Impact / Blog

UN SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS: OUR ROLE

April 10, 2019

Meg Armishaw

4 mins

In 2015, the UN set out 17 goals that are a blueprint to achieving a better and more sustainable future for us all, addressing the challenges our world and the people in it face on a daily basis. We’re proud to be working with the global community to address 8 of these goals. 

SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOAL 4 – QUALITY EDUCATION

Education is the key to improving development in some of the world’s poorest communities. Sustainable Development Goal Four calls for inclusive, equitable and quality education for all. Despite this, in 2018, more than half of children and adolescents worldwide did not meet minimum proficiency standards in reading and mathematics.  We’re committed to providing inclusive and quality education in these regions. 

WHAT COMES WITH QUALITY EDUCATION?

Stemming from our primary aim of providing quality education, 5 other sustainable development goals are addressed

Goal 1: No poverty

In 2013, an estimated 11% of the world’s population lived below the extreme poverty threshold. Reaching remote areas and offering the opportunity for sustainable education helps lift people out of poverty, giving them hope for future possibilities.

Goal 3: Good health and wellbeing

Healthy, sustainable lifestyles are promoted through UWS schools. Many of our schools teach the students about farming through our vegetable gardens, ensuring they have access to balanced and varied diets.

Goal 6: Clean water and sanitation

When built, many of our schools are fitted with a well which provides clean, safe drinking water. We also provide hygiene and sanitation education to support the wellbeing of our students.

Goal 7: Affordable and clean energy

Many of our schools are fitted with solar panels when built to provide renewable, sustainable energy.

Goal 8: Decent work and economic growth

UWS schools provide employment for locals during construction and as teachers. In the long-term, educated children are will have higher incomes and more skilled employment, aiding a country’s overall economic growth.

In addition to these, we also address:

SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOAL 5 – GENDER EQUALITY

The fifth Sustainable Development Goal is to achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls. This is an area in which there has been great progress over the past decade, as the risk of a girl marrying in her childhood in Southern Asia has dropped by over 40% between 2000 and 2017. We are striving to continue this trend by giving young girls the opportunity to go to school.

SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOAL 10 – GLOBAL AND NATIONAL EQUALITY

Our role in these remote communities also reduce inequality. There are huge rural-urban disparities in all of the countries we work in. Often, the most remote areas are left behind, as governments lack the funding and capacity to provide education to these areas. UWS aims to reduce these disparities by providing the children in these communities with an education.

All Blogs NEXT Blog

Get Involved

The future needs to change. You can change it

Join the movement

The world's greatest challenge requires the planet's greatest brands.

Become a brand partner

Got some spare change? Then you can change the future.

Give a philanthropic gift