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International Day of Education 2021

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International Day of Education 2021

Education has the power to change lives. Quality education and learning opportunities throughout life are essential for societies to break poverty cycles or inequality which leave millions of children, young people and adults behind. In addition, as we strive to create a net-zero future through the energy transition and enabling sustainable infrastructure, we know that education is the foundation that will help unlock solutions to the world’s most critical challenges today and tomorrow.

24 January 2021, marks the third International Day of Education a celebration of the role of education for peace and development. As a member of the United Nations Global Compact, we are proud to support the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals; Goal 4 being one of which is to ensure inclusive and quality education for all and promote lifelong learning. As part of our commitment to help advance this goal, we united our global employees behind one single cause. We believe by aligning our efforts we can continue to make significant impact across the communities where we operate.

We reached our Wood Global Cause of education by asking our employees across the globe to vote on the cause that mattered most – with 40% selecting education. To continue the momentum throughout 2020, we ran our second Challenge on Education. Open to all employees, applications were made for seed funding from the community investment budget to support an educational activity.

31

applications supported

£218,000+

seed funding awarded

Across

10 countries

From supporting girls’ education in Iraq, and Indigenous communities in Canada and Australia, to breaking down the barriers to accessing the fundamental right to education for all, we have an exciting plan of action ahead.

We want to share a few notable projects to highlight their significant contribution towards education in the community. We will continue to support these projects in 2021 and thank each member of Team Wood for their contribution:

The Princes Trust

As the UK’s leading youth charity supporting disadvantaged 11 to 30-year-olds who are unemployed or struggling at school and at risk of exclusion, Wood has become a patron of the Princes Trust, committing to a £100,000 funding partnership to support the work of the trust over the next four years.

By becoming a Patron of the Prince’s Trust, we are committed to supporting young people’s participation in the Trust’s education programmes, which aim to make a significant difference to the lives of disadvantaged young people and improve the future prospects of young people who face significant barriers to success.

Chosen as one of 17 applications supported in our first Challenge in 2019, an internal working group has been set up to promote the Trust’s activities and potential engagement opportunities. In 2020, in light of the global pandemic, efforts focused on delivering fundraising support for the Prince’s Trust with employees across the UK taking part in the virtual ‘Palace to Palace’ walk/cycle challenge. Wood colleagues fundraised £7,866.25 in to support the cause, allowing The Princes Trust the ability to give 94 unemployed young people access to support so they can re-engage in the community and develop critical employability skills for the future.

Indigenous communities

Indigenous peoples continue to face barriers to employment and opportunity. Wood aims to be a part of the change through a partnership with Indspire, a national indigenous registered charity that invests in the education of indigenous people for the long-term benefit of these individuals, their families and communities, and Canada.

We have also partnered with Role Models and Leaders Australia since 2016 to support their Girls Academy program across 12 sites across Australia. The Girls Academy offers a rich and holistic program to support school aged Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander girls. This includes mentoring support, cultural connections, health and wellbeing, physical activity, career development and community engagement/ leadership.

Salam Balaak Trust

Our team in India is supporting under privileged students, in association with this key NGO, to focus on education and basic amenities. The goals around this project are expanding and improving comprehensive early childhood care in India and providing access to basic infrastructure in schools in terms of drinking water, sanitation and hygiene.

Society of Women Engineers, Detroit Section

Team Wood in Novi, Michigan gained support from our 2019 challenge to support the Society of Women Engineers - Detroit Section and their work to support and inspire women to achieve as engineers, scientists and as leaders. With several annual events that promote the pursuit of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) among young girls in middle and high school education, the organisations events help introduce young girls to STEM, provide knowledge about possible STEM careers, career paths and provide resources for support.

With many events postponed in 2020, additional funding through our latest challenge will go further to support the great work of this organisation and provide volunteer opportunities for Team Wood.