The goal of SDG-4 is to achieve inclusive and quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all. By 2030, gender disparities in education should finally be eliminated, and equal access to all levels of education should be ensured for both boys and girls. Affordable and quality technical, vocational and tertiary education, including university, should be accessible for really everybody, including persons with disabilities.

Wikimedia's vision is an open and informed knowledge society. In order to take this one step closer, the foundation started to look for exciting ideas and approaches they can support with their brand new UNLOCK Accelerator program.

Cash-based assistance is a modality for relief at the household level, considering its advantages in terms of respect of preventative measures for Covid-19 compared with in-kind relief distributions. In light of the increasing use of cash-based assistance, individuals need to be empowered on how to manage and effectively utilize monthly cash-based transfers to meet their urgent food and nutrition needs.

The Millennium Development Goal 5 of reducing maternal mortality worldwide by 75 % between 1990 and 2015, unfortunately, could not be reached. Although progress has been made, in 2015 about 303.000 women worldwide died from complications related to pregnancy or childbirth. This means 830 women died every day.

We are very pleased to announce that we are one of 9 winners of the #SmartDevelopmentHack! With #SmartDevelopmentHack the German Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) called for innovative digital solutions to tackle the challenges caused by the coronavirus outbreak in low- and middle-income countries. Under the patronage of the BMZ together with the Directorate-General International Cooperation and Development from the EU Commission, other EU member states, tech-companies and civil society,  the global hackathon was launched as part of the upcoming German Council Presidency.

Founded in 1990 in Bolivia, Pro Mujer has become one of Latin America’s leading organizations committed to the empowerment of women. Their integrated approach offers access to finance, health and educational services, thus supporting their clients by creating opportunities and helping them start and grow their own businesses. Pro Mujer is also focusing on issues like gender-based violence and teen pregnancy and migration crises and advancing health care for women by raising awareness and ensuring more women have access to preventive and treatment care.

When it comes to health promotion and disease prevention, developing countries face a challenging situation. Given the high level of illiteracy of their populations, the lack of infrastructure and trained manpower, interventions of all kind are hard to deliver. Even in countries where the majority of the population lives in rural areas, the available health resources are usually concentrated in the cities. Most developing countries also have difficulties with transport and communication, especially in rural and remote areas.

What would you consider the most significant parts to create a healthier planet and to help reverse climate change? Recycling of plastic waste? Increasing our reliance on sustainable energies? Reducing the impact of industrial agriculture? All well and good, but don’t miss one of the most important keys to effective change: women!

The coronavirus affects all of our lives. But in the poorest countries it will be devastating. Especially for women and girls, who will be on the frontlines of the response.

This February we kicked off our latest project in the Masaya region of Nicaragua. Our partner organization for this project is Pro Mujer, one of the largest women's organizations in Latin America. This non-profit organization offers women financial inclusion, health and education programs. Since its foundation in 1990, Pro Mujer has reached more than 2 million women in the region.