(BEIRUT, LEBANON) — The United States Agency for International Development has added $45 million in funding over the next four years for education programs in Lebanon.
The new funding, announced at UNICEF, includes $145 million from the EU. USAID is making a $45 million investment in education over the next four years in Lebanon and up to $45 million by 2019 to improve teaching and learning processes nationwide in public schools in Jordan.
As part of the No Lost Generation initiative, the funding aims to strengthen the school systems between Syrian refugees and the Lebanese system.
“While the devastating crisis in Syria has robbed children of their homes, and in some cases their families, it doesn’t also have to rob them of their future,” USAID Administrator Rajiv Shah said at an event in New York Wednesday.
Already into the Lebanese school year, there are fewer Syrian refugee children in school than there were at this time last year. Lebanon’s education minister, Elias Bou Saab, said that he could get 200,000 children into school immediately if the donor community provided the necessary funds.
According to a statement from the agency, the new project will work on improving reading outcomes for primary-level public school student, strengthen Lebanese institutions to better monitor education and expand access to safe education for all children, including Syrian refugees.
With this latest donation, USAID will have contributed with $170 million in projects to the Lebanese public education sector, all in coordination with the Education Ministry and American educational institutions, according to the statement.