On September 19th, A high level meeting which is exploring ways to drive forward global response to refugee education crisis was held in Amman under Her Majesty's patronage.

The meeting which was convened by The Queen Rania Foundation for Education and Development (QRF), Save the Children, and the MIT Abdul Latif Jameel World Education Lab (J-WEL) addressed one of the critical humanitarian issues born out of the global refugee crisis.

It brought together keyholders notably philanthropists, business leaders, donor institutions, and international and regional development organizations, and was chaired by Hassan Jameel, Community Jameel President, and Kevin Watkins, Save the Children UK Chief Executive Officer.

The Amman meeting followed a high-level roundtable held at the World Economic Forum in Davos in January 2019, which Queen Rania also attended, and which was chaired by Hassan Jameel and Helle Thorning Schmidt, then Chief Executive Officer of Save the Children International and former Prime Minister of Denmark. The meeting was also part of the build-up to the Global Refugee Forum, which will be held in Geneva in December by UNHCR.

Speaking at the roundtable, Hassan Jameel, Community Jameel President, said, “At Community Jameel, we recognize the importance of education. By supporting teachers’ wellbeing, in conjunction with improving quality teaching practices and student learning, we have the opportunity to re-establish the transformative role of education in vulnerable children's lives.”

 Save the Children UK Chief Executive, Kevin Watkins, said, “Save the Children is celebrating 100 years of humanitarian and development experience and we are delighted to be partnering with such high-level, global philanthropists on this critical agenda.

“Over half of the world’s 25 million refugees are children. If those children were a single country, that country would be the country with the world’s worst education indicators. More than half of the world’s school-aged refugee children – 4 million in total – are out of school. These children are being denied a source of hope for the future and the passport to a better future. This is one of the greatest moral challenges facing our generation – and turning a blind eye is not an option.”

Among the attendees were senior representatives of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the UAE-based Al Ghurair Foundation for Education, the Saudi-based Alwaleed Philanthropies, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, the Islamic Development Bank, the LEGO Foundation, Schmidt Futures, and the World Bank.

 Jordan has a strong track record of welcoming and supporting refugees, and has become a leading venue for innovation in humanitarian development. Contributing to the country’s efforts in this field are QRF’s various technology-driven solutions to development challenges, including the foundation’s online education initiative, Edraak.