How does adult education relate to the Sustainable Development Goals? In many ways, new EAEA background paper discovers.
28.09.2018

New EAEA background paper on adult education and sustainability

Adult education contributes to and promotes many of the Sustainable Development Goals. New EAEA background paper takes a closer look at the interlinkages between adult education and sustainability.

Adult education, especially non-formal adult education, contributes to the individual as well as collective development of societies in many ways. Besides providing skills and competences, adult education contributes to social inclusion and the acquisition of life skills. The EAEA background paper “Adult Education and Sustainability” focuses on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and shares the linkages between then and adult education.

The paper examines how adult education contributes to the SDGs as well as reflects on the challenges faced by non-formal adult education and the measures needed to go from theory to concrete actions.

Read the backround paper Adult Education and Sustainability and see also our previous statements.

Text: EAEAPhotos: United Nations

19.01.2026 Project Design Training

Project design training 2026: Inclusion, life skills, and community at the forefront

Between 12–16 January 2026, EAEA organised its third edition of Project Design Training in Brussels, on how to write and conceptualise EU-funded projects in the field of Adult Learning and Education (ALE). This year’s edition highlighted the growing focus of the ALE sector on inclusion, life skills and community-building.

18.01.2026 advocacy

Call for Action: Towards a rights-based, human- and planet-centered ALE in times of digitalisation and AI

The European Association for the Education of Adults has joined the Call for Action: Towards a Rights-Based, Human- and Planet-Centered Youth and Adult Learning and Education (ALE) in Times of Digitalisation and AI, together with ASPBAE, DVV International and ICAE, to reaffirm the central role of adult learning in shaping a fair, democratic and inclusive digital transformation.

15.01.2026 advocacy

Upskilling the agrifood sector for the right to food – a call to action

On January 7, the European Citizens’ Initiative “Food is a Human Right for All! Guaranteeing healthy, just and sustainable food systems” from Good Food 4 All started the collection of signatures. The initiative calls for the systematic guarantee of the right to food to promote healthy, just, humane, and sustainable food systems for present and future generations