Education as a Transformational Lever for Sustainable Development: NORRAG’s Global Exhibition

NORRAG’s travelling exhibition “Education and the SDGs” showcases a powerful message: sustainable development is impossible without strong, equitable education systems. The exhibition illustrates how SDG 4 underpins progress across the entire 2030 Agenda. Using research insights to create accessible visuals, the panels reveal how education drives advances in health, gender equality, environmental stewardship, decent work, peacebuilding, and more. By making these connections visible to broad public audiences, the exhibition reframes education as an essential global investment rather than a sectoral concern.

Central to the exhibition is the idea that education is a transformational lever. As highlighted across NORRAG’s work, education expands people’s capabilities, strengthens social cohesion, and enables inclusive economic and political participation. Through the companion portal, and audio and video guides, visitors can explore concrete evidence on how education contributes to every SDG, using this evidence to demonstrate why education must be prioritized in policy agendas and financing strategies if countries are to accelerate progress toward the SDGs.

Another defining feature of the exhibition is its emphasis on international cooperation and under-represented expertise. NORRAG collaborated with dozens of actors — UN agencies, NGOs, academic institutions, civil society organizations to show how research and policy can be translated into real-world impact. The exhibition has traveled through key meetings in 2025 (Young Activists Summit and UN HRC Social Forum at the Palais des Nations, Geneva, UKFIET, Oxford, UNGA, New York, and Salzburg Global, among others), reinforcing the idea that education is not just a standalone goal — it’s the connective tissue linking efforts to reduce poverty, enable gender equality, foster climate action, and build peaceful, inclusive societies. 

NORRAG’s partnerships with global research networks, civil society, and international organizations foreground expertise often under-represented in global debates, particularly from the Global South. By translating research into an engaging public format, the exhibition strengthens the global case for investing in education and highlights the collective action needed to build just, inclusive, and sustainable futures. It stands as both a knowledge platform and a call to action: achieving the SDGs requires cooperation at all levels that puts education at the centre of global development efforts.