Sustainable Development Goal 4.7: Fostering Global Citizenship
Yoko Mochizuki, UNESCO Mahatma Gandhi Institute of Education for Peace andSustainable Development (MGIEP)
The interconnected environmental, economic, social and political challenges facing humanity callfor education that cultivates a sense of belonging to common humanity and responsibility to takeaction to address these challenges. The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development is an intergovernmental commitment and “a plan of action for people, planet and prosperity”, comprising 17
Sustainable Development Goals or SDGs (United Nations, 2015). Education is articulated as astand-alone goal (SDG 4: Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong
learning opportunities for all) with 7 outcome targets and 3 means of implementation (see Table1).
Table 1: Sustainable Development Goal 4
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
4.2 By 2030, ensure that all girls and boys have access to quality early childhood development, care andpre-primary education so that they are ready for primary education
4.3 By 2030, ensure equal access for all women and men to affordable and quality technical, vocational
and tertiary education, including university
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
4.5 By 2030, eliminate gender disparities in education and ensure equal access to all levels of educationand vocational training for the vulnerable, including persons with disabilities, indigenous peoples andchildren in vulnerable situations
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 andsustainable lifestyles, human rights, gender equality, promotion of a culture of peace and nonviolence, global citizenship and appreciation of cultural diversity and of culture’s contribution tosustainable development
4.ABuild and upgrade education facilities that are child, disability and gender sensitive and provide safe,
non-violent, inclusive and effective learning environments for all
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, forenrolment in higher education, including vocational training and information and communications
technology, technical, engineering and scientific programmes, in developed countries and otherdeveloping 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

The principles underlying SDG 4 are deeply rooted in the intrinsic—as opposed to instrumental—
value of education and a humanistic vision of education which UNESCO has championed since
its inception. First of all, education is a fundamental human right. The state bears a duty to ensure
universal access to inclusive and equitable quality education. Secondly, education is a public good
and a shared societal endeavour (UNESCO, 2015). Not only the governments but also civil society,teachers and educators, the private sector, communities, families, youth and children all haveimportant roles in realizing the right to quality education.
Education for all is an essential prerequisite for sustainable development. In addition to literacy
and numeracy, education for today and tomorrow should equip learners with higher order thinkingskills (such as critical thinking skills) and social and emotional skills to engage constructively withthe uncertain and rapidly changing world. It is not sufficient if education is merely adaptive to thechanging societal needs; education needs to be transformative (UNESCO, 2015). Value-based andaction-oriented education—including education for sustainable development (ESD), global
citizenship education (GCED), peace and human rights education, environmental education,
development education, global learning, intercultural education and education for international
understanding and others—is now encapsulated in SDG 4 Target 7 (SDG 4.7).
Promoting peace and sustainable development through education is one of UNESCO’s core
missions and is now enshrined in SDG 4.7 as one of the goals which nations around the globe
aspire to achieve. There is a need to ensure education systems help build peaceful and sustainable
societies. This includes ensuring that education systems help develop knowledge and skills
necessary to foster mutual understanding, respect and care among all people and for the planet weshare, and to engage responsibly and creatively with the changing world. This is critical not only
to achieve SDG 4.7 but also to support the implementation of all 17 SDGs. Education in the 2030
Agenda for Sustainable Development (United Nations, 2015) is not restricted to SDG4. Educationis specifically mentioned in targets of the five goals listed below, but also linked to virtually all of
the other SDGs in one way or another:
Health and Well-being
Target 3.7: By 2030, ensure universal access to sexual and reproductive healthcare
services, including for family planning, information and education, and the integration of
reproductive health into national strategies and programmes
Gender Equality
Target 5.6: Number of countries with laws and regulations that guarantee women aged 1549 years access to sexual and reproductive health care, information and education
Decent Work and Economic GrowthTarget 8.6: By 2020 substantially reduce the proportion of youth not in employment,education or training
Responsible Consumption & Production
Target 12.8: By 2030 ensure that people everywhere have the relevant information andawareness for sustainable development and lifestyles in harmony with nature

Climate Change Mitigation
Target 13.3: Improve education, awareness raising and human and institutional capacity
on climate change mitigation, adaptation, impact reduction, and early warning
Awareness and knowledge about sustainable development is not sufficient to foster competences
required for shaping more peaceful and sustainable societies. There is an increasing consensus on
the critical importance of social and emotional skills (sometimes referred to as “soft skills”), in
addition to cognitive skills (including both the foundational skills of literacy and numeracy andhigher-order thinking skills such as critical thinking). Education for the 21st century shouldcultivate intelligence that integrates reason and emotion.
It is vital to give a central place to strengthening education’s contribution to the fulfilment of
human rights, peace and responsible citizenship from local to global levels. One of the pathways
to foster the knowledge, skills, values and attitudes required by citizens to lead productive lives,
make informed decisions and assume active roles locally and globally in facing and resolving
global challenges is to integrate the principles and values of sustainable development at the heartof the curriculum of core subjects, rather than inserting new thematic content into the alreadyoverburdened curriculum.
The Mahatma Gandhi Institute of Education for Peace and Sustainable Development (MGIEP) isan integral part of UNESCO, and its specialist institute on education for peace, sustainable
development and global citizenship. It calls for a fundamental rethinking of schooling (UNESCOMGIEP, 2017a) and proposes a strategy to integrate education for sustainable development in thetextbooks of core subjects (UNESCO MGIEP 2017b). Calls to gear up schools for the 21st century
are ubiquitous today. Dominant international educational discourse hails the potential of 'the youth
dividend' and digital technology for enhancing growth. Some Asian education systems are held up
as models for an innovation-led utopian future. But across much of Asia, neither the reality ofschooling nor the patterns of development with which it is associated give cause for blithe
optimism. A humanistic vision of education needs to be strongly restated and defended in an era
when educational debate worldwide has come to be framed by a narrowly economistic andinstrumentalist agenda. UNESCO MGIEP (2017a) argues forcefully that conceptions of thefundamental purposes of schooling need to be reconfigured, if the ideals to which the global
community has subscribed are actually to be realized.
References:
UNESCO (2015) Rethinking Education: Towards a Common Global Good? New Delhi, UNESCOMGIEP. http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0023/002325/232555e.pdf
UNESCO (2017) Unpacking Sustainable Development Goal 4 Education 2030: Guide (revisededition). Paris, UNESCO. http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0024/002463/246300E.pdf
UNESCO MGIEP (2017a). Rethinking Schooling for the 21st Century: The State of Education for
Peace,
Sustainable
Development
andGlobalCitizenship.
Paris,UNESCO.
http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0026/002605/260568e.pdf

UNESCO MGIEP (2017b) Textbooks for Sustainable Development: A Guide to Embedding. New
Delhi, UNESCO MGIEP. http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0025/002599/259932e.pdf
United Nations (2015). Transforming our World: The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. A/RES/70/1. New York, United Nations.