changed laws to protect human rights defenders, and ensured that activists can take to the streets to express their views peacefully.

Our research uncovers cases of individual human rights defenders worldwide who are targeted for their activism. We launch campaigns to publicize these cases and pressure governments on individuals' behalf. Take action in urgent cases today.

We mobilize grassroots activists in the United States to defeat state and federal legislation that would limit people's ability to protest peacefully. Take action to protect the right to protest in the U.S.

We deploy trained human rights observers to monitor police response to peaceful protests in the United States.

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Human Rights Defenders - Amnesty International USA

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All kinds of people help make sure that everyone's human rights are respected. These human rights defenders protect our freedom of expression, our access to health care and clean water, our ability to protest peacefully, and all of our other fundamental human rights. Human rights are increasingly under attack in the United States and around the world.

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Gender, Sexuality, & Identity – Amnesty International USA

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We all have the right to be treated equally. Governments have a moral and legal obligation to protect people from discrimination or violence based on who they are.

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Gender, Sexuality, & Identity – Amnesty International USA

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We all have the right to be treated equally. Governments have a moral and legal obligation to protect people from discrimination or violence based on who they are.

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Write a letter, Change a life - Write for Rights 2021

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Write a letter, Change a life - Amnesty International USA

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Dekow Mohamed was still buzzing days after her role model, the Nobel laureate and education activist Malala Yousafzai, visited her school in the sprawling Dadaab refugee complex in Kenya last May.

"You can't imagine how excited I was when I saw her, face to face," says Dekow, a refugee from Somalia. At age 18, she is a year younger than the Pakistani activist, who escaped an assassination attempt after defying Taliban bans on girls going to school.

Malala's story spread around the world and inspired millions of people. But it might have passed Dekow by if not for an innovative initiative called Instant Network Schools, or INS, which brought online education and connectivity into her refugee camp school.

Selected schools and community centres are kitted out with a "digital box" that includes a set of computer tablets, solar-powered batteries, a satellite or mobile network, and a suite of content and online learning material. Teachers receive IT support and ongoing training.

"We hear from students and teachers that the programme has increased motivation on both sides."

Since the initial pilot in Dadaab in 2014, the programme has been taken up by 31 centres in four countries in the region: Kenya, Tanzania, South Sudan and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

It grew organically from a partnership between UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, and the Vodafone Foundation, which had been working in schools in Dadaab. Seeing the huge gaps in resources and connectivity in the camp highlighted how mobile technology could improve the quality of education in such remote areas.

More than 65 million people are currently uprooted by wars and persecution worldwide, including more than 21 million refugees. Half of them are children, far too many of whom are missing out on an education. According to a UNHCR report, only 50 per cent are enrolled in primary school, 22 per cent in secondary, and one per cent in tertiary education.

In Africa, which hosts more displaced people than anywhere apart from the Middle East, millions of refugee students are struggling to catch up with their education. Innovations like INS help to provide as much continuity in their education as possible.

Even when they are at school, refugee children in Africa often learn in extremely tough conditions, in overcrowded classes with limited resources. UNHCR, through programs like INS, is helping to bridge some of these gaps and reaching thousands of students like Dekow.

"Learners understand best what they see, rather than what they hear, and we used to hear about lots of things that we never knew," she says. "But when the tablets arrived, even our teachers were wondering at how we were participating. We are in a position to respond to difficult questions without even going back to our notes."

Jacqueline Strecker, the Learn Lab Manager at UNHCR Innovation, says the idea is to take a holistic approach bringing technology into the classroom. "We wanted to use it to help improve teaching through higher access to relevant teaching material and up-to-date information that teachers could use, and add educational videos and pictures for students into the mix."

"It taps into UNHCR's commitment to ensure high-quality education by enhancing classrooms."

She adds: "It taps into UNHCR's commitment to ensure high-quality education by enhancing classrooms and having refugees benefit from digital material. We hear from students and teachers that the programme has increased motivation on both sides. Teachers are also more excited to come to schools, and they feel like they are supported."

Gadafi Mohamed, a teacher in Hagadera camp in Dadaab, highlights the additional interest stirred by having Information Communication and Technology, or ICT, in the classroom. "Before we embraced ICT, many learners were not even coming for classes because of lack of interest," he says.

"Since we started using ICT there have been a number of improvements. It is basically visualizing things other than teaching from the textbooks, and the students have really developed their interest."

The Instant Network Schools is one of eight projects from seven countries featured at Africa Shares, a three-day forum in Geneva that shows how refugees can be assets to the communities who host them. The event, which runs from March 14 to 16 and is hosted by UNHCR, emphasizes that innovation is widespread across the continent and that refugees are actively engaged in successful initiatives.

Africa Shares: Innovation transforming refugee lives

Projects include Malian refugee artisans in Burkina Faso, a children's reading initiative in Ethiopia, a Rwandan energy-saving stove project, a Zimbabwean poultry project, a Malawian Microsoft connectivity scheme, and urbanization and subsidized gas initiatives in Niger.

What cuts across all of these projects is the community-based approach that UNHCR and partners have taken. Refugees are central to each, and they can exercise their existing skills while learning new ones.

"UNHCR's greatest asset is the fact that we've got communities that are highly resilient and very creative," says Strecker. "Allowing them to use their creativity to take charge of such projects and own them is what's really important."

Equally important is the fact that refugees in Africa are inspired to use innovation to create home-grown solutions. For Dekow, innovation has not only enhanced her education experience, it has motivated her to be like her role model.

"UNHCR's greatest asset is the fact that we've got communities that are highly resilient and very creative."

"Malala told us to speak up," she says. "I thought that she had a great message because her message and my dream correspond to each other. My dream is to become a lawyer and convey the message of education to my society so that one day, we can all become great in this world."

'Education in Emergencies and Crises' is the theme for Mobile Learning Week, UNESCO's flagship education conference being held in Paris March 20 through 24. The conference will bring together experts and policy makers from around the world to explore how to strengthen inclusion in education and preserve the continuity of learning in conflict and disaster contexts.

This year, UNHCR is co-organizing the conference, with an emphasis on how technology can help give refugees quality education.

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United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees

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Innovation transforms education for refugee students in Africa

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"You can't imagine how excited I was when I saw her, face to face," says Dekow, a refugee from Somalia. At age 18, she is a year younger than the Pakistani activist, who escaped an assassination attempt after defying Taliban bans on girls going to school.

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TINDOUF, Algeria - With a master's degree in energy efficiency, Sahrawi refugee Tateh Lehbib Breica had originally planned to build an energy efficient home in the desert, using discarded bottles for a roof garden

But as the roof's circular form presented construction challenges, the 27-year-old found himself left with numerous bottles which were no longer good for their intended purpose - growing plant seedlings.

"I asked myself 'What can I do with these?'" says Breica, who was born and raised in Awserd refugee camp, attended university in Algiers under a DAFI scholarship, and later studied for his master's at a Spanish university.

"I remembered a documentary I had seen... on building using plastic bottles, and thought, 'Why not try that?'"

"Then I remembered a documentary I had seen, during my university studies, on building using plastic bottles, and thought, 'Why not try that?'"

Providing adequate housing that can withstand the harsh desert climate is a challenge in Awserd camp, one of five in the area surrounding Tindouf, sheltering Sahrawi refugees who fled fighting in the Western Sahara War more than 40 years ago.

Houses built from mudbricks, or adobe, are vulnerable to the heavy rains that periodically sweep in over the Sahara Desert, including one storm in late 2015 that demolished thousands of homes. Frequent sandstorms also fill the houses, and traditional Sahrawi tents, with choking dust, leading to temporary evacuations.

The first house Breica built, using discarded bottles filled with the ubiquitous sand, was for his elderly grandmother, who has difficulty walking and was injured while being carried to a community centre in the camp to sit out one sandstorm.

In addition to having greater structural resistance to water, the thick-walled circular home also presented a lower profile to the wind and proved better at keeping out the penetrating sand and dust from the sandstorms or "haboobs."

Breica's interest in building with throwaway plastic containers earned him the moniker of "Majnoun al qarurat" - "Crazy with bottles." The structure's uniqueness, together with posts that Breica made on Facebook, also ensured that the house received a lot of attention beyond the camp.

Among those who were quick to perceive its benefits were staff with UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, who came to see it for themselves.

"After the October 2015 heavy rains that damaged and destroyed tens of thousands of adobe houses, UNHCR has been working with the Sahrawis on improving construction techniques, to better withstand the severe weather of this region," says Juliette Murekeyisoni, Senior Field Coordinator for UNHCR in Tindouf. "We have been supporting the use of bricks fortified by cement, and now we are supporting the use of plastic bottles."

"Adobe houses can be destroyed by heavy or prolonged rain, use of plastic bottles ... will create more durable structures."

Shelter Officer Otis Moore, meanwhile, explains that plastic bottles have advantages over the adobe brick houses and traditional family tents used by most Sahrawis, while the circular house design itself brings its own benefits.

"As the adobe houses can be destroyed by heavy or prolonged rain, use of plastic bottles instead of mud-brick will create more durable structures. And we have adopted the circular shape because it is aerodynamic and can withstand storms more effectively."

Now, in a project bankrolled by the UNHCR Innovation Fund, Breica is working with the UN Refugee Agency to construct 25 houses using sand-filled plastic bottles in place of bricks in all five camps: Awserd, Boujdour, Dakhla, Smara and Laayoune. The houses, which are on track for completion this month, will be allocated to vulnerable people.

In recognition of his creative designs, Breica recently received an award for 2016 Personality of the Year from a local magazine. However, the nickname given him in the camp has stuck: "People still see me as the guy obsessed with recycling bottles and building unusual houses," he says.

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United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees

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Bottled sand builds better homes for Sahrawi refugees

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TINDOUF, Algeria - With a master's degree in energy efficiency, Sahrawi refugee Tateh Lehbib Breica had originally planned to build an energy efficient home in the desert, using discarded bottles for a roof garden But as the roof's circular form presented construction challenges, the 27-year-old found himself left with numerous bottles which were no longer good for their intended purpose - growing plant seedlings.

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At UNHCR, we seek to uphold the basic human rights of uprooted or stateless people in their countries of asylum or habitual residence, ensuring that refugees will not be returned involuntarily to a country where they could face persecution. Longer term, we also help refugees find solutions, by repatriating voluntarily to their homeland, integrating in countries of asylum or resettling in third countries.

In many countries, our staff work alongside other partners in a variety of locations ranging from capital cities to remote camps and border areas. They attempt to promote or provide legal and physical protection, and minimize the threat of violence - including sexual assault - which many refugees are subject to, even in countries of asylum. They also seek to provide at least a minimum of shelter, food, water and medical care in the immediate aftermath of any refugee exodus.

Global Operations

Providing emergency help to those forced to flee is often the first step towards long-term protection and rehabilitation. To meet these and other operational needs, UNHCR has developed a global network of suppliers, specialist agencies and partners. Projects can range from dispatching emergency teams to the scene of a crisis, providing emergency food, shelter, water and medical supplies, and arranging major airlifts for a large exodus of refugees or a flotilla of small boats for smaller numbers of fleeing civilians. Among a host of other programmes, there are projects to help protect the environment, build schools and raise awareness of such problems as HIV/AIDS.

Promoting Refugee Protection

Our activities to promote refugee protection include:

Promoting accession to the 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol, to the 1954 Convention relating to the Status of Stateless Persons and to the 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness. In 1999, UNHCR launched a campaign to promote accession to the 1951 Convention that culminated on its 50th anniversary in July 2001 and the Ministerial Meeting of States Parties to the 1951 Convention on 12 and 13 December 2001.

Assisting States to enact or revise national refugee legislation, including administrative instructions and operational guidelines, and to implement national refugee status determination procedures.

Strengthening relevant administrative and judicial institutions, training staff of government and non-governmental agencies, and liaising with relevant human rights bodies.

UNHCR is also involved in:

Research and advice on new laws and regulations affecting people of concern

Technical and financial support for law schools, governmental agencies (including the police and the military) and other institutes to develop refugee law courses

Support for human rights and refugee rights advocacy groups, legal aid centres and non-governmental organizations with an interest in refugee protection.

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United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees

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At UNHCR, we seek to uphold the basic human rights of uprooted or stateless people in their countries of asylum or habitual residence, ensuring that refugees will not be returned involuntarily to a country where they could face persecution.

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In urban areas, many refugees share accommodation or live in non-functional public buildings, collective centres, slums and informal types of settlements. Conditions are often substandard and providing shelter poses major challenges. In rural settings, delivering protection and humanitarian assistance through refugee camps is common.

Over 2.6 million refugees currently live in camps worldwide and have been displaced for over five years, some for over a generation. While camps can be practical, particularly during emergencies, encampment results in a range of problems, including aid dependency and isolation.
On cold nights or hot afternoons, our help can be the difference between life and death.
As well as distributing tents from our three centres in Dubai, Copenhagen and Durban, UNHCR also provides materials such as plastic sheeting and matting that can be used to make a simple shelter. Additionally, in more protracted situations, we fund the rehabilitation of communal shelters or construction of new homes, and provide the displaced with the materials they need to build a home themselves under self-help schemes.

UNHCR co-leads the Global Shelter Cluster with the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC). While the IFRC leads in natural disaster situations, we lead the team in conflict-generated displacement. Together, we are helping entire generations home.

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United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees

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In urban areas, many refugees share accommodation or live in non-functional public buildings, collective centres, slums and informal types of settlements. Conditions are often substandard and providing shelter poses major challenges. In rural settings, delivering protection and humanitarian assistance through refugee camps is common.

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© UNHCR/Corentin Fohlen

Several years ago, Immaculate and her husband fled conflict in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Today, they live with their two-year-old daughter in Uganda's Nakivale refugee settlement, where malaria is rife.
She is among just 45 per cent of the camp's 74,000 residents who sleep under a mosquito net, donated by UNHCR.

"Malaria was a big problem for the family," says Immaculate. "Since we have received the nets, it is not like before. Before, we were going to the hospital every month, but now not any more."
Read the family's story

UNHCR strives to ensure that all refugees are able to access life-saving and essential healthcare. This can include HIV prevention, protection and treatment, reproductive health services, food security and nutrition, and water, sanitation and hygiene services. Thanks to our donors and partners, the assistance we provide is transforming lives in refugee camps, settlements, rural and urban populations around the world.

Refugee Protection Livelihoods

The JAM Practical Guide has been developed to ensure timely planning and to facilitate the overall process of conducting joint UNHCR/WFP assessment missions

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United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees

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© UNHCR/Corentin Fohlen Several years ago, Immaculate and her husband fled conflict in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Today, they live with their two-year-old daughter in Uganda's Nakivale refugee settlement, where malaria is rife. She is among just 45 per cent of the camp's 74,000 residents who sleep under a mosquito net, donated by UNHCR.

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UNHCR helps the displaced to achieve self-reliance by building their skills and knowledge, as well as providing access to the resources, training, assets, inputs, services and markets they need.

Our work in this area is guided by several core principles - including protection, diversity, equity, access and sustainability - outlined in UNHCR's Global Strategy for Livelihoods (2014-2018).

We seek to ensure that all forcibly displaced people are able to make a safe and sustainable living that meets their basic needs, contributes to their dignity and provides for the full enjoyment of human rights.

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United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees

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UNHCR helps the displaced to achieve self-reliance by building their skills and knowledge, as well as providing access to the resources, training, assets, inputs, services and markets they need. Our work in this area is guided by several core principles - including protection, diversity, equity, access and sustainability - outlined in UNHCR's Global Strategy for Livelihoods (2014-2018).

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Since the 1990s, we have become increasingly committed to protecting the environment and of the environmental challenges associated with hosting a large population in a small area. Over the course of the last two decades, we have set in place programmes and initiatives aimed at improving sustainable environmental management, aiming to reduce environmental degradation and enhance the resources available to the displaced, as well as host communities.

Disasters and climate change are a growing concern. Since 2009, an estimated one person every second has been displaced by a disaster, with an average of 22.5 million people displaced by climate or weather-related events since 2008 ( IDMC 2015). The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the UN's science advisory board, projects an increase in the number of displaced over the course of this century. The majority of the people of concern to UNHCR are concentrated in the most vulnerable areas around the world. Climate change will force people into increasing poverty and displacement, exacerbating the factors that lead to conflict, rendering both the humanitarian needs and responses in such situations even more complex.

We are deeply concerned about the massive protection challenges raised by disasters and climate-related related displacement, and work with other agencies and a range of partners to protect those at risk.
Read more about UNHCR, the environment and climate change.

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United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees

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Environment, Disasters and Climate Change

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Since the 1990s, we have become increasingly committed to protecting the environment and of the environmental challenges associated with hosting a large population in a small area. Over the course of the last two decades, we have set in place programmes and initiatives aimed at improving sustainable environmental management, aiming to reduce environmental degradation and enhance the resources available to the displaced, as well as host communities.

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"We're Afraid for Their Future" | Barriers to Education for Syrian Refugee Children in Jordan

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This report describes Jordan's generous efforts to enroll Syrian children in its public school system, which was struggling with capacity and quality issues even before refugees began to arrive from Syria.

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Of the 17.2 million refugees under our care, 6.4 million are of school-going age between 5 and 17. Their access to education is limited, with 3.5 million unable to attend school.

The New York Declaration for Refugees and Migrants pinpoints education as a critical element of the international refugee response. Furthermore, Sustainable Development Goal 4 aims to deliver "inclusive and quality education for all and to promote lifelong learning".

UNHCR partners with governments and international organisations to ensure quality protective education for refugee children and young people everywhere. Together with your help, they can learn how to rebuild their lives.

Education is a basic human right, enshrined in the 1989 Convention on the Rights of the Child and the 1951 Refugee Convention.

Education protects refugee children and youth from forced recruitment into armed groups, child labour, sexual exploitation and child marriage. Education also strengthens community resilience.

Education empowers by giving refugees the knowledge and skills to live productive, fulfilling and independent lives.

Education enlightens refugees, enabling them to learn about themselves and the world around them, while striving to rebuild their lives and communities.

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United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees

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Of the 17.2 million refugees under our care, 6.4 million are of school-going age between 5 and 17. Their access to education is limited, with 3.5 million unable to attend school. The New York Declaration for Refugees and Migrants pinpoints education as a critical element of the international refugee response.

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"In the end, as First Lady, this isn't just a policy issue for me. This is a passion. This is my mission. I am determined to work with folks across this country to change the way a generation of kids thinks about food and nutrition."

- First Lady Michelle Obama

Let's Move! is a comprehensive initiative, launched by the First Lady, dedicated to solving the problem of obesity within a generation, so that children born today will grow up healthier and able to pursue their dreams. Sure, this is an ambitious goal. But with your help, we can do it.

Combining comprehensive strategies with common sense, Let's Move! is about putting children on the path to a healthy future during their earliest months and years; giving parents helpful information and fostering environments that support healthy choices; providing healthier foods in our schools; ensuring that every family has access to healthy, affordable food; and, helping children become more physically active.

At the launch of the initiative, President Barack Obama signed a Presidential Memorandum creating the first-ever Task Force on Childhood Obesity to conduct a review of every single program and policy relating to child nutrition and physical activity and develop a national action plan to maximize federal resources and set concrete benchmarks toward the First Lady's national goal. The Task Force recommendations focus on the five pillars of the First Lady's Let's Move! initiative:

1. Creating a healthy start for children

2. Empowering parents and caregivers

3. Providing healthy food in schools

4. Improving access to healthy, affordable foods

5. Increasing physical activity

Everyone has a role to play in reducing childhood obesity, including parents and caregivers, elected officials from all levels of government, schools, health care professionals, faith-based and community-based organizations, and private sector companies. Your involvement is key to ensuring a healthy future for our children.

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America's Move to Raise A Healthier Generation of Kids

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"In the end, as First Lady, this isn't just a policy issue for me. This is a passion. This is my mission. I am determined to work with folks across this country to change the way a generation of kids thinks about food and nutrition." - First Lady Michelle Obama Let's Move!

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Applications and supporting materials for schools.

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Girl Rising is a global campaign for girls' education and empowerment. Our mission is to change the way the world values girls and to ensure girls everywhere can be full and equal participants in society.

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Y-WE empowers young women from diverse backgrounds to step up as leaders in their schools, communities and the world. We do this through intergenerational mentorship, intercultural collaboration, and creative programs that equip girls with the confidence, resiliency, and leadership skills needed to achieve their goals and improve their communities.

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Action in Africa is a nonprofit organization that promotes community development while increasing the accessibility, affordability, and quality of education in Uganda.

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Creating economic opportunity through careers in food

Hot Bread Kitchen envisions a food system that equitably compensates talent and sustains a diverse workforce while celebrating culinary tradition and innovation.

We achieve our mission through our employer-driven workforce development and business incubation programs, Bakers in Training and HBK Incubates.

Our non-profit social enterprise marries market to mission: 65% of our operating budget is funded through bread sales and kitchen rental. Essential philanthropic support makes it possible for us to provide industry-specific training and educational programming to benefit our clients.

The flash of inspiration for Hot Bread Kitchen came from a slip of the tongue.

In 2000, founder Jessamyn Rodriguez interviewed for a job at a microfinance organization called Women's World Banking. When she explained the opportunity to a friend, he misheard the organization's name as Women's World Baking. Forget banking - the missing letter conjured up a vision of an international women's baking collective that stuck.

Fast forward seven years: Jessamyn, after a decade of social justice and public policy work, is now a baker. She launched Hot Bread Kitchen's Bakers in Training program out of her home kitchen in Brooklyn.

Since then, our programs, kitchens and staff have grown. In 2010, Hot Bread Kitchen moved into La Marqueta, an indoor market in East Harlem built by Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia in 1936. In its heyday, La Marqueta was visited by thousands of shoppers a day, many of them recent immigrants, that sought products from their homelands. Sadly, in the 1970s and 80s, the number of shoppers decreased and many vendors shut their gates.

In 2010, to revitalize the entrepreneurial history of La Marqueta, the New York City Council and the Economic Development Corporation envisioned bringing a culinary incubator into the market as an anchor tenant-Hot Bread Kitchen was selected to run it.

In early 2011, we launched HBK Incubates out of La Marqueta, to support the growth of start-up businesses, bring food entrepreneurship back to the historic public market and aid in the creation of good jobs and good food in the community.

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Hot Bread Kitchen envisions a food system that equitably compensates talent and sustains a diverse workforce while celebrating culinary tradition and innovation. We achieve our mission through our employer-driven workforce development and business incubation programs, Bakers in Training and HBK Incubates.

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The Big Question: What is the Best Way to Create Jobs? | World Policy Institute

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(Subscribe toÂ World Policy JournalÂ here)

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Newsela | Instructional Content Platform

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Newsela is an Instructional Content Platform that supercharges reading engagement and learning in every subject.

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Newsela | What is environmental justice?

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Environmental justice is an important part of the struggle to improve and maintain a clean and healthy environment

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Newsela is an Instructional Content Platform that supercharges reading engagement and learning in every subject.

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Newsela | PRO/CON: Will eating fewer pork chops help cool our climate?

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Newsela | What Gandhi can teach today's protesters

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Newsela | Swiss group that condemns the use of nuclear weapons wins Peace Prize

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Newsela | In St. Louis, coloring book tries to help heal rifts from Ferguson riots

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Newsela | How should we think about war? Understanding the Just War Theory

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Newsela | Book club shows immigrant moms their stories aren't written in stone

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Newsela | Teens turn class culture-shock project into a book

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The foreign-born students wrote about their challenges in getting used to living in a new country with a new language. Finding confidence was a common theme in their shared experiences.

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Newsela | Above the fray: Skateboarding fills gap for young black men in Baltimore

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Newsela | Above the fray: Skateboarding fills gap for young black men in Baltimore

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Newsela | Marine scientist verses the skeptics: haiku about climate change

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An oceanographer took the 19 main points of a U.N. report on climate change and turned them into the traditional Japanese poem of 17 syllables. He illustrated them with watercolors of course.

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Newsela | Big Questions: How can kids help the planet?

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Newsela | In a changing corner of Brooklyn, public art teaches kids ABCs

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A public art project in Brooklyn, New York, features murals of the letters of the alphabet to encourage neighborhood kids to read.

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Newsela | "Sesame Street" to introduce Julia, a muppet with autism, in April

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Julia, a muppet who has autism, will make her debut on "Sesame Street" with a little help from her friends Elmo and Abby Cadabby. The "Sesame Street" team behind the show's newest addition worked with autism organizations to decide which characteristics Julia should have.

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Newsela | Forget cookies: Girl Scout builds playground court, delivers hope, hoops

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Newsela | The importance of teaching kids to be kind to pets

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Programs across the country allow kids and teens to interact with animals in shelters and rescue centers. Children learn how to care for dogs, cats, rabbits and other small animals, and also how to read an animal's mood or personality. Researchers think this helps kids understand their own emotions.

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Newsela | Boy Scouts program for refugee kids emphasizes rules, respect and fitness

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Newsela | In two award-winning African folk tales, water is a common thread

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Two books in the African storytelling tradition win awards.

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Newsela | Refugees can be an economic engine for small communities

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Refugees have something to offer the community.

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Newsela | Farmers want law to keep immigrant workers

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Walk in any neighborhood grocery store today and you are as likely to find tomatoes picked in Mexico as in California, and oranges from Brazil as from Florida.

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Newsela | "Sixty years of progression wiped clean," contends one American Muslim

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Newsela | Crowdfunding for victims of Portland attack raises nearly $1 million

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Portland rallies around the victims of a May 26 attack in which two men were stabbed to death

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Newsela | Maine high school raises money to buy sport hijabs for its Muslim students