Wikimedia Foundation joins coalition to promote transversal skills for the 21st century

Washington, D.C. – The Wikimedia Foundation, the nonprofit that operates Wikipedia, has joined the Inter-American Development Bank's (IDB) Coalition for Transversal Skills in the 21st Century, centered on ensuring inclusion, equity, and quality education in Latin American and Caribbean countries.

The Coalition is a multi-sector partnership to promote the development and strengthening of transversal skills, also called 21st century skills, in Latin America and the Caribbean. It was established in October 2019 and is led by the IDB. The Coalition is an open partnership, and the IDB invites interested public and private organizations to join the initiative and help lead global, transformative efforts to leverage technology as a tool to transform the lives of individuals across the region. 

As the nonprofit that operates the world’s largest, free, collaborative encyclopedia, the Wikimedia Foundation has an enduring commitment to knowledge and helps support learning worldwide through Wikipedia and other free knowledge projects.

“The Wikimedia Foundation and IDB share a mission of promoting equity and inclusion in education, and we’re eager to collaborate on new ways to leverage Wikimedia projects to advance this goal,” said Nichole Saad, Senior Program Manager for education at the Wikimedia Foundation. 

As part of its membership in the Coalition, the Wikimedia Foundation will collaborate with IDB and other partners on new ways to leverage Wikimedia projects to advance equity and inclusion in education.This collective action can help further build bridges between the education sector in the region and the Wikimedia movement by supporting the practice and development of 21st century skills. 

The Coalition is within the framework of the 21st Century Skills Initiative promoted by IDB. This initiative responds to the new challenges faced by students in the 21st century, shaped by an extremely dynamic environment with a changing labor market and increasingly diverse societies. Including the addition of the Wikimedia Foundation,  nearly 30 public and private sector partners have joined the Coalition: Ashoka, CLOO Behavioral Insights Unit, D2L, Education Above All, Empresarios por la Educación-Colombia, Forge, Fundación Danilo Perez, Fundación F.C. Barcelona, Fundación Gratitud, Fundación Scholas Ocurrentes, Google, GRAMMY Music Education Coalition, Holberton School, iNNpulsa, ISTE, Minerva, REDUCA, Skills Agility Lab, SKT Telecom, Think Equal, TUMO Center for Creative Technologies, Virtual Educa, Fundación Real Madrid, MEDUCA, Laboratoria, Fundación Trilema, Fundación Santillana and the Wikimedia Foundation.

One of the Coalition's concrete actions in response to COVID-19 is the creation of a virtual space in which its members are sharing information, ideas, and knowledge through a series of blogs about the importance of education and #skills21 in the context of the pandemic. The Wikimedia Foundation will contribute to this effort by sharing best practices in digital literacy skills and critical thinking. In light of COVID-19, the Wikimedia Foundation has also made free resources available for at-home learners to use Wikipedia and other Wikimedia projects in their digital learning, including through lesson plans, “#EduWiki Challenge” exercises, and worksheet templates.

To learn more about the coalition, visit clic-habilidades.iadb.org.