Jacobs Foundation commits CHF 5 million to safeguard children’s education access in Colombia following recent earthquake

ZURICH, Sept. 15, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Following the magnitude 7.4 earthquake that struck Colombia on 10 August, the Jacobs Foundation is committing CHF 5 million to safeguard children’s access to education and maintain their learning and development. Jointly with local partners, funding will be devoted to ensuring evidence-based educational continuity in affected communities as recovery gets underway. 

The earthquake, with its epicenter near San José del Palmar in Chocó, caused widespread loss and disruption across Colombia. As the immediate response continues, attention is also turning to what recovery will mean for children in the months ahead.

Rebuilding damaged schools and facilities is only one part of the challenge. As recovery efforts progress, protecting children’s learning will also require sustained access to quality education and support for the schools and communities around them. The Foundation’s funding is intended to strengthen these efforts and reduce the risk that short-term disruption leads to longer-term learning loss during the remainder of the academic year.

This response will support the partnerships that the Jacobs Foundation has been building on the ground across Colombia since it launched Colombia Evidencia Potencial en Educación (CEPE). The Foundation works with public authorities, philanthropic foundations, researchers, educators, and other partners to strengthen education systems and improve children’s learning and development.

Five of CEPE’s fourteen Communities of Change – Quibdó, Chocó, Cali, Manizales, and Cauca – have been affected by the earthquake, and conditions vary significantly between them. Some school sites have sustained serious damage to their infrastructure and remain closed, while others have been able to resume in-person education through adapted arrangements. Assessments are continuing to determine what children, teachers, school leaders, and local education systems will need.

Ana Cubillo, Global Program Director at the Jacobs Foundation, said: “We are not starting from scratch. Through CEPE, relationships have already been built across public authorities, foundations, researchers, educators, and other local actors, grounded in a shared commitment to improving children’s learning. In an emergency, those relationships are crucial because they allow us to coordinate with people who truly understand their communities, so that we can adapt our support under conditions that might rapidly change. Recovery will look different from one place to another, but these partnerships give us a strong foundation from which to respond.”

Alongside its CEPE partners, the Jacobs Foundation is continuing to assess conditions and determine how this emergency funding can best support education through the recovery period and beyond.

For further information on the Jacobs Foundation, visit https://jacobsfoundation.org/.

NOTES TO EDITORS:

About the Jacobs Foundation

Founded in 1989 and headquartered in Zürich, Switzerland, the Jacobs Foundation invests in the future of young people by enabling and promoting high-quality research into learning and development. Its vision is a world in which every child is given the evidence-based learning opportunities they need to thrive. To do this, the Foundation is executing its Strategy 2030 plan to translate evidence into policy and practice—underpinned by an ambitious Research Agenda to identify the variances between how children live and learn in different environments.

The Jacobs Foundation works with public, private, and civil society partners in Switzerland, Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, and Colombia to transform education systems. The Foundation also funds researchers globally, encouraging networking and partnerships to help inform evidence-based policy and practice worldwide.

For media enquiries, please contact jacobs@atalanta.co.