LM International alongside Save the Children, CDF and VORC through ECW-funded programme helped enrol 8,558 children in education, exceeding our target by 27%, and trained more than 568 teachers and school leaders.
Geneva, 4 November 2026
What does education mean for a child when the journey to school is threatened by escalating drone attacks? This is the reality for children across Sudan where civilian lives, essential infrastructure and humanitarian operations are threatened by the recent drone attacks which have struck electricity infrastructure, fuel facilities, transport routes and other sites essential to civilian life. The consequences extend far beyond the immediate destruction.
Education cannot wait for peace. But neither can the protection of the children whose futures depend on it.
LM International urges all parties to the conflict and the international community to:
A school cannot provide stability if children cannot reach it safely.
Through the previous ECW-funded Multi-Year Resilience Programme, LM International worked alongside Save the Children International and local partners Child Development Foundation (CDF) and Voluntary Organization for Rural Community Development (VORC) in River Nile, South Kordofan and West Darfur.
Together, we helped enrol 8,558 children in education, exceeding our target by 27%, and trained more than 568 teachers and school leaders.
These results demonstrate what becomes possible when humanitarian partners, local communities and international donors work together to restore access to learning. Every child brought back into learning represents an investment in Sudan's future.
LM International is now part of the new 2026–2029 ECW Multi-Year Resilience Programme in Sudan, alongside Save the Children International, Plan International, Alsalam Organisation for Relief and Development and Sadagaat.
The programme covers West Darfur, South Kordofan and Gedaref, with LM International leading implementation in West Darfur. The escalation of indiscriminate bombing across the country poses risks to civilian life, children, families and humanitarian access needed to provide ECW interventions.
We must not wait until schools are forced to close, children are displaced again or humanitarian programmes are interrupted before taking action.
The challenge is not only insecurity. It is also funding.
Education Cannot Wait has committed US 22 million towards Sudan’s US 39 million Multi-Year Resilience Programme, leaving a funding gap of US$17 million.
At the Geneva conference, the international NGO community is also rallying behind ECW's US$600 million replenishment target for 2027–2030.
But financing must go beyond getting children into classrooms. It must support sustained learning, teacher development, psychosocial well-being, disability inclusion and stronger local education systems capable of withstanding future crises.
It must also strengthen the leadership of national and local organisations, ensuring that resources and decision-making reach those closest to the communities affected.
Children in Sudan need both protection and opportunity. They need an end to the violence that threatens their lives and the sustained investment that gives them a future.
As the international community gathers in Geneva, LM International urges governments, donors and all parties with influence over the conflict to act.
Stop the drone attacks. Protect children's right to learn. Close the funding gap.
Educating Sudan's children cannot wait.
