The global education crisis is worsening, with tens of millions of children and youth being denied their right to safe, quality and inclusive education. Emergencies are not only intensifying but increasingly overlapping, driven by armed conflict, the climate crisis and other hazards. At the same time, education in emergencies (EiE) has been chronically underfunded through external and international sources, and resources have become even more constrained since the drastic reduction in foreign aid in 2025.
This briefing, The Changing EiE Funding Landscape: Navigating shifts in international funding, provides an overview of how the funding landscape for EiE has shifted in recent years, in particular since 2022 when the EiE Hub last published a similar study. The first part of the briefing provides an overview of the current state of international EiE financing, while the second part examines trends likely to shape future funding.
Its key findings include:
- Education remains chronically underfunded in emergencies, and the sector has been disproportionately hit by recent funding cuts. Overall humanitarian funding for education has declined since 2023, and dropped in 2025 amid sweeping reductions to foreign aid. Development funding for education—which accounts for a significant portion of overall EiE funding—saw a similarly alarming drop, and could fall by as much as 30% by 2027 from 2024 levels.
- EiE is at risk in future humanitarian funding cycles. Education could be further marginalised, or even erased, in future humanitarian funding, negating much of the progress in raising the profile of EiE in recent years, including the growing recognition of its protective and life-sustaining role. Notably, education has been almost fully excluded from the USD3.8bn in funding pledged by the United States to OCHA-managed pooled funds in 2026.
- New and emerging sources of funding have the potential to offset some of the cuts to foreign aid. The EiE funding landscape has shifted rapidly and fundamentally. While grants-based financing from traditional donors will remain crucial, future humanitarian funding will come from a more fragmented and diverse set of actors, including multilateral development banks (MDBs), the private sector and philanthropy.
Download the full briefing here.