The guiding principle of the 2030 Agenda is to enable people around the world to live in dignity while at the same time preserving the natural foundations of life in the long term. This includes economic, ecological and social aspects. The 2030 Agenda emphasizes the shared responsibility of all stakeholders: politics, business, science, civil society - and every single person.
The Werner Erkes Foundation has set itself the goal of promoting the sustainability goal of HIGH QUALITY EDUCATION in particular with its initiative. While most children and young people in Germany go to school every week, around one in six children worldwide is unable to attend school. For the children concerned, this means that they have little knowledge and often do not learn to read, write or do arithmetic. As a result, they can only do a low-skilled job later on and often earn very little money.
Children living in poverty in particular are unable to go to school because they lack the money for lessons and school materials. These children go to work at an early age to support their families. Sometimes there is no school nearby.

This also makes it difficult for them to escape poverty. They lack important qualifications and skills. The low level of education of a population is not only a problem for the people concerned, but also for the country as a whole: if there are no educated and qualified specialists in a country, it can hardly develop further and achieve sustainable economic growth on its own.
Even if many children are able to go to school, more than half of them still cannot read or do maths properly. This is often due to the fact that schools and teachers are poorly equipped. While schools in Germany are increasingly using computers and technology, almost half of schools south of the Sahara have no access to drinking water, electricity, computers or the internet. There is also a lack of qualified teachers to impart knowledge to the pupils.