What you need to know about Leading SDG4 - Education 2030

The Education 2030 agenda was adopted in 2015 to ‘ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all’ by 2030 with a series of targets set out to realize this. Before COVID-19, the world was already off-track to meet the targets and because of the pandemic some of the gains already made in education were lost. Education was severely disrupted worldwide with the most vulnerable learners affected worst. However, the crisis also saw global partnerships strengthened or newly forged in order to rethink the way forward for education and realize the Education 2030 goals. 

While governments shoulder the main responsibility for ensuring quality education, the 2030 Agenda is a universal and collective commitment. Within this structure, UNESCO heads the Secretariats of the Global Education Cooperation Mechanism (GCM) and the Transforming Education Summit to be held in September 2022. Both draw on the expertise of key UN entities and partners to strengthen and coordinate work towards SDG 4. The fact that the Secretariats gather many agencies together ensures that everyone owns the work that is undertaken and that it becomes a solid launching pad for sustained progress towards the 2030 Agenda. 

The GCM was inaugurated in November 2021 at the Global Education Meeting for SDG 4 which gathered experts to reimagine and realign their work towards the education targets in the goal. It aims for collective action and joint accountability and builds on the 2015 Incheon Declaration and Education 2030 Framework for Action. It is governed by the SDG 4 Education 2030 High-Level Steering Committee (HLSC) which is made up of decision-makers from across the globe.  

Chaired by H.E. Julius Maada Bio, the President of Sierra Leone and Audrey Azoulay, UNESCO’s Director General, HLSC aims to speed country-level progress towards SDG 4. It consists of a Leadership Group composed of 28 members of which 18 represent the 6 regions of the world, with two countries and one inter-governmental regional organization per region, who meet once a year to provide leadership on the global education agenda. A second Sherpa Group consults with their constituencies ahead of SDG 4 Education 2030 High-Level Steering Committee meetings and provides feedback afterwards.  

The HLSC promotes evidence-based policy formulation and implementation, monitors progress and improves the availability and use of data and helps mobilize financing. Other key members of the global education community represented include civil society organizations, teachers, banks, foundations and the private sector and youth and students. 

The HLSC will be responsible for the follow-up of the Transforming Education Summit, including contributing to the education dimension of the Summit of the Future in 2023. It will continue to monitor progress, promote and facilitate knowledge and practice exchange, engage youth, and champion cross-sector and multilateral cooperation.

Youth and NGOs have one seat each on both the HLSC Leaders group and the Sherpa Group. The SDG 4 Youth Network brings young voices to the table in conversations shaping global education policies. A youth representative has a seat on the HLSC Leaders group and the network itself brings young people together around the world.   

UNESCO considers NGOs or civil society associations as key partners in fulfilling its education mandate and the Education 2030 Agenda is clear on their role in translating SDG 4 commitments into practice at local, national regional and global levels. The Collective Consultation of NGOs on Education 2030 is a UNESCO mechanism for dialogue, reflection and partnership with civil society associations and of particular importance in reaching the marginalized.