98% OF SOCIAL IMPACT TARGETS FOR EDUCATION ARE MISALIGNED WITH WHAT THE WORLD NEEDS
- Aug 12, 2020
- 3 min read
Updated: Nov 18, 2020
Today marks International Youth Day and the opportunity to amplify the engagement of young people as a collective voice for global action. The strength of this voice is wholly reliant on a key ingredient – education. Whilst progress to educate children worldwide has been made, there’s still a way to go. This blog examines the role for business in enabling all young people to get access to education.
“The beautiful thing about learning is nobody can take it away from you.”
Our recent research revealed that businesses' social impact targets are not aligned with what the world actually needs. Targets for the social threshold of education are not set at the scale required to make a difference in the world. We found that just 2.5% of the 240 companies we reviewed had set targets at a scale to ensure everyone meets our basic social thresholds.
As awareness of the financial impacts of human capital grows in 2020, and investors become more focused on the topic, we expect and want to see more companies prioritising their investment in human capital – especially in the way of education. Access to education is key, not just to fuel businesses growth, but to achieve the basic social thresholds needed for humanity to survive.
Although education throughout the world has been increasing over the last century, 14% of the world’s population are unable to read or write. Sub-Saharan Africa remains the most affected region with 202.2 million adults (3% of the world’s population) suffering with illiteracy¹.
Literacy rates around the world in 2018 (World Bank)²
A lack of education makes it incredibly difficult to break the cycle of poverty. Children from low income families are more likely to have a decreased school readiness³ and are more likely to drop out of school. In a USA study, students from families with the lowest 20% of income, were five times more likely to leave high school than students who came from high-income families⁴. Lack of an education is a key factor in livelong poverty, and consequently these people will continue to be left behind.
An education impacts every aspect of life, from health and sex education, to language and religion. Consequently, people who have less education are more likely to suffer from a variety of adverse health outcomes as well as being less likely find a job and earn a living wage⁵.
ARTICLE 13 VIEWPOINT
So, what is the implication for businesses? In a macro sense, how can an economy expect its productivity to rise without skilled workers, and how are countries supposed to develop sustainably if the people are not empowered with the skills to do so.
Businesses report that they struggle to recruit school and college leavers with the essential skills needed for work⁶. If companies are unable to hire and retain enough employees with the skills to meet current demand, they might need to redeploy existing personnel, increase reliance on subcontractors or increase employee compensation levels. The knowledge and skills of workers available in the labour supply is a key factor for both business and economic growth⁷.
What can businesses do?
*Create schemes to help, for example coding courses, CV writing and interview skills
*Support women and girls, for example in STEM areas
*Donate to charities with specific literacy programmes such as Save the Children⁸
*Leave no-one behind – create time bound targets that can impact the global population beyond your company.
Are you on board for providing education to your employees and the wider society?
If you are interested in assessing the impact you could, or do, make on social thresholds please contact us (https://www.article13.com/contact).
Further reading:
International Youth Day https://www.un.org/sites/un2.un.org/files/articlefile/iyd2020-concept-note-1.pdf
https://idela-network.org/
http://uis.unesco.org/apps/visualisations/no-girl-left-behind/
References:
[1] http://uis.unesco.org/en/topic/literacy
[2] https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SE.ADT.LITR.ZS?end=2018&start=2018&view=map
[3] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2528798/
[4] https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SE.ADT.LITR.ZS?end=2018&start=2018&view=map
[5] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2528798/
[6] https://www.apa.org/pi/ses/resources/indicator/2013/05/poverty-dropouts
[7] https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2012-13463-000
[8] https://www.savethechildren.org.uk/what-we-do/education
I appreciate tools focused on transparency. calculadora de finiquito gives users a stronger sense of what to expect financially. calculadora de finiquito can help reduce misunderstandings and make conversations with employers more productive and balanced overall.
The findings in this article are a sobering wake-up call for corporate social responsibility, highlighting a profound disconnect between superficial educational initiatives and the systemic changes required to drive real global impact. For companies to truly move beyond "performative" targets, social impact must be treated with the same strategic rigor and accountability that the easyJet board of directors applies to operational efficiency and long-term sustainability. Without aligning corporate goals with the actual needs of underserved communities, education programs risk becoming mere branding exercises rather than catalysts for genuine social mobility and progress.
It’s eye-opening to see that 98% of social impact targets in education are missing the mark, as it highlights a major disconnect between corporate "feel-good" projects and the actual systemic barriers students face. For a company to truly make a difference, social initiatives can't just be a side hustle for the PR department; they have to be woven into the core business strategy. When a brand focuses on genuine, needs-based intervention rather than just hitting arbitrary KPIs, it strengthens the unilever competitive advantage by building deep-rooted community trust and a more capable future talent pool. We need to stop rewarding companies for simply showing up and start demanding they align their resources with what the world actually requires for sustainable…
Discussing mini circular saw applications helps learners see how compact tools simplify construction tasks. The College of Contract Management provides industry-oriented programmes for skill advancement. Their courses combine theoretical understanding with practical context. Many have built stronger professional foundations after completing their studies.
In examining executive-level competencies, the cmi level 7 strategic management and leadership pathway often stands out for its analytical focus. The College of Contract Management presents structured learning supported by practical examples. Decision-making frameworks are tested against real organisational challenges. This deepens understanding beyond surface-level strategy.