Category: Social Progress

Recognising learning in volunteering for development

by Chris Millora | Dec 5, 2025 | Social Progress

On 5th December, the United Nations marked 2026 as the International Volunteer Year – a celebration recognising the vital role volunteers play in achieving sustainable development. For many of us who volunteer, or whose lives have been touched by volunteers, we know that volunteer action is present everywhere and in… Read More

Nomophobia and implications for education: The unspoken fear of being disconnected from mobile phones

by Kadija Gul | Dec 2, 2025 | Learning, Social Progress

With the increasing use of mobile phones and the growing amount of time spent on scrolling through social media posts, most of us remain unaware of its consequences for our physical, mental and emotional wellbeing. Educators are experiencing a novel anxiety among students, first reported in UK in 2008 known… Read More

If not today, it will be tomorrow: the significant role of education in promoting active ageing

by Maria del Consuelo Velázquez Alva and Ricardo Sabates | Feb 17, 2025 | Learning, Social Progress

During the past decades, the life expectancy of people living in most regions of the world has increased significantly because of improvements in living conditions, socio-economic development, advances in medicine and more progressive in public health policies. Read More

Scalability of educational innovations in West Africa: The role of civil society organisations

by Leslie Casely-Hayford, Ricardo Sabates, Dr Adedeji and Fatu Yumkella | Jan 9, 2025 | Social Progress

Civil society and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) have been central in supporting education for some of the most disadvantaged children in Sub-Saharan Africa. Read More

Missing futures: How the systematic undermining of children’s rights in Gaza impacts their ability to learn now and, in the future

by Emma Wagner | Dec 9, 2024 | Learning, Social Progress

The ongoing conflict in Gaza, occupied Palestinian territory, has inflicted unprecedented and potentially irreversible harm on Palestinian children, with consequences that threaten not only their individual futures but the very fabric of Palestinian society for generations to come. Read More

Career talks: Crucial step in shaping the aspirations of youth in Uganda’s secondary schools

by Grace Mwaura and Maud Seghers | Nov 8, 2023 | 2023 UKIFET Conference, Skills, Social Progress

Thousands of Ugandan youth join secondary education every school year, most of them hoping to find meaningful work after school. There is, however, a glaring gap between these employment preferences and the reality of the world of work – a gap that sets young people up for particularly troublesome school-to-work… Read More

Speaking Up for Students at the Transforming Education Summit

by Shruti Belitkar | Nov 14, 2022 | Learning, Social Progress

I never imagined speaking at the United Nations. This opportunity was huge and I could not be any more grateful to all my teachers and mentors who believed in me and encouraged me to speak at the 2022 Transforming Education Summit (TES). While it was a moment of pride and… Read More

150 years of Education for All on the Isle of Man and the relevance for international education today

by Angela Little | Jun 22, 2022 | Learning, Social Progress

2022 marks the 150th anniversary of the 1872 Isle of Man Act for Public Elementary Education, or Education for All (EFA). What is the relevance of this for education and international development today? The challenges of EFA are faced by every country in the world, and not simply those described… Read More

Reimagining, reorienting and redistributing the UKFIET Conference

by Susy Ndaruhutse, Ruth Naylor and Moses Oketch | May 20, 2021 | Social Progress

This article was written by Susy Ndaruhutse, Chair of UKFIET Trustees; Dr Ruth Naylor, Conference Chair; and Professor Moses Oketch, Deputy Conference Chair. Here, they reflect...

Eliminating Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) by 2030: the scale of the task and why International Day of Zero Tolerance for FGM is so important

by Geraldine Hutchinson | Feb 5, 2021 | Girls' Education, Social Progress

This blog was written by Dr Geraldine Hutchinson FRSA, non-executive director and trustee of multi-academy trusts and charities, including the Freedom Charity. Geraldine has...

Ethics in education: Do global results frameworks advance or impede progress towards inclusive education goals?

by Jerry Mindes | Dec 10, 2020 | Social Progress

This article was written by Jerry Mindes, who leads the Secretariat of the Inclusive Education Collaborative, an influencing platform established earlier this year, and is the...

Troubling Muslim Youth Identities: nation, religion and gender

by UKFIET | May 21, 2018 | Social Progress

Book by Máiréad Dunne, Naureen Durrani, Kathleen Fincham and Barbara Crossouard 2017, London, Palgrave Macmillan Provoked by contemporary concerns about youth alienation and...