b'In the SpotlightSDG4 & the 2030 Agenda >>> environments that prevent women and girls from The importance and value of SDG 4 ensure inclusiveachieving their fullest potential. As well as structural and equitable quality education and promote lifelongchallenges, there can be individualised barriers to learning opportunities for all, strikeseducation such as school fees, safe transportation and uniform costs, early pregnancy, or being kept home to the heart of SIs mission and many SI projects useto work in a family business. From evidence gathered education and vocational skills training as a criticalthrough SI projects, investing in girls and womens cross-cutting mechanism to unlock the potential ofeducation and skills training, needs to be seen as equally women and girls. important as investing in the education of men and boys, policies and actions must directly tackle situations that Education helps break the cycle of poverty: educatedcontribute to unequal outcomes.women are less likely to marry early and against theirCommitments on gender equality are not new, but the will; less likely to die in childbirth; more likely to haveagreement of the 2030 Agenda and the SDGs in 2015 healthy babies; and are more likely to send their childrenmarked a global agreement that gender is a cross-cutting to school. Tackling adult illiteracy and promotingdevelopment issue, and that gender mainstreaming employable skills, and facilitating womens inclusionis a means critical policy measure and means of in sustainable economies, will empower them withinimplementation for countries who want to achieve their their communities and ensure better outcomes forfull development potential. For SDG4 to be achieved, women and their families. By educating, empoweringthere must be gender equal access to education. Women and enabling women and girls, SI understands educationand girls need to be agents and participants, not just as both an intrinsic right and a critical lever to reachingrecipients, of sustainable development if the ambitions of development objectives. the 2030 Agenda are to be achieved. The SDGs are agreed to be interconnected and indivisible, hence SI works to However, poverty and economic disenfranchisementimplement all 17 SDGs and targets. It is impossible to are not the only outcomes of a lack of education, theyaddress one goal without addressing others - gender arealsosignificantfactorsinpreventingaccessto equality cuts across all of the SDGs, and gender education for women and girls. Policies and actionsmainstreaming and gender budgeting are essential taken to improve this access must address economicmeasures to achieve the 2030 Agenda. Education barriers to education at all levels. Discrimination,remains one of many sectors where there must be gender stereotypes, child labour, child marriage,increased political will to make the changes needed so inadequate sanitation and violence in schools, all create23 that no one is left behind.'