In the last year, Japan announced new pledges to end polio, respond to the famine in Yemen, and support efforts on vaccination for all children in developing countries.

Currently, several leading donor countries are considering moves to reduce their contributions of foreign assistance. Japan, on the other hand, is stepping up like never before.

Japan made an additional contribution of $740,000 to help ensure that displaced children living in Chad can access education on Thursday.

Japan’s contribution to the Global Partnership for Education is in addition to the $1.2 million that Japan already contributed to the Global Partnership for Education for 2017.

The funding will play a key role helping to ensure that 8,500 children, who are displaced or living as refugees in the Lake Chad region, will be able to go to school. Specifically, the funding will be used to fund classrooms, textbooks, and school lunches in the region.

Chad has been at the forefront of several humanitarian crises recently. The country has been impacted greatly by the Sahel food crisis.

"The needs are many and varied in Chad, as we are facing multiple crises," said Anthony Lake, executive director of Unicef. "Not only have people lost their traditional coping mechanisms, but we've seen 90,000 Chadians returning from Libya where they used to work. That remittance money has now dried up, and people are destitute."

The magnitude of the crisis is forcing many to flee as refugees. For those refugees, Japan’s contribution to the Global Partnership for Education will help ensure that children can continue their education — even when they are displaced from their homes.

Read More: 5 Ways Japan Is Stepping Up to Make the World a Better Place

In February, the Global Partnership for Education’s board approved a new financing and funding framework that unlocks new ways of working with donors to support the education issues and priorities they care about most. Through the new Financing and Funding Framework, Japan was able to direct this new pledge to support Chad.

In 2015, world leaders from 193 countries gaveled in an ambitious framework known as the Sustainable Development Goals. World leaders promised to ensure that all girls and boys have access to free primary and secondary schooling by 2030. The SDGs also aim to provide equal access to affordable vocational training, eliminate gender and wealth disparities, and achieve universal access to quality higher education.

To meet this massive goal, it will be important that Japan continue to be a strong voice on global education efforts. Global Citizen will look to Japan to be a leader that other countries can follow at the upcoming Replenishment of the Global Partnership for Education.