Promoting early interest in STEM and role identification for girls, is of urgent interest for many global initiatives (e.g. Organization for Women in Science in the Developing World, 2021). Increasing proportions of girls and women studying and working in STEM would contribute not only to scientific development but to more equitable and sustainable societies, including gendered economic outcomes.

In this issue of the UNESCO Institute for Lifelong Learning Bulletin you will find information about this year’s International Literacy Day, updates on the fifth International Conference on Learning Cities, multimedia stories about learning cities’ responses to COVID-19, the latest edition of the International Review of Education – Journal of Lifelong Learning, and much more.