un projects for education

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Education For All

Education is the basic building block of every society. It is the single best investment countries can make to build prosperous, healthy and equitable societies. Article 26 of the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights states that “Everyone has the right to education.” Today however, 57 million children remain out of school. Education is not only a right, but a passport to human development that opens doors and expands opportunities and freedoms. Sustainable Development Goal 4: Ensuring Inclusive, Equitable, and Quality Education and the Promotion of Lifelong Learning Opportunities for All , recognizes several impediments for universal education and attempts to address them through targets to increase the number of scholarships to students in developing nations and create educational facilities that are gender sensitive and disability inclusive.

Sustainable and shared economic development increasingly depends on the capacity of governments to implement policies targeted at marginalized groups and remove barriers to ongoing learning and entry into the labor market. Notwithstanding the significant achievements over the past decade, women and girls still have the least access to education and training, and specific policies are urgently needed to address these challenges.

Those who leave school at an early age are vulnerable to unemployment, poverty, early marriage, and pregnancy. Some of the factors that fuel drop-out rates include poverty, gender, disability, family catastrophes, war and conflict, as well as perceived low return on investment for education. Developing alternative learning opportunities that take into account these reasons for high drop-out rates are necessary to provide young people appropriate opportunities to consolidate their basic knowledge and competencies, and equip them with the relevant skills needed to obtain employment, become business owners and entrepreneurs or engage in other productive work.

Please review our SDG Hubs page and in particular the information related to our Hub for Goal 4: Quality Education.

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• Description
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Global Education First Initiative (GEFI)

#sdgaction40157.

• Description
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• SDG 14 targets covered
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The Initiative aims to accelerate progress towards the Education for All goals and the education-related Millennium Development Goals by

* Rallying together a broad spectrum of actors for the final push to 2015

* Putting quality, relevant and transformative education at the heart of the social, political and development agendas

* Generating additional and sufficient funding for education through sustained global advocacy efforts

Within the global development landscape of acceleration efforts towards the implementation of 2030 Agenda, GEFI is guided by a strategic plan and action framework to:

• Advocate for a broader and more ambitious vision for education at the core of the 2030 Agenda

• Broaden outreach and engagement on global citizenship education with a focus on learning and teaching for sustainable development

• Advocate for closing the financing gap in education and for smarter funds allocation to reach the populations most in need, especially those in emergency situations.

Partners include UNDP, UNFPA, UNICEF, UN Women, UN Special Envoy for Global Education, World Bank, Global Partnership for Education, Educate A Child, Education International, Global Campaign for Education as well as philanthropic and business institutions.<br /> <br><br /> <br>GEFI’s Steering Committee is a high-level body that provides strategic direction and guidance to the Secretary-General to ensure visibility and success of the Initiative.<br /> <br><br /> <br>The UN Secretary-General invited a group of Member States to serve as ‘Champion Countries’ for GEFI. Their role is to catalyze political and financial support for education among governments.<br /> <br><br /> <br>The Youth Advocacy Group (YAG), comprised of young people from around the world, promotes the priorities of youth and GEFI activities and messages. <br /> <br><br /> <br>As the GEFI Secretariat, UNESCO provides overall support to the Initiative.

Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all

By 2030, ensure that all girls and boys complete free, equitable and quality primary and secondary education leading to relevant and effective learning outcomes

Proportion of children and young people ( a ) in grades 2/3; ( b ) at the end of primary; and ( c ) at the end of lower secondary achieving at least a minimum proficiency level in (i) reading and (ii) mathematics, by sex

Completion rate (primary education, lower secondary education, upper secondary education)

By 2030, ensure that all girls and boys have access to quality early childhood development, care and pre-primary education so that they are ready for primary education

Proportion of children aged 24–59 months who are developmentally on track in health, learning and psychosocial well-being, by sex

Participation rate in organized learning (one year before the official primary entry age), by sex

By 2030, ensure equal access for all women and men to affordable and quality technical, vocational and tertiary education, including university

Participation rate of youth and adults in formal and non-formal education and training in the previous 12 months, by sex

By 2030, substantially increase the number of youth and adults who have relevant skills, including technical and vocational skills, for employment, decent jobs and entrepreneurship

Proportion of youth and adults with information and communications technology (ICT) skills, by type of skill

Parity indices (female/male, rural/urban, bottom/top wealth quintile and others such as disability status, indigenous peoples and conflict-affected, as data become available) for all education indicators on this list that can be disaggregated

By 2030, ensure that all youth and a substantial proportion of adults, both men and women, achieve literacy and numeracy

Proportion of population in a given age group achieving at least a fixed level of proficiency in functional ( a ) literacy and ( b ) numeracy skills, by sex

By 2030, ensure that all learners acquire the knowledge and skills needed to promote sustainable development, including, among others, through education for sustainable development and sustainable lifestyles, human rights, gender equality, promotion of a culture of peace and non-violence, global citizenship and appreciation of cultural diversity and of culture’s contribution to sustainable development

Extent to which (i) global citizenship education and (ii) education for sustainable development are mainstreamed in ( a ) national education policies; ( b ) curricula; ( c ) teacher education and ( d ) student assessment

Build and upgrade education facilities that are child, disability and gender sensitive and provide safe, non-violent, inclusive and effective learning environments for all

Proportion of schools offering basic services, by type of service

Volume of official development assistance flows for scholarships by sector and type of study

By 2030, substantially increase the supply of qualified teachers, including through international cooperation for teacher training in developing countries, especially least developed countries and small island developing States

Proportion of teachers with the minimum required qualifications, by education level

Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls

End all forms of discrimination against all women and girls everywhere

Whether or not legal frameworks are in place to promote, enforce and monitor equality and non‑discrimination on the basis of sex

Proportion of ever-partnered women and girls aged 15 years and older subjected to physical, sexual or psychological violence by a current or former intimate partner in the previous 12 months, by form of violence and by age

Proportion of women and girls aged 15 years and older subjected to sexual violence by persons other than an intimate partner in the previous 12 months, by age and place of occurrence

Proportion of women aged 20-24 years who were married or in a union before age 15 and before age 18

Proportion of girls and women aged 15-49 years who have undergone female genital mutilation/cutting, by age

Recognize and value unpaid care and domestic work through the provision of public services, infrastructure and social protection policies and the promotion of shared responsibility within the household and the family as nationally appropriate

Proportion of time spent on unpaid domestic and care work, by sex, age and location

Ensure women’s full and effective participation and equal opportunities for leadership at all levels of decision-making in political, economic and public life

Proportion of seats held by women in ( a ) national parliaments and ( b ) local governments

Proportion of women in managerial positions

Ensure universal access to sexual and reproductive health and reproductive rights as agreed in accordance with the Programme of Action of the International Conference on Population and Development and the Beijing Platform for Action and the outcome documents of their review conferences

Proportion of women aged 15-49 years who make their own informed decisions regarding sexual relations, contraceptive use and reproductive health care

Number of countries with laws and regulations that guarantee full and equal access to women and men aged 15 years and older to sexual and reproductive health care, information and education

Undertake reforms to give women equal rights to economic resources, as well as access to ownership and control over land and other forms of property, financial services, inheritance and natural resources, in accordance with national laws

( a ) Proportion of total agricultural population with ownership or secure rights over agricultural land, by sex; and ( b ) share of women among owners or rights-bearers of agricultural land, by type of tenure

Proportion of countries where the legal framework (including customary law) guarantees women’s equal rights to land ownership and/or control

Proportion of individuals who own a mobile telephone, by sex

Adopt and strengthen sound policies and enforceable legislation for the promotion of gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls at all levels

Proportion of countries with systems to track and make public allocations for gender equality and women’s empowerment

Strengthen the means of implementation and revitalize the Global Partnership for Sustainable Development

Strengthen domestic resource mobilization, including through international support to developing countries, to improve domestic capacity for tax and other revenue collection

Developed countries to implement fully their official development assistance commitments, including the commitment by many developed countries to achieve the target of 0.7 per cent of ODA/GNI to developing countries and 0.15 to 0.20 per cent of ODA/GNI to least developed countries; ODA providers are encouraged to consider setting a target to provide at least 0.20 per cent of ODA/GNI to least developed countries

Mobilize additional financial resources for developing countries from multiple sources

Additional financial resources mobilized for developing countries from multiple sources 

Assist developing countries in attaining long-term debt sustainability through coordinated policies aimed at fostering debt financing, debt relief and debt restructuring, as appropriate, and address the external debt of highly indebted poor countries to reduce debt distress

Adopt and implement investment promotion regimes for least developed countries

Number of countries that adopt and implement investment promotion regimes for developing countries, including the least developed countries

Enhance North-South, South-South and triangular regional and international cooperation on and access to science, technology and innovation and enhance knowledge sharing on mutually agreed terms, including through improved coordination among existing mechanisms, in particular at the United Nations level, and through a global technology facilitation mechanism

 Fixed broadband subscriptions per 100 inhabitants, by speed

Promote the development, transfer, dissemination and diffusion of environmentally sound technologies to developing countries on favourable terms, including on concessional and preferential terms, as mutually agreed

Total amount of funding for developing countries to promote the development, transfer, dissemination and diffusion of environmentally sound technologies

Fully operationalize the technology bank and science, technology and innovation capacity-building mechanism for least developed countries by 2017 and enhance the use of enabling technology, in particular information and communications technology

Enhance international support for implementing effective and targeted capacity-building in developing countries to support national plans to implement all the Sustainable Development Goals, including through North-South, South-South and triangular cooperation

Dollar value of financial and technical assistance (including through North-South, South‑South and triangular cooperation) committed to developing countries

Promote a universal, rules-based, open, non-discriminatory and equitable multilateral trading system under the World Trade Organization, including through the conclusion of negotiations under its Doha Development Agenda

Significantly increase the exports of developing countries, in particular with a view to doubling the least developed countries’ share of global exports by 2020

Developing countries’ and least developed countries’ share of global exports

Realize timely implementation of duty-free and quota-free market access on a lasting basis for all least developed countries, consistent with World Trade Organization decisions, including by ensuring that preferential rules of origin applicable to imports from least developed countries are transparent and simple, and contribute to facilitating market access

Weighted average tariffs faced by developing countries, least developed countries and small island developing States

Enhance global macroeconomic stability, including through policy coordination and policy coherence

Enhance policy coherence for sustainable development

Respect each country’s policy space and leadership to establish and implement policies for poverty eradication and sustainable development 

Enhance the Global Partnership for Sustainable Development, complemented by multi-stakeholder partnerships that mobilize and share knowledge, expertise, technology and financial resources, to support the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals in all countries, in particular developing countries

Number of countries reporting progress in multi-stakeholder development effectiveness monitoring frameworks that support the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals

Encourage and promote effective public, public-private and civil society partnerships, building on the experience and resourcing strategies of partnerships 

Amount in United States dollars committed to public-private partnerships for infrastructure

By 2020, enhance capacity-building support to developing countries, including for least developed countries and small island developing States, to increase significantly the availability of high-quality, timely and reliable data disaggregated by income, gender, age, race, ethnicity, migratory status, disability, geographic location and other characteristics relevant in national contexts

Statistical capacity indicators

Number of countries with a national statistical plan that is fully funded and under implementation, by source of funding

By 2030, build on existing initiatives to develop measurements of progress on sustainable development that complement gross domestic product, and support statistical capacity-building in developing countries

Proportion of countries that ( a ) have conducted at least one population and housing census in the last 10 years; and ( b ) have achieved 100 per cent birth registration and 80 per cent death registration

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