MICROSOFT'S WORK TOWARD ENGAGING AND INCLUSIVE EDUCATION FOR ALL

As Business for 2030’s mission is to encourage businesses to help create a more sustainable and equitable future, we want to highlight the amazing work that Microsoft has continued to do this past year, especially aimed toward SDG 4.4. This 2030 goal aims to increase the number of youth and adults who have relevant skills, including technical and vocational skills, for employment and entrepreneurship. In line with this target, Microsoft continues to work at all levels of education to empower institutions, educators, and students to enable inclusive, engaging, and immersive learning.

Through Microsoft Philanthropies, the company is investing their resources to equip people, schools, teachers, and students with digital skills and computer science education. Microsoft is focusing their investments in three core areas: bringing industry volunteers to schools in the United States, Canada, and Mexico to teach computer science skills; building the capacity of nonprofit organizations and education providers to scale their impact; and supporting advocacy and collective action to promote inclusion of computer science in formal education.

Microsoft Philanthropies also runs the Technology Education and Literacy in Schools (TEALS) program, which connects classroom teachers with tech-industry volunteers in order to create more sustainable computer science programs.

TEALS’ free programs help students develop science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) skills. As part of Microsoft’s commitment to addressing racial inequity, in 2020, TEALS began an expansion into 13 states and the District of Columbia, with a 2025 goal of bringing computer science education to an additional 620 high schools that primarily serve Black and minority students.

From July 1, 2020, through June 30, 2021, Microsoft provided millions of students and young people with high-quality digital skills, experiences, and computer science education, training them for future job opportunities.

The company also trains over 150,000 teachers to teach computer science, providing them with the skills and resources to reach millions of students.

To help ensure the continuation of education during Covid-19, The Learning Passport, a partnership between Microsoft and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), facilitated learning opportunities for young people who are affected by conflict and global and natural disasters.

As of September 2021, the Learning Passport is currently available in 11 countries including: Bangladesh, Egypt, Honduras, Jordan, Kosovo, Laos, Lebanon, Puntland-Somalia, TimorLeste, Ukraine, and Zimbabwe.

Microsoft is also a founding member of the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization’s (UNESCO) Global Education Coalition for the pandemic response. This coalition aims to bring inclusive learning opportunities for children and youth during this period of unprecedented educational disruption.

Read more about Microsoft’s commitment to empower youth and their partnerships and programs which do so, check out their website.

To read more about Microsoft’s contribution to our SDG’s, check out their case study on Businessfor2030’s website.

Microsoft Bolsters Efforts to Expand Decent Work Opportunities

Microsoft has doubled-down on their commitment to helping the world achieve Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 8, Decent Work and Economic Growth. The company is specifically working toward Target 8.2, which focuses on using technological innovation to achieve higher levels of economic productivity. Microsoft emphasizes in their 2021 SDG Report that promoting decent work is not only critical for SDG 8, but is also key in alleviating poverty and promoting good health. As an organization that employs over 150,000 people globally, Microsoft views itself as being in a prime position to bolster equitable and inclusive growth.

Microsoft believes that a key part of expanding decent work opportunities is increasing human capital. In line with this idea, the company launched Microsoft Career Connector to help job seekers enter the tech industry. This program followed the company’s 2020 Global Skills Initiative, which set a goal of helping 25 million people across the globe gain digital skills. Microsoft developed game-based learning for younger students and has partnered with LinkedIn in developing Career Coach, an app for students in higher education to discover their career path and build the necessary skills for that career. Microsoft is also working to expand human capital in developing regions, particularly through their 4Afrika Initiative that they launched in 2013. Through the initiative, Microsoft is investing in African areas to increase internet access and bolster startups. Ultimately, the company aims to help African communities expand their existing markets and find technological solutions to locally relevant issues.

To advance economic opportunities, Microsoft has formed several strategic partnerships in the past few years. In 2020, at the height of the pandemic, Microsoft partnered with the United Nations Education, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and other technology companies, like IBM, to create the Global Skills Academy. The academy focuses on increasing opportunities for digital upskilling and helps people gain access to training materials that will benefit their employability. Part of the Global Skills Academy curriculum comes from Microsoft Learn for Students and Educators, which provides entry-level technology courses and works on building professional skills, targeting the Middle East and Africa.

To read more about how Microsoft is working to ensure every person can succeed in the digital economy, click here.

"Digital Services and Green Transition"

Acting as a side event for the World Trade Organization (WTO) Public Forum (September 28 – October 1), the panel on “Digital Services and Green Transition” took place in Geneva on September 29 at 7PM CET. This event brought together leaders in the private sector with representatives from the WTO to discuss how digital services can help in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and what policies are needed to usher in this transition. Panelists explained how digitization is already expanding the possibilities for a green future and suggested steps the WTO can take to help multilateral efforts in the digital/green transition.

This event, which was organized by the Association of French Large Companies (AFEP), ICC France, and the U. S. Council for International Business (USCIB), stimulated powerful discussions about data protection, energy efficiency, and the role of the WTO. ICC France’s Emmanuelle Butaud-Stubbs moderated a productive panel that included Ambassador Manuel Teehankee (the permanent representative of the Philippines to the WTO and chairperson for the WTO Committee on Trade and Environment), Ambassador Tan Hung Seng (the permanent representative of Singapore to the WTO and co-chair of the Joint Statement Initiative on the e-commerce negotiating committee), USCIB’s Brian Lowry, Deputy Director-General of the WTO Jean-Marie Paugam, Sonepar’s Tanguy Griffon, and Representative Director for ICC in Geneva Crispin Conroy. This accomplished panel emphasized that there is hope for the future, but that “the road is still long.”

Based on the panel’s discussion, the private sector has made significant strides in increasing digital efforts to promote more sustainable progress in individual industries. Examples were provided on how the agricultural and energy sectors have used innovations in technology to reduce waste and increase efficiency, such as data collection and analysis on crop yields and estimates of carbon production in construction.

Alternatively, the public sector has been slow in responding to technological developments. The WTO still follows the UN classification system for businesses and technology that was established in the 1990s, making some policies vague and outdated. One suggested solution was to take a more holistic approach to the regulation of goods in order to simplify the process and make it more business friendly.

The panel enabled an open dialogue between the public and private sectors which produced constructive ideas for future development. This multilateral discussion revealed hope for sustainable development and clearly defined a path for achieving a greener globe.

To watch the panel, click here.