In Somalia, Education Cannot Wait and Intersos look toward safe drinking water and school meals to get children back in school Nadifa Ibrahim picks up her hammer and strikes down on the chalk white stones at the quarry where she works with her family and other children displaced by Somalia’s years of civil war, drought and poverty.
Food and safe drinking water are hard to come by, and 1.5 million people face acute food insecurity.
Getting children like Nadifa out of the quarry and back in school requires a unique approach that looks not just at access to education, but also at the intersections of conflict, crises, poverty and hunger, and the root causes that force children into the quarries, into armed groups and out of school.
The project came to a close in August 2018, increasing school enrollment by 13 per cent for boys and 17 per cent for girls, and reaching 4787 children in all, 41% of whom were girls.
"I never ever want to go back to the quarry again, I felt bad seeing other children go to school, but there was nothing I could do."
Unlike many schools in Somalia, the schools for displaced children supported by Education Cannot Wait are free.
The project also set up innovative water and hygiene programmes that support healthier children and easier access to safe drinking water.
Education stakeholders in Somalia are currently developing a multi-year resilience programme funding proposal for Education Cannot Wait.
"I would like to be a teacher so that I educate as many girls as possible.
I have also told my friends in the quarry to come to school as there is everything we need to learn," said Nadifa.