Education Cannot Wait (ECW), the United Nations’ global fund for education in emergencies and protracted crises, has announced nearly $42 million in funding commitments from the LEGO Foundation, Germany, and the United States.

Announced during the Global Citizen Festival, the funding includes $25 million from the LEGO Foundation, €10 million ($9.62 million) from Germany, and $7 million from the U.S. to advance efforts to bring quality education to 20 million children who are refugees, stateless, or otherwise displaced by the world’s ongoing humanitarian crises. Germany’s funds will be used to bolster existing education access programs for seven million Ukrainian children affected by the Russian invasion.

To date, the LEGO Foundation has provided a total of $65 million to ECW, the U.S. has contributed $109.3 million, and Germany—ECW’s largest donor—has committed €330 million ($317 million) as part of the fund’s four-year, $1.5 billion funding plan. Separately, the LEGO Foundation committed $13.4 million for Ukrainian refugee education programs in Moldova and Romania.

“The international community urgently needs to increase its investments in education,” said German federal minister for economic cooperation and development Svenja Schulze. “[This is a] call for more support...so that all young people everywhere in the world will have access to quality education.”

(Photo credit: Getty Images/Vardhan)