A/RES/66/288 232. We emphasize the importance of greater international cooperation to improve access to education, including by building and strengthening education infrastructure and increasing investment in education, particularly investment to improve the quality of education for all in developing countries. We encourage international educational exchanges and partnerships, including the creation of fellowships and scholarships to help to achieve global education goals. 233. We resolve to promote education for sustainable development and to integrate sustainable development more actively into education beyond the Decade of Education for Sustainable Development. 234. We strongly encourage educational institutions to consider adopting good practices in sustainability management on their campuses and in their communities, with the active participation of, inter alia, students, teachers and local partners, and teaching sustainable development as an integrated component across disciplines. 235. We underscore the importance of supporting educational institutions, especially higher educational institutions in developing countries, to carry out research and innovation for sustainable development, including in the field of education, and to develop quality and innovative programmes, including entrepreneurship and business skills training, professional, technical and vocational training and lifelong learning, geared to bridging skills gaps for advancing national sustainable development objectives. Gender equality and women’s empowerment 236. We reaffirm the vital role of women and the need for their full and equal participation and leadership in all areas of sustainable development, and decide to accelerate the implementation of our respective commitments in this regard as contained in the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, 60 as well as Agenda 21, the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action and the United Nations Millennium Declaration. 237. We recognize that, although progress on gender equality has been made in some areas, the potential of women to engage in, contribute to and benefit from sustainable development as leaders, participants and agents of change has not been fully realized, owing to, inter alia, persistent social, economic and political inequalities. We support prioritizing measures to promote gender equality and women’s empowerment in all spheres of our societies, including the removal of barriers to their full and equal participation in decision-making and management at all levels, and we emphasize the impact of setting specific targets and implementing temporary measures, as appropriate, for substantially increasing the number of women in leadership positions, with the aim of achieving gender parity. 238. We resolve to unlock the potential of women as drivers of sustainable development, including through the repeal of discriminatory laws and the removal of formal barriers, ensuring equal access to justice and legal support, the reform of institutions to ensure competence and capacity for gender mainstreaming and the development and adoption of innovative and special approaches to address informal, harmful practices that act as barriers to gender equality. In this regard, we commit to creating an enabling environment for improving the situation of women and girls _______________ 60 United Nations, Treaty Series, vol. 1249, No. 20378. 45