UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, together with the Philippine Department of Justice – Refugees and Stateless Persons Protection Unit (DOJ-RSPPU) convened academic institutions to discuss forming a network that would ensure the sustainability of the Complementary Pathways (CPath) programme for many years to come.
The creation of a network of the schools in the Philippines is anticipated to strengthen the CPath programme by allowing the partner schools under the initiative to institutionalize coordination mechanisms, efforts for capacity building, exchange best practices, and learn from existing CPath networks from around the world.
“Education is a right that must be enjoyed by all, including people forced to flee and those who find themselves without a nationality. As we continue to stand in solidarity #WithRefugees, building stronger ties, families, and communities will bring us all together towards one goal: a world where no one is left behind,” emphasized UNHCR Philippines Head of National Office Maria Ermina Valdeavilla-Gallardo.
“We have convened partner schools in time for the celebration of UN Month in view of our dream of institutionalizing the network of educational institutions that are part of the CPath family and this year’s theme for UN Month of One Common Future, One Common Agenda. This activity means a lot, not only for our CPath scholars, but for those who will come after them – girls and boys who brave all the odds to change their future as well as those of their communities.”
The Philippines’ CPath programme has been providing higher education opportunities to select Rohingya youth since 2022, giving them safe and regulated entry and are now pursuing various fields of interest in the Philippines. It contributes to the achievement of Sustainable Development Goal No. 4 to ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all.
Conceptualized in 2019, following the Philippines’ pledges to create complementary solutions for refugees during the first Global Refugee Forum, the programme was institutionalized three years later by the Inter-Agency Committee on the Complementary Pathways Programme led by the DOJ-RSPPU and implemented with the arrival of the first six (6) scholars the same year.
To date, the CPath programme is supporting the dreams of 15 Rohingya scholars in six (6) academic institutions in line with the fulfilment of the Philippines’ pledges on Complementary Pathways, Access to Education, and Solutions for Rohingya.
“The Government would not have been able to make it happen without the commitment and generosity of the academe. The only way that we have been able to do it and hopefully succeed is through a multi-stakeholder, whole-of-society approach,” said Chief State Counsel Dennis Arvin Chan, Head of the DOJ-RSPPU.
“Working together to institutionalize this cooperation framework ensures the CPath programme’s growth and sustainability. This milestone will form part of the Philippines’ humanitarian history and tradition of open doors.”
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ABOUT UNHCR
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the UN Refugee Agency, is a global organization dedicated to saving lives, protecting rights and building a better future for people forced to flee their homes because of conflict and persecution. We lead international action to protect refugees, forcibly displaced communities and stateless people. We deliver life-saving assistance, help safeguard fundamental human rights, and develop solutions that ensure people have a safe place called home where they can build a better future. We also work to ensure that stateless people are granted a nationality. We work in over 130 countries, using our expertise to protect and care for millions.
In the Philippines, UNHCR has maintained a presence for over 40 years, working on providing durable solutions to refugees, ending and reducing statelessness, and empowering displaced families.
For more information, please contact:
Karen Cepeda
External Relations Associate
[email protected]
(02) 88172398
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