Targets
4.1) By 2030, ensure that all girls and boys complete free, equitable and quality primary and secondary education leading to relevant and effective learning outcomes
Ericsson
In 2010, Ericsson partnered with the Earth Institute at Columbia University and Millennium Promise to launch “Connect To Learn,” an education initiative that has provided scholarships and ICT technologies to schools in remote, impoverished areas worldwide. The project has been implemented in 22 countries and has improved the lives of 50,000 students, especially girls. After deploying 5G networks to eight sites in Northern Ghana SADA with mobile operator Tigo, Ericson has launched Connect To Learn in all 11 of the Millennium Villages in sub Saharan Africa. In other parts of the world, Ericsson has partnered with Mobitel and Open University of Sri Lanka, Ericsson is also providing teenage girls in Sri Lanka’s farming communities with ICT and computer literacy education.
Microsoft
Achieving inclusive and equitable quality education for all is critical to creating sustainable and growing societies that enable opportunities for everyone to achieve more. In today’s world, that cannot happen without access to ICTs – specifically ubiquitous, robust, and affordable access to the Internet and all of the information that connectivity makes available. Students without this access are at a real disadvantage without the ability to benefit from the most up-to-date content and experiences that are available through the Internet. As part of its affordable access initiative, Microsoft works with partners around the world to deploy cost-effective connectivity solutions for schools and communities to address this problem. Through these projects 104 k-12 schools and 9 universities on 5 continents have been connected to the Internet, covering a population of over 400,000 people. The first of these projects, connecting Gakawa Secondary School in Nanyuki, Kenya, launched in 2013 – connecting its students to the wider world for the first time. According to the school principle, since the program launched “students’ academic performance has shot up and their grades improved greatly in National Exams (KCSE) unlike the past.” This problem is not only in developing countries. In Virginia, USA, schools are connected, but many students have no connectivity at home to help with homework. The Virginia project is focused on extending the coverage from the schools into the surrounding community.
P&G
In 1996, Procter & Gamble founded Project Hope, a program that has built and renovated more than 200 schools in 28 Chinese provinces, benefiting children living in rural or underdeveloped China. P&G China continues its three-year corporate social responsibility plan which includes increased access to performing arts for P&G Hope School students.
For the past 15 years, P&G has closely cooperated with the China Youth Development Foundation (CYDF) to help children in poverty-stricken rural areas gain access to better education. By March 2011, P&G had cumulatively donated RMB 61 million (equivalent to more than 8.9 million USD) to Project Hope, including RMB 12.26 million (1.79 million USD) in donations from the P&G Global Public Welfare Fund. The Hope School program has also benefited from vigorous support of the local governments, including through RMB 40 million (5.8 million USD) of matched educational funds from the local governments, as well as from other groups, organizations and individuals.
Of the 200 Hope Schools built by P&G, 35 were built together with their partners, and 16 were built together with their employees, while 16 P&G brands participated in the co-sponsoring of P&G Hope Schools, including Safeguard, Whisper and Tide. From 1996 to 2009, more than 325 million Chinese consumers participated in the P&G Hope School themed sales campaign jointly organized by P&G and its business partners. More than 1,500 P&G Greater China employees acted as "tutors" and actively participated in the voluntary activities of P&G Hope Schools.
Pearson
Camfed is an international non-profit organization tackling poverty and inequality by supporting girls to go to school and succeed, and empowering young women to step up as leaders of change. Pearson partnered with Camfed on a project funded by the UK Department of International Development (DFID), and supported by relevant national Ministries of Education, to transform educational opportunities and outcomes for girls from low-income communities in Zimbabwe and Tanzania. Leveraging one of the company’s core areas of expertise, Pearson supported Camfed to develop learning resources, with input from students, that are gender-sensitive and relevant to young people’s experiences, future employability, and success. The My Better World curriculum and workbook help students to build self-knowledge, discover their talents, build resilience, select role models, set goals, and learn how to achieve them. Graduates of Camfed’s programs in the poorest rural communities are trained to become ‘Learner Guides’, who serve as young female role models for girls and boys still in school. In 2014, Pearson made a commitment to develop a BTEC – one of the world’s most sought after applied learning qualifications – tailored to the unique needs of Learner Guides. 5,000 Learner Guides will have the opportunity to achieve a BTEC, and will teach and mentor over 150,000 girls and boys, using the My Better World curriculum, to help improve their attendance, retention, and learning at secondary school – creating a virtuous cycle of learning and empowerment. The Camfed Learner Guide Program supported by our partnership has so far reached more than 60,744 vulnerable girls in Zimbabwe and Tanzania to enroll in secondary school and empowered over 400,000 girls and boys to improve their educational experience and learning outcomes.
4.2) 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
PPL Corporation
PPL Corporation supports low-income student programs and increased pre-school education, especially in areas of science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM). For example, in Pennsylvania PPL engages in a state grant program that provides scholarships for low-income children to attend excellent preschools. PPL invests over $2 million each year to support educational programs like this in communities across the country.
4.3) By 2030, ensure equal access for all women and men to affordable and quality technical, vocational and tertiary education, including university
For years, Google has provided free Google App accounts to educational institutions across the Asia Pacific region. For example, Google provides Google Apps and YouTube Live at no cost to the Asia-Pacific Network Information Centre, the regional Internet registry in the Asia-Pacific region. In countries like Thailand, the company has partnered with governments to ensure that the technologies disseminate to institutions across the country. Moreover, to ease the transfer process, Google offers technical workshops and consultations to teachers. In 2013, Malaysia received Google Apps for 10 million students, parents, and teachers as well as Chromebooks for its primary and secondary schools. The initiative is part of the country’s plan to transform its educational system by providing advanced technological tools to facilitate the learning process and put the country on the path to development.
Chevron
Chevron invests in a comprehensive range of education activities. They encourage students to pursue STEM opportunities; they provide career, teacher and technical training; and they form innovative partnerships with universities and other stakeholders. Chevron’s Enjoy Science Project is a $30 million, five-year program to strengthen STEM and vocational education across schools in Thailand. Through collaboration with partners in civil society, academia, the private sector and government, the program is on track to improve STEM instruction at more than 600 schools, build capacity for approximately 10,000 teachers and directly impact 500,000 people.
4.4) 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
Intel
In 2015, we set a bold hiring and retention goal to achieve full representation of women and underrepresented minorities in Intel’s U.S. workforce by 2020. We achieved that goal two years ahead of schedule, the result of an integrated strategy focused on hiring, retention, and progression. We committed $300 million to support this goal and accelerate diversity and inclusion both at Intel and across the technology industry. We also were able to increase our annual spending with certified diverse-owned suppliers to $1 billion by 2020. We recognize we still have work to do, including beyond the walls of Intel. Our new 2030 goals set our ambitions for the next decade, including increased diversity representation in senior leadership and technical roles, as well as accountability for embedding inclusive leadership practices across our business and culture, and sustained culture of accessibility by embracing technology to eliminate barriers for those with a disability. Intel has a long history of investing in education to empower people and improve their lives through technology. Our new Intel® Innovation Generation initiative directly responds to Goals 4, 5 and 10, and is focused on expanding access to technology skills and experiences to prepare youth for the jobs of tomorrow and ensure that the next generation of innovators is diverse in terms of geography, economic status, ethnicity, and gender. The Intel Foundation supports strategic funding of evidence-based, data-driven collaborative solutions that advance the inclusion of socially marginalized and disadvantaged groups, creating pathways toward a more just society with opportunities for all.
Read the company’s 2019-2020 Corporate Social Responsibility Report to learn more about Intel’s efforts.
Pirelli
Promoting technical education and training are core values of Pirelli, ingrained in the company’s 140-year history. Technical training is particularly important for Pirelli to create a skilled labour team to optimize factory productivity. From providing automotive maintenance classes in an Egyptian Secondary School, IT training to students in Brazil, extensive teaching programs in Turkey backed by Pirelli volunteers, or scholarships to outstanding management course students at the Qingdao University for Science and Technology in China; Pirelli aims to support employment and education opportunities around the world through its various programs and collaborations that uphold its brand DNA of excellence and innovation.
4.5) By 2030, eliminate gender disparities in education and ensure equal access to all levels of education and vocational training for the vulnerable, including persons with disabilities, indigenous peoples and children in vulnerable situations
Pearson
Pearson's 'Every Child Learning' partnership with Save the Children. Through Pearson’s Every Child Learning partnership, they are funding Save the Children, an international non-profit organization helping children in need around the world, to establish two informal education centers in Amman, Jordan. These centers expect to support 1,400 Syrian refugees and host community children aged between 5 and 13 years old to integrate into the formal education system. Pearson is also investing £1 million in the co-creation of new product and program solutions to improve the quality of education for refugee and host community children in Jordan. The ambition is that solutions can be adapted, scaled, and replicated in other emergency and conflict-affected contexts. In 2015,Pearson conducted in-depth field research in Jordan to understand how Syrian and Jordanian families engage with educational resources in times of conflict-affected transition. The research will provide insights into our solutions development process, helping ensure that any intervention we develop is beneficial and relevant to the unique needs of Syrian refugee and host community children.
P&G
The P&G Always brand has been helping girls around the world overcome period-related barriers to their education. This includes providing access to period products and helping break the stigma that surrounds periods. Puberty can be a difficult and confusing time when girls’ confidence may plummet, with the onset of menstruation marking the lowest moment for many girls. This decrease in confidence is so much worse for girls that lack access to period protection, which is often referred to as “period poverty”. Always realized that period poverty can force girls to miss out on important confidence-building experiences in the classroom or in after-school activities. Believing that these confidence-building experiences should be something to look forward to, and not something a girl loses out on because she doesn’t have access to period products , Always launched the global #EndPeriodPoverty campaign, which has donated more than 90 million period products to help girls stay in school.
4.6) By 2030, ensure that all youth and a substantial proportion of adults, both men and women, achieve literacy and numeracy
4.7) 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
Novozymes
Novozymes has strengthened its commitment to education with a target to educate one million people about the potential of biology from 2015 to 2020. Since 2015, Novozymes has helped more than 941,000 people learn about biology and how it enables a sustainable future, by engaging with local schools, universities and communities.
In Latin America, Novozymes’ educational initiatives in this region rely on a digital and interactive format and center around apps that educate young readers about biology, biotechnology and sustainability through exciting tales connected to a specific SDG. In Brazil, partnering with the Municipal Department of Education in Araucaria, “Biotechnology goes to school” reached over 3500 students and teachers. It is now bringing the SDGs to the attention of young people and is partnering with SESI (Federation of Industries of the State of Paraná (FIEP)), reaching more than 11,000 students. Another example is Novozymes’ Mobile Science Lab, which strives to make quality education accessible to remote schools and communities in the vicinity of Bangalore, India. In China, “The Little Biologists” program engages with communities and schools to teach people about biobased solutions in everyday life.
Means of Implementation
4.A) Build and upgrade education facilities that are child, disability and gender sensitive and provide safe, non-violent, inclusive and effective learning environments for all
IBM
IBM has partnered with RTI International, a leading non-profit research institute, to improve development approaches in Africa through data analytics. By employing advanced technologies, researchers hope to capture data that would provide insight to policy leaders for more sustainable programs and sounder investments. IBM and RTI are launching an initiative in Mombasa County, Kenya to help transform the education system. Working with the Kenyan Ministry of Education and USAID, teachers, principals and administrators in more than 100 schools will be provided with tablet devices that will capture data about students and the facilities. From the information acquired, leaders will have a better understanding of current progress and challenges as well as be able to offer recommendations for improvement.
4.B) By 2020, substantially expand globally the number of scholarships available to developing countries, in particular least developed countries, small island developing States and African countries, for enrolment in higher education, including vocational training and information and communications technology, technical, engineering and scientific programmes, in developed countries and other developing countries
4.C) 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