Latest content: Social development

Tackling preventable diseases, funding universal healthcare and guaranteeing cervical cancer screening for girls are among the topics that will be addressed by Commonwealth ministers at a major health summit.

Twenty-eight young Bangladeshi leaders met in Dhaka to share their vision for building peace in their communities and to learn key skills at the third Faith in the Commonwealth Youth Training of Trainers workshop.

Campaigners from Africa have called for more action to end ‘harmful practices’, such as female genital mutilation (FGM) and child, early and forced marriage (CEFM), which they say remain ‘shamefully widespread’.

Last month’s Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting was a major opportunity for leaders to discuss some of the pressing health challenges facing member states.

A centre to tackle violent extremism in Cameroon has been welcomed by the Commonwealth Secretariat.

The success of the Gold Coast Games that ended last week, and the four-year journey to the next, in Birmingham in 2022, were celebrated at a sports breakfast in London this morning. Commonwealth Secretary-General Patricia Scotland also met with guests over breakfast before travelling to Windsor for the Commonwealth Summit Leaders’ Retreat.

The Second Commonwealth Women’s Forum begins in London on Monday with a call for women’s rights to be firmly on the agenda of leaders when they meet later in the week.

Young leadership, gender empowerment and the future of women in the Commonwealth. Just three of the varied topics discussed at the Women of the World Festival (WOW) in Brisbane, Australia, where Commonwealth Secretary-General was a key speaker.

The debate is the Commonwealth Secretariat’s signature annual event and the first to be held outside London. The inaugural event in 2016 was a tie. It focused on whether government investment should be focused on health outcomes or broader human and social development results.

Trinidad and Tobago has hosted the second Faith in the Commonwealth Youth Training of Trainers workshop, uniting passionate young leaders across the Caribbean in the pursuit of building more cohesive communities.

Ministers say the measurement and evaluation of the contribution of sport, and making it mainstream to national development and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) need to be strengthened. 

Sport helps education, health, gender equality, breaks down barriers and ensures social and economic empowerment. 

Commonwealth Secretary-General Patricia Scotland has met the Bangladesh Youth and Sports Minister Dr Biren Sikder on the margins of the 9th Commonwealth Sports Ministers Meeting at the Gold Coast in Australia.

Sport is set to play a starring role in Australia from next week, with a major Commonwealth ministerial conference taking place the day before the 21st Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast.

The Commonwealth, in partnership with the Permanent Missions of Australia, Malta, Sierra Leone and Vanuatu, held a side event on disability inclusion in the workplace on the margins of the 37th session of the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva.

The former police commissioner of The Bahamas made an impassioned plea for the Commonwealth to support initiatives that will tackle gun crime and violence through-out the Caribbean.

To commemorate International Women’s Day, the Commonwealth’s Gender Section hosted an event at Marlborough House entitled ‘Progress for Women and the Vote in the Commonwealth’.

The Commonwealth Secretariat, the Association of Commonwealth Universities (ACU) and Commonwealth of Learning (COL) have signed a historic partnership agreement to work even closer together to ensure better education for member states.

Almost 480 delegates, from 33 Commonwealth countries and no fewer than 22 ministers

Educational opportunities in Commonwealth countries should be transformed by a new framework being launched at the 20th Conference of Commonwealth Education Ministers (20CCEM) in Nadi, Fiji, 19 -23 February.

Education ministers must ensure “no-one is left behind” when they gather for a major Commonwealth conference next month, former prime minister of New Zealand Helen Clark has said.

Last November Goodenough College and The Royal Commonwealth Society brought together four experts to discuss and debate the role that education can play in putting youth at the forefront of fostering stability, change, and a peaceful future.

Forced labour, child labour and exploitation were all addressed at an event marking International Human Rights Day.