The Government of Australia announced additional financial support towards the Commonwealth of Learning (COL) Reaching the Unreached (RtU) project, aimed at providing education and training to 40,000 women and girls in Bangladesh, India and Pakistan. The announcement was made by Australia’s Honourable Minister for International Development and Pacific, Senator the Hon Concetta Fierravanti-Wells, during the Global Citizen Live, an event related to the 2018 Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in London.

The Government of Australia first provided funding for the RtU project in 2016, and it was successfully completed in 2017 (Click here for full report). The project aimed to reach women and girls who were prevented from attending school, by barriers such as early marriage, cultural norms and distance from schools, in remote and disadvantaged communities in the selected countries. It provided education and training in market-demanded skills and connected women and girls to sustainable livelihoods opportunities.

With the additional fund, the project will now reach more women and girls to provide secondary schooling and skills development training through open and distance learning.

Notes to the Editor

The Commonwealth of Learning (COL) is an intergovernmental organisation created by Commonwealth Heads of Government to promote the development and sharing of open learning and distance education knowledge, resources and technologies. Hosted by the Government of Canada and headquartered in Metro Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, COL is the world’s only intergovernmental organisation solely concerned with the promotion and development of distance education and open learning. COL empowers people through learning that leads to economic empowerment, social inclusion and environmental conservation.

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