Date: Nov 23, 2018 Source: The Daily Star UK announces $6 million for UNICEF programs in Lebanon BEIRUT: On the occasion of World Children’s Day and Lebanon’s Independence Day, the United Kingdom announced Wednesday that it will be contributing more than an additional $6 million to UNICEF for education programs in Lebanon. The 5 million pounds ($6.39 million) will support UNICEF’s non-formal education programs “working with the most vulnerable children across all of Lebanon,” a statement from the embassy quoted British Ambassador Chris Rampling as saying. He said the U.K. was “proud to be a committed partner to education in Lebanon.” The statement said the additional funding will also provide child protection and gender-based violence services to the most vulnerable, and that the contribution brought the U.K.’s support in the area to 65 million pounds over four years. Over 14,000 children, aged between 3 and 5, and between 8 and 18, will receive “community-based early childhood education and attend basic literacy and numeracy classes, and over 10,600 will receive child protection and other related services,” the statement said. Since 2016, almost 64,000 underage refugee children were provided with non-formal education as part of the program, which also supported more than 116,000 “disadvantaged boys, girls and women in Lebanon, who are vulnerable to abuse.” “Education is the future, it offers children a ladder out of poverty to transform their communities and countries,” Rampling said. Last week, Rampling and caretaker Education Minister Marwan Hamadeh held a joint visit to tour UNICEF’s education activities, UNICEF Lebanon tweeted at the time, saying, “With @UKinLebanon support, UNICEF is working on ensuring that boys and girls have equal access to education.”