Ensuring Adult Learning To Promote Sustainable Development

“All people, irrespective of sex, age, race, ethnicity, and persons with disabilities, migrants, indigenous peoples, children and youth, especially those in vulnerable situations, should have access to lifelong learning opportunities that help them acquire the knowledge and skills needed to exploit opportunities and to participate fully in society.” – (United Nations, 2015, Paragraph 25).

- S. M. Rayhanul Islam

Education is vital for human rights and dignity, and is a vehicle for sustainable development. Educating adults also has powerful impacts on families and on children’s education, influencing economic development, health and civic engagement across society.

Today the world of adult learning and education is responding to major processes of transformation. Rapid technological advances are demanding that citizens of all ages develop new skills while also providing an unprecedented range of opportunities to learn.

Longer life expectancy now in many countries is presenting healthcare and social systems with a new set of challenges, but is also enabling younger people to benefit from the knowledge and experience of older generations.

Countries all over the world have long recognized that adult learning and education (ALE) has an important role to play in promoting social inclusion, citizen engagement, health care and sustainable economic growth.

The third Global Report on Adult Learning and Education reasserts the importance of ALE both as a value in itself and as a valuable tool in addressing today’s challenges. It seeks to remind readers that education helps both individuals and societies achieve their goals.

This well-documented publication evaluates countries’ progress in fulfilling the commitments they made in the Belém Framework for Action, which was adopted at the Sixth International Conference on Adult Education (CONFINTEA VI) in 2009.