Webinar: Education in prison: innovative experiences in UNESCO Learning Cities

Across the GNLC, many municipalities are demonstrating how learning can transform lives even in highly restricted environments. By offering incarcerated people access to meaningful lifelong learning, these cities support personal development, strengthen employability, and ease social and economic reintegration after release. Such initiatives help reduce recidivism and foster more cohesive, resilient communities. Education is a fundamental human right, and incarceration should never mean exclusion from it. UNESCO Learning Cities have developed a wide range of effective practices to uphold this right. Their programmes include vocational and digital skills training, higher education pathways, arts and cultural activities and prison library services. They often combine these offers with strong partnerships between local governments, civil society and correctional institutions, demonstrating how community driven approaches can create inclusive learning opportunities in even the most challenging contexts. This webinar featured selected examples of these good practices, drawing on a set of case studies from UNESCO Learning Cities that form part of UIL’s online database of prison education initiatives. These documented experiences highlight practical, context sensitive approaches to ensuring access to quality education for incarcerated learners. Agenda Welcome and agenda overview by moderator Moderator: Lisa Krolak, Chief Librarian, UNESCO Institute for Lifelong Learning (UIL) Expert input Priya Joshi, Senior Research and Policy Analyst, Global Education Monitoring (GEM) Report team, UNESCO - "Learning to build just societies: education for prisoners and prison officers” Presentations from UNESCO Learning Cities Clermont-Ferrand, France - Matias Morel and Mickael Foy Toma, Association Albin Ras Al Khaimah, United Arab Emirates - Muhammad Ata, Learning and Development Manager, Al Qasimi Foundation - "Lifelong Learning Inside Prison and Beyond: ERTIQAA” Dakar, Senegal - Mamadou Moustapha Dieng, GNLC focal point for Dakar, Head of the Education Division, City of Dakar - "Une seconde chance par la formation" Q&A and discussion Closing Isabell Kempf, Director, UNESCO Institute for Lifelong Learning (UIL) About the UNESCO Global Network of Learning Cities The UNESCO Global Network of Learning Cities comprises 425 cities from 91 countries which are home to 498 million people. A defining feature of UNESCO learning cities is their ability to connect education, training and cultural institutions while engaging diverse partners, including public-sector representatives, civil society organizations and employers. These cities effectively mobilize resources across sectors to promote inclusive, quality learning at all levels, from basic to higher education. They enhance learning within families and communities, support workplace education, and expand the use of modern learning technologies.   The Global Network of Learning Cities’ activities are an instrument for the implementation of the Marrakech Framework for Action, describing cities as an essential component of learning societies.