Did you know that African Adventures is committed to driving the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals and is a signatory to the UN Global Compact?
Initially designed as a ‘blueprint’ to resolve issues affecting both people and planet, the goals have since grown to encompass 17 initiatives which uphold and promote the UN Global Compact’s 10 universally accepted principles. These principles focus on educating people, and making positive changes, in the areas of human rights, labour, environment, and anti-corruption, across the globe.
In a series of blog posts, we will be discussing how our work aligns with the goals, and the measures we have taken as a business to ensure they remain central to our operations and to the experiences we provide to our volunteers.
It goes without saying that a lot of the goals tie into each other. Imagine a domino effect – as one area of wellbeing is improved, another is impacted.
The first goal, No Poverty, is the most influential on all the others.
Around 45-50% of people across the globe live on under $1.25 a day. This goal aims to end this extreme poverty and reduce the proportion of people living in poverty it all its dimensions by 2030.
This goal is fundamental to our operations. By working with our partner projects to provide children with the opportunity for an education, the likelihood of them being able to get employment once they are older is greatly increased. Their presence in school also takes some pressure away from their families at home – namely in terms of finances and the children’s wellbeing. Guardians can be assured that their children are in a safe environment, so they are free to find and go to work. This, in turn, enhances opportunities for all involved with African Adventures.
The second goal is Zero Hunger.
This intends to ensure the provision of sufficient, nutritious food throughout the year for all, particularly for poor and/or vulnerable people. Alongside this, it aims to eradicate all forms of malnutrition by 2030.
For many of the children at our partner projects, the meals they receive whilst at school are the only food they will get each day. In Kenya, all the schools we partner with provide at least one meal per day to each student. It is important that the food provided isn’t just filling but has nutritional benefits to improve mental and physical health. This can be hugely influential on the children’s educational experience – they are less tired after having a healthy meal, meaning that they are able to fully reap the benefits of being at school. The children should also have more energy to assist with chores at home, which is a big help to their parents/families. Volunteers will be familiar with the sight of a variety of fruits and vegetables, grains, and proteins on project, as these are well known for their nutritional value and filling power.
It can be easy to restrict the application of these goals to just our volunteer destinations. However, it is important to remember that the goals are applicable worldwide.
The fourth sustainable development goal is Quality Education.
Ensuring inclusive, equitable quality educational opportunities for all people is vital to the eradication of poverty across the globe.
In Kenya, for example, when children cannot afford to go to a government school, local members of the community will often set up their own projects, with which we form partnerships to help advance their growth and resources. We also work to achieve this goal with young people in the UK – our PGCE trips allow volunteers to experience different teaching environments with very different teaching resource provision, leading to more flexible and adaptable teaching methods. The trips are therefore mutually beneficial, for the volunteers that travel and the children at our partner projects – there is great learning, both academic and cultural.
Make sure to keep a lookout for future blogs, where we will be discussing more of the UN Sustainable Development Goals in detail.
These links were used in the creation of this article:
https://www.sos-usa.org/about-us/where-we-work/africa/children-in-africa
https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/
