Access to Education & Training

Sarah Simon

11 min Read Time | September 16th 2021

Key Takeaways

1

The topic deals with any type of project/activity, with a proven DIRECT impact on communities, pertaining to the sphere of education and training.

2

The core focus should be on how activities are promoting, fostering, and developing the community’s living standards.

3

This topic covers the positive & direct impact only in relation to the company's core business activities.

What is it?

Access to Education & Training is a fundamental aspect of an individual’s social, economic stability. It is closely interrelated with a person’s rights and well-being. The “differences in training levels is a significant factor that separates developed and developing countries.

Education and training are crucial factors boosting health and productivity. Disadvantaged groups and/or marginalized ones have a harder time devoting/accessing education to boost one’s possibilities. Here, companies can bridge the gap by providing highly-skilled training that will help anyone acquire more qualifying skills and knowledge that can be used to ameliorate the living standard.

Time has proven that companies are required not only to market their products and services but also to market themselves to maintain and further develop a competitive edge. By being socially responsible, companies manage to acquire more visibility, reputation with the public and potential investors.

Being civic and socially responsible can be the driving force for local development (LD). LD is a social science theory based on “the identification and use of the resources and endogenous potentialities of a community, neighborhood, city, municipality or equivalent.” Both economic and non-economic factors can influence LD.

Non-economic factors include: “social, cultural, historical, institutional, and geographical aspects.” In other words, encouraging local education & culture, youth activities, and helping locals tackle community problems.

Sources

https://www.investopedia.com/articles/economics/09/education-training-advantages.asp
https://learningandwork.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/Barriers-to-learning-for-disadvantaged-groups.pdf
https://nesetweb.eu/en/about-us/policy-themes/vulnerable-groups-in-education-and-training/
https://www.referenceforbusiness.com/small/Bo-Co/Community-Relations.html
https://www.prmrinc.net/blog/how-important-is-community-relations-to-a-company
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...

Sdg4

SDG choice

✅ SDGs:

SDG 4:

  • Software & IT Services
  • Telecommunication Services

SDG 10:

  • Hardware
  • Professional & Commercial Services

✅ Impact Category: Taxes & Philanthropy

✅ ILG: Basic Needs

Data Points & Units

Points to consider:

  • How access to education can empower and improve people’s life

  • What kind of education (STEM? Digital? Financial?) are they providing and why is that creating impact

  • How many people were benefited?

  • What people were assisted? In what sense are they underserved? (Remote locations? Low-income?)

  • What is the impact of the education? Increased job opportunities? Internships?

  • How long-lasting and profound is the impact of the access to these products (scale and irremediability)?

Some definitions:

  • Disclosed: When the data is directly disclosed by the company, i.e., we did not do any calculations/estimations to obtain the figure.

  • Estimated: When we have calculated the figure.

  • Complete: When the data represents 100% of the company’s operations.

  • Partial: When the data is given for only a portion of its operations (not 100%).

Impact assessment

The topic addresses a company’s ability to ensure broad access to education and training in terms of skills, specifically in the context of underserved population groups.


INTRODUCTION:

The intro shall set the stage for the reader:

  • Is it about financial literacy? STEM education? Acquiring specific skills for being more productive or being more employable?

  • Is it about other types of education and training?

  • What is the relevance of this topic?

  • What are the positive aspects of it?

  • How does access to the specific type of education & training boost one's well-being and access to resources?


THE BODY:

The body shall explore the direct company's action/project/program, delineating:

  • Reach (geographical)

  • Purpose (who is the beneficiary)

  • What has been done - discuss each impactful initiative individually*

  • Since when & for how long in certain cases (irremediability)

  • How many people were actually reached

  • Do we have any tangible outcomes? (Ex: reduced poverty in one area, increased employment, etc.)


*Remember to be as granular as possible by focusing on one single issue, one or two projects, or initiatives, and provide as much depth as you can about it with facts and figures.

Avoid analysing peripheral educational and training efforts unrelated to the company's core business activities.

To cover a topic to its fullest potential, it would be ideal for assessing the impact this has had on children, individuals, and other groups as much as possible.

For instance:

  • Did they pursue higher education?

  • Get employed in relevant fields?

  • Were their wages higher than the median income?

  • Did their quality of life increase?

  • Did they get more access to resources?

  • Did they experience more security?


Caution: While researching this topic, please keep in mind the general standards we have set for the broader theme of Philanthropy/Donations if the latter are involved. Please check the standards here.

Threshold: for the impact to be considered significant, the number of people benefiting from education and training must amount to a minimum of 100,000 over the past 2-3 years.

Industry-specific examples: The topic addresses a company's ability to ensure broad access to education and training, specifically in the context of underserved population groups, in terms of -

Financials: skills and financial literacy.

Healthcare: healthcare education(such as STEM and in laboratories) and training by healthcare workers.

Hardware: products sold, like calculators and others, enhancing education and skills. Note that this is from the final products only (not the software).

Software & IT Services: digital skills such as cybersecurity, AI, cloud computing, design thinking, and others.

Internet Media & Services: products and services such as YouTube act as educational and training tools.

Note: this is part of the topic 'Access to (Accurate) Information'

CONCLUSION:

The conclusion shall wrap up the above discussion keeping the most salient information for the reader to correctly grasp the impact.



To describe the severity of the impact, take into account:

1/ The scale of the impact

  • Is the well-being of the community/people profoundly affected, or does the issue just marginally impact them? How so?

  • Are the changes brought by the company profoundly changing society or the planet? How is the group coping with the external impact brought upon them?

2/ The scope of the impact

  • Is the impact local, national, or global?

  • How many individuals are affected by this activity?

3/ The irremediability of the impact

  • How long would the impact described last for? Months? Years? Decades?

  • How reversible is the impact described in the impact analysis? Can it be easily stopped/extended?

Refresh

1. Check if the assigned analysis has more recent data (we require the latest data available)

    NO: do not refresh the analysis and please report it

    YES: Move to step 2

    2. Update the analysis following our Important Metrics & Standards 

    3. Check the introduction: Is it up to standard? Are sources working? Is data current and relevant?

    YES: do not refresh the introduction

    NO: move to step 4

    4. Fix the introduction following our Standards (section 2 of the presentation)

    5. Fix the Headline

    6. Fix the Conclusion 

    7. Add/Update the data points as per the available data

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