Riyadh, 4 February 2021 – The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Centre (KSrelief) affirmed its commitment to enhancing the education and child protection of children in Somalia, by contributing $620,000 to UNICEF.

“The funding will play a pivotal role in creating a learning environment where children can continue their education safely, amid the COVID-19 outbreak,” said Eng. Ahmed Al Baiz, KSrelief’s Assistant Supervisor General of Operations and Programs. “Through preventive and remedial interventions, it can help to protect children and caregivers, affected or at risk of COVID-19, from abuse, neglect, exploitation, and violence.”

The funds will support UNICEF and partners in Somalia to facilitate hygiene promotion and provide clean water and hygiene and sanitation supplies to prevent the spread of COVID-19 in schools or local communities. School infrastructure, furniture and teaching and learning supplies will be disinfected to keep schools safe. School supplies will be provided to support offline and online pre-recorded lessons for children in hard to reach areas and awareness campaigns will be conducted about the new distance learning modalities.