Collecting ‘good news’. It doesn’t get better than that.

Africa

Senegal

The state-funded Mariama Bâ boarding school on Gorée Island selects just 35 girls annually from across Senegal on academic merit. AP reported this week on current students receiving rigorous academics, mentoring and leadership training, including girls from communities where expectations can still limit their educational ambitions.

South Africa

South Africa’s TransformHer Living Lab has been training women in entrepreneurship and business development. Participants have received practical instruction in building sustainable businesses as well as financial skills, resilience and confidence; Universities South Africa reported on the latest group on August 14.

Nigeria

A new creative-skills initiative in Lagos is providing practical training in filmmaking, photography, video editing, graphic design, sound production and digital content creation. Filmmaker Ayo Owolabi is also developing a film addressing discrimination against people with albinism and a documentary about Abeokuta’s street-football culture.

Tanzania

More than 7.46 million Tanzanians received legal-aid services between July 2025 and March 2026, through public outreach, community programs, legal-aid clinics and services in prisons. The expansion has increased access to legal help for people who otherwise might not be able to obtain it.

South Africa

Marlene Le Roux, who contracted polio as an infant, is CEO of Artscape Theatre Centre in Cape Town and has spent decades advocating for disability rights and greater inclusion in South African cultural life. A new profile published this week documents her path from growing up during apartheid to leading one of the country’s major performing-arts institutions.

Asia

India

Pranav Ilango has received financial aid worth approximately ₹3.55 crore to cover the full cost of four years at Brown University in the United States. The teenager will be the first member of his family to study abroad and plans to study applied mathematics and public health.

In Pune, Kaushaliya, 42, and Shrikant Kamble, 25, took very different routes out of limited educational opportunities. Kaushaliya had worked as domestic help and Shrikant had left school; after adult education, vocational training, career counseling and entrepreneurship support, both built businesses of their own. Their stories were reported August 11.

Bangladesh

Bangladesh’s Directorate of Secondary and Higher Education, with UNESCO support, has published a national assessment of health and well-being in secondary schools. The study identifies existing healthy practices as well as areas for improvement in health education, teacher preparation, school health services and coordination.

China

A forum held in Qinghai today brought scholars and cultural specialists together to study and preserve Kunlun culture, whose mythology, literature and traditions have influenced Chinese civilization for centuries. The program includes work on preserving cultural heritage and finding ways to introduce it to younger generations.

Vietnam

The first computer-based Vietnamese-language proficiency examination held outside Vietnam has taken place, creating another route for overseas Vietnamese and international learners to formally demonstrate their language skills. The initiative also supports Vietnamese-language education among communities living abroad.

Japan

A community program in Japan is using basketball as a language classroom for children with foreign roots. Children learn Japanese vocabulary and communication while playing, giving them opportunities to practice the language naturally with teammates while becoming part of a local community.

Japan’s education ministry is holding its 12th International Baccalaureate symposium on August 23, with the program centered on inquiry-based learning. Teachers from kindergarten through high school will share classroom methods, while former IB students will participate in discussions about how children learn through questioning, investigation and independent thinking.

Japan & Western Balkans

The Western Balkans Meet Japan: A Bridge into the Future youth-exchange program is recruiting participants for its next round. Young people from the Western Balkans will travel to Japan for intercultural learning, discussions, and exchanges with Japanese participants.

Malaysia & Japan — Japanese culture becomes a community meeting place

A cultural program at Pavilion Bukit Jalil in Malaysia is bringing together Japanese traditional arts, food and contemporary culture. Rather than concentrating solely on performances, the activities are designed around participation and cultural exchange between Malaysian visitors and Japanese culture.

Australia & the Pacific

Australia

The 2026 National NAIDOC Awards in Alice Springs recognized Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians for achievement in community leadership, culture, education, sport and other fields. The late Widjabul Wiyebal woman Rhoda Roberts received the Lifetime Achievement Award for decades of work in broadcasting, performance, language, ceremony and First Nations storytelling.

ABC Indigenous’s Word Up project is continuing to bring Aboriginal languages directly to a national audience by inviting speakers to teach individual words and explain their cultural meaning.

Melbourne’s young school leaders are already planning ambitious futures

A group of 2026 school captains from Melbourne’s southern and eastern suburbs have spoken about what they learned from leading their schools and what they hope to do next. Their plans range across medicine, engineering, education, law, healthcare, fashion, zoology and entrepreneurship, while many described leadership as teaching them to listen, delegate and work with others.

Fiji

The 60-year-old Pacific Theological College is being transformed into Pasifika Communities University, expanding the institution’s educational role across Pacific communities. The change creates a broader regional institution for higher education and Pacific-centered scholarship.

Middle East

Iraq — More than 3,000 children and young people will benefit from rebuilt educational support

UNESCO and Japan have launched an education initiative in Iraq’s Ninewa region that will work with 10 primary and secondary schools and more than 3,000 children and young people. The program includes teacher and parent training, safer learning environments, youth participation and particular support for displaced and returning young people, including adolescent girls.

Europe

Ireland

Dublin’s Culture Night program will offer more than 300 free events across the capital. Museums, galleries, performance spaces and other cultural institutions will participate, allowing people to attend exhibitions, performances and activities without admission charges.

Westmeath’s Caoilfhinn Ní Choiligh has been crowned the 2026 Rose of Tralee. Ní Choiligh has spoken publicly about living with alopecia and about her decision to stop concealing her hair loss.

Scotland

In the Scottish Highlands, volunteers are joining the Outdoor Access Trust for Scotland to repair heavily used mountain paths. The work includes clearing drainage channels, replacing stones and stabilizing eroded ground, and no previous trail-building experience is required.

Germany, Poland, Czechia, Greece & the Baltics

International volunteers are spending part of their summer working at historic and memorial sites across Europe through Action Reconciliation Service for Peace. The 2026 camps include projects in Germany, Poland, Czechia, Greece, Lithuania and Latvia; several were fully booked. Participants combine practical work at historic sites with study, remembrance and international exchange.

Italy

The former Papigno film studios near Terni, where productions including Life Is Beautiful were filmed, are set for redevelopment under a proposed ten-year concession. Plans include restoration of sound stages, offices, dressing rooms and production facilities, alongside spaces for editing, dubbing, festivals and events.

Germany

Caro Bolte recorded a new German women’s best performance in the Backyard Ultra endurance format. Competitors repeatedly complete the same course at fixed intervals until they can no longer continue.

Austria

The Waterski and Wakeboard Club Velden provides children and teenagers with free access to watersports on the Wörthersee. The nonprofit club gives young people opportunities to learn wakeboarding and waterskiing without requiring their families to own lakeside property or private facilities.

United Kingdom — Classical music stages become more inclusive

The 2026 BBC Proms program has included youth performers, contemporary composers and disability-inclusive musicians alongside established orchestras. Paraorchestra, whose musicians include disabled and non-disabled performers, has been among the ensembles appearing during this year’s season.

Poland & Japan

Recruitment is open for the MIRAI 2026/27 program, giving eligible Polish university students and young professionals a fully funded opportunity to participate in an exchange with Japan. The program combines academic, cultural and professional experiences.

Scandinavia

Nordic cultures

The Scandinavian Pavilion at Winnipeg’s (Canada) Folklorama marked its 55th consecutive year this summer. Danish, Finnish, Icelandic, Norwegian and Swedish communities participate through traditional music, dancing, food, crafts and cultural demonstrations, with younger generations taking part alongside longtime volunteers.

North America

Canada

At Maskwacîs in Alberta, Samson Cree Nation and the Battle River Watershed Alliance held a Watershed Day for children and families. Activities combined environmental education, games and local Indigenous knowledge about water and the surrounding landscape.

Residents joined conservation staff in Ontario’s Credit River watershed this week to survey local fish populations. The volunteers collected information used by scientists to monitor the health and diversity of freshwater ecosystems.

United States — Three missing river tubers are found alive

Two women and a nine-year-old boy who disappeared during a Michigan river-tubing trip were found alive after spending three days outdoors. Search-and-rescue crews located the group and brought all three to safety.

Southern California’s Head in the Clouds festival brought together musicians and performers from across Asia and the Asian diaspora. The festival also partners with Music Will, a nonprofit working to expand access to music education for schoolchildren.

Georgia teacher and father of four Derrick Moore, 47, entered the ocean at Myrtle Beach after seeing 10-year-old Summer McCallum being pulled out by a rip current. He succeeded in helping her reach safety but died during the rescue. Summer survived and has since spoken publicly about the stranger who saved her life.

Retired East Dallas chef Keith Horne helps run Soup Angels, a small nonprofit preparing homemade food for unhoused people in Dallas. The group doesn’t stop with people. Volunteers also bring food for the dogs and cats living alongside their unhoused owners. The project was profiled today.

South America

Latin America & Caribbean

UNESCO has documented 200 educational practices across Latin America and the Caribbean that integrate living cultural heritage into learning. Programs connect students with craftspeople, tradition-bearers and community members so that local knowledge, skills and cultural practices can be passed to younger generations.

Colombia

Nearly 244 volunteers spread across six locations in Bogotá’s Minuto de Dios neighborhood for a community work marathon. They cleaned, painted and restored public spaces used daily by residents, schoolchildren, university students and teachers.

Following the August 10 earthquake in western Colombia, Shakira’s Barefoot Foundation and the Howard G. Buffett Foundation have committed to helping rebuild ten damaged schools in Chocó. Another $1.25 million has been pledged by FIFA’s Global Citizen Education Fund, Live Nation and CAF, and support is also planned for the damaged Universidad Tecnológica del Chocó.

El Salvador, Mexico, Chile and Peru have sent a combined 222.5 tons of food, medicines, hygiene products and medical supplies to communities affected by the Colombian earthquake. Another 144 international emergency specialists have joined operations on the ground.