UNITED NATIONS -- Education Cannot Wait (ECW), the global fund for education in emergencies and protracted crises, on Wednesday announced an additional 19 million U.S. dollars in education emergency response funding to the COVID-19 pandemic across 10 crisis-affected countries.

With this new funding, ECW's total COVID-19 response now spans 33 countries and crisis-affected contexts, with 43.5 million dollars in funding approved so far, according to an ECW press release obtained by Xinhua.

"The time has come for decisive and game-changing measures to ensure that every refugee child accesses a quality education. Education Cannot Wait is taking such measures and we must scale up our support for this effort," said Gordon Brown, UN Special Envoy for Global Education and Chair of ECW's High-Level Steering Group.

This new funding will be delivered in partnership with national governments, UN agencies and a significant number of civil society organizations in Bangladesh, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, Iraq, Kenya, Lebanon, Libya, South Sudan, Tanzania and Zambia, the press release said.

These First Emergency Response (FER) grants focus on refugee, internally displaced and host community children and youth: 876,392 in total, of whom 461,706 are girls and 405,886 are boys. In all, 25 grantees will implement the second phase of ECW's COVID-19 education in emergency response. In the majority of countries, this response is being coordinated by respective governments and the UN Refugee Agency.

"Children and youth displaced by armed conflicts and climate-induced disasters are especially at risk and doubly affected by COVID-19. This investment is dedicated to them, but much more needs to be done. We call on partners to contribute substantive financial resources for those left furthest behind as a result of brutal conflicts and punishing crises," said ECW director Yasmine Sherif.

ECW is the first global fund dedicated to education in emergencies. It was launched by international humanitarian and development aid actors, along with public and private donors, to address the urgent education needs of 75 million children and youth in conflict and crisis settings. ECW's investment modalities are designed to usher in a more collaborative approach among actors on the ground, ensuring relief and development organizations join forces to achieve education outcomes.

ECW is hosted by UN Children's Fund (UNICEF). The fund is administered under UNICEF's financial, human resources and administrative rules and regulations, while operations are run by the fund's own independent governance structure.