Design for Good to highlight progress of hundreds of creatives advancing open-source innovations for UN SDG 4: Quality Education

London (12 June 2025) – Design for Good will celebrate 26 June the progress of innovation projects from its global alliance working together to advance United Nations Sustainable Development Goal (UN SDG) 4: Quality Education. Setting the stage for future collaborations, the charity will announce its impact to date and the next SDG focus at the event.

“Together, our global alliance is transforming today’s educational challenges into lifelong learning opportunities for all,” said Cecilia Brenner, Managing Director, Design for Good. “Not only are we designing open-source products and services to improve quality education, we are redefining what it truly means to design for learning. At every stage, we’re focused on ensuring real learning happens, so that the impact is not only measurable, but lasting.”

The alliance is made up of hundreds of designers from industry-leading companies collaborating with NGOs and affected communities around the world. Preliminary educational innovations include an interactive board game on healthy hygiene, an online game that helps youth identify misinformation on social media and the news, lesson plans for teachers to educate children and their parents on water conservation, and upskilling out-of-work young adults. These innovations are collectively on track for implementation and estimated to provide quality education to hundreds of thousands of people, including children, youth, teachers, and affected communities, by the end of 2028.

"The WASH Foundation is beyond grateful to Design for Good for coordinating the opportunity to receive assistance from such a skilled and knowledgeable team of designers who are assisting us in advancing our WASH education curriculum into the digital age, enabling us to improve health among more students across the globe," said Steffani Fields, Executive Director of The WASH Foundation, which has participated in two rounds of Design for Good cycles.

Also being recognised during the event are the nearly 300 designers who received Royal College of Art x Design for Good Academy certificates in this year’s cohort. Participating global alliance members are invited to the training to unlock their full potential in designing for social and environmental impact.

"When we conceived Design for Good in 2022, our goal was to demonstrate the power of design to tackle the grandest of challenges and deliver real world impact. This demands new models of innovation that are interdisciplinary, research led, life centred, and deliver solutions that are socially, environmentally, and economically sustainable,” said Dr Nick de Leon, Executive Education and Knowledge Exchange Lead, Royal College of Art, and Design for Good co-founder. “This event not only recognises the hundreds of thousands of lives improved by Design for Good to date, but it also celebrates the success of hundreds of graduating creatives from the RCA x Design for Good Academy who have helped contribute to these remarkable achievements and will take these learnings into future work."

The event will also highlight results of the first cycle, focused on SDG 6: Clean Water and Sanitation, through impact stories, and an experience area. Spotlighted projects facilitated access to home toilets to 1,800 households, educated 5,800 on menstrual and hygiene health, and influenced 180,000 through changed water consumption behaviour. Building on the momentum of the first two cycles, Design for Good will announce the focus of the next cycle during the celebration.