SDG 4. Quality education

Presentation - State of affairs

Currently, 263 million children and teenagers go without education, and 250 million children cannot read or write. SDG 4 aims to ensure universal access to quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities.

At all levels of education, gender equality, improved learning outcomes and the incorporation of sustainable development into teaching programmes and content are central to this goal.

Particular effort is needed for teacher training, the promotion of health and safety in learning places, and the development of study grants.

United Nations Targets for 2030

Ministry Projects

Key figures

Examples of projects

AFD - Project to support secondary school reform in Togo, October 2016 (in French)

MEAE - Project to support the fight against gender-based violence in schools
Between 2012 and 2014, via €3.3 million from the Priority Solidarity Fund, France financed several programmes for educating girls and combating gender-based violence implemented by the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) in Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire, Mali and Niger.

The lessons learnt from this multi-country project enabled a new project to be implemented which was financed by the Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs (€1.5 million between 2016 and 2018). This project, which was developed by UNICEF, UNESCO and Plan International, is underway in Senegal, Cameroon and Togo. It focuses on three components:

• Capacity-building within education systems to prevent school-related gender-based violence;
• Improving advocacy though a greater understanding of the phenomenon of school-related gender-based violence and data collection;
• Strengthening the protection chain and victim monitoring;

Video: Promoting education for girls in rural Burkina Faso (in French):

• United Nations Girls’ Education Initiative (UNGEI)
• Education for All Global Monitoring Report (GMR) – School-related gender-based violence is preventing the achievement of quality education for all

Ministry publications (in French)

• Stratégie française 2017-2021 pour l’éducation, la formation professionnelle et l’insertion
• Éducation et formation professionnelle (mars 2017)
• Les initiatives multilatérales en matière d’éducation et de formation professionnelle (18 août 2016)

Publications by implementing agencies

• AFD – Cadre d’intervention sectoriel Education-Formation-Emploi, 2013-2015 (in French) (.pdf)
• CIRAD – Higher Education

Useful links

• SDG 4 on the UN website
• SDG 4 on the website UN Women
• UNESCO - Framework for Action: Education 2030
• Global education monitoring report
• Global partnership for education
• The Education Commission – Report: The learning generation: Investing in education for a changing world

^{Updated: May 2017}