Preparing for the Future of Children and Youth in Syria and the Region through Education: London One Year On

Gathering in Amman, Jordan, on 23 March 2017, education officials and stakeholders from Syria and the five host countries, as well as regional and global partners, commended the progress made in 2016 and critically reviewed the remaining tasks. While underlining the scale of the challenges, they emphasized the value of the London and Brussels Conferences in keeping the momentum around long-term commitments and accountabilities in education in full alignment with the vision of SDG4. They also agreed to maintain the high stakes of London – all children and youth in education for US$1.4 billion per year – to keep the pressure on accelerating and scaling up, but also to flag equity issues and the need for specific strategies to reach the most vulnerable and marginalized children and youth. While expanding access to formal education remains a priority, NFE is essential to reach the ‘hard-to-reach’; on the other hand, all NFE provision needs to be accredited and entail pathways to formal learning. In addition, the education response needs to be embedded within a lifelong learning approach that starts from early learning and continues through tertiary education levels. The timid and scattered efforts at reaching the youth population with education must be reinforced to provide and expand post-basic education opportunities, while addressing school-to-work transition. Major efforts also need to be invested in building the skills needed for the reconstruction of Syria.