Connecting with sustainable development

The Adult Learning and Education (ALE) programme of the UNESCO Institute for Lifelong Learning (UIL) positions youth and adult learning and education at the heart of the sustainable development agenda. The programme acknowledges the key role played by ALE in shaping values that promote sustainable development, and in consolidating sustainable societies.

At the United Nations Sustainable Development Summit 2015, the international community agreed on the new Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The fourth of these goals is to ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and to promote lifelong learning opportunities for all, and, more specifically, to ensure that all learners acquire the knowledge and skills needed to develop sustainable societies. The Incheon Declaration and the Education 2030 Framework for Action reaffirm the right to education and its interrelation with other human rights. UIL emphasizes that lifelong learning is integral to sustainable development and that ALE is imperative for achieving equity and inclusion, for alleviating poverty, and for building equitable, tolerant, sustainable and knowledge-based societies.

The third Global Report on Adult Learning and Education (GRALE III) and the Mid-Term CONFINTEA Meeting will help to position ALE in relation to the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals.